Laughing Gas to "Take the Edge Off"

This would be interesting to witness in the labor room. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/02/13/state/n105743S09.DTL

Don't you like how they keep saying pain management helps to "take the edge off" of labor pains? Well, we need management for the spikes and thorns too, not just the edge.