The patient who experienced an emergency cesarean birth with her first child expresses anxiety about her upcoming birth. How can the nurse teaching the patient's prenatal classes help decrease her anxiety?
1. Encourage muscle tightening with each contraction.
2. Explain that patterned breathing increases anxiety and should be avoided.
3. Instruct the patient to hire a therapeutic massage therapist for labor.
4. Practice progressive relaxation and encourage her to use the technique in labor.
Correct Answer: 4
Rationale 1: Relaxation, not muscle tightening, should be encouraged. Some relaxation techniques teach patients to tighten and then release muscles to learn the difference between tension and relaxation, but the key is to be as relaxed as possible during contractions.
Rationale 2: Patterned breathing techniques decrease, not increase, anxiety. Practice of patterned breathing prior to the onset of labor facilitates their use during labor.
Rationale 3: Although some patients would enjoy a massage therapist during their labor, not all patients enjoy massage, and not all patients have the resources to hire this type of professional for their labor.
Rationale 4: Progressive relaxation (and all relaxation techniques), when practiced prior to labor, is a valuable tool to facilitate relaxation and therefore decrease anxiety during labor.
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