More hospitals are offering laughing gas to women in labor, and the benefits make birth sound a lot less scary

Laboring through contractions is no laughing matter, but it might be soon, given the fact that more hospitals are offering laughing gas to women giving birth, Cosmo reports. Ha! We can already see an increase in social media videos of people having hilarious post-op reactions like the girl who hilariously freaked out because The Rock wasn’t there after her oral surgery. Hey, expectant mothers can use every tool they need to get through having a baby, right?

According to an NPR reported, the use of laughing gas as pain management during childbirth is gaining steam in hospitals, 300 of which currently offer this option in the US. Epidurals are the go-to during labor for more than half of all women, but apparently the benefits of using noxious oxide are extremely appealing to mothers and midwives.

As outlined by The Cut:

"Though not nearly as effective or strong as an epidural, laughing gas can "take the edge off" of pain, and as one midwife told NPR, "It gives you this euphoria that helps you sort of forget about the pain for a little bit." It is mild, safe, and the gas leaves the body in seconds, with no lasting effect. In fact, it doesn’t even kill pain: It simply relaxes the body and makes the patient care less about it. There are widely available data about its effectiveness and safety because it has been widely used in Europe for childbirth for decades."

Interesting. If the use of laughing gas during birth gains more widespread popularity, could maternity wards of the future go from being filled with blood-curdling screams to dens of raucous laughter? That’s probably a whole lot of wishful thinking, but we’ll continue holding out hope on behalf of pregnant women everywhere.