I said with both labours that I would have what I felt I needed at the time, but would start with minimum.

I went for the G&A at about 2 cms with each (I have full on contractions for a long time before I hit 2 cms, then go fast), but nothing else.

Hi, Abby and Mascara

Although DS1's heartbeat had seemed okay according to the heartrate monitor, when he was born he was not moving, did not breathe and his heartrate was only 40 bpm (should have been about 140 bpm. He scored 1 on his Apgars.

He had to have three lots of adrenalin - the third shot intra-cardiac - to get him going.

It was terrifying, absolutely terrifying. Even when he had been revived and was in SCBU, nobody could reassure us that he would be okay because he had been out for so long there was a severe risk of damage caused by oxygen deprivation.

<hijack>

ssb, what was wrong with your ds (with pethidine incident) I had Pethidine didn't get on with it.. dd scored v v low on epgar(?) score and had to have forceps etc cos her heart beat had slowed so much/was not recovering after contractions

</hijack>

Gas and Air is the most fantastic stuff in the world, truly marvellous.
I'd almost get pg again (and I had big babies) just to have some.

Does anyone know where you can get any?

Hideous birth

Decided I would state I wanted Epidural to be on the safe side.

Went through gas & air, Pethedine (awful) asked for epidural, got told to have more pethidine. Told them if that was all that was on offer I'd take it but to know that I wasn't happy and I wanted an apidural and only more pethidine as a last resort. I got my epidural.

Was still in agony.. lots of umming and ahing about whtether the epidural had worked, ice cube test etc.

Consultant came in shouted at midwifes told them not to let me push. she;d be back.

contractions stopped. had 2 failed vontuse then forceps.

Was hideous and painful. Epidural stopped me getting out of bed or lifting myself up etc for the whole of the next day, couldn't even lean over to get dd if she was crying a midwife had to come and pass her too me.

I came to the conclusion that

a) I am a big wimp
b) I'd not have anything other than gas and air if I did it again

Hi SSB - oh my, I missed that bit. YOu poor things. I know Pethidine can cause problems - and am making that point. Was his breathing affected by it?

DS1 - had a very effective epidural, which was wonderful. Let it wear off for 2nd stage to try & avoid assisted delivery. Pushed for just over an hour & just had a very small tear.

DS2 - wanted another epidural as had such a good experience first time. Had an epidural, but this time it didn't work! Kept saying "It's not helping", to which they said to give it time, then left the room. While they were gone I experienced the worst pain & was thrashing about. When the midwife returned I was begging for pain relief & crying. This was obviously transition as he was born soon after. Pushed for half an hour resulting in another small tear that didn't need stitching. Kind of feel I went through DS2's birth without pain relief, as the epidural was totally useless!

I think you should include my warning story about pethidine!

Natural pain relief - techniques taught in antenatal yoga, breathing, birth ball and doula all very good ime.

bump - please see my request earlier today before posting!

I was induced, 10 days overdue. Waters broke after first pessary.

Used a tens machine and rolled around aon a birthing ball, not sure if tens machine actually did much pain relief wise but i would def recommend it, gave me something to focus on when contractions were coming.

That combo worked well until I was about 5 cm the had gas and air (fantastic) by the time I was asking for an epidural I was 10cm so didnt need one and got on with the pushng.

Unfortunately after 2 and half hours pushing and no baby I had episiotomy and forceps then the placenta was stuck so taken to theatre and given a spinal. Horrid experience ended up with a drip, catheter, couldnt get out of bed until the next day.

DS1 - had pethidine - he nearly died. More details available on request!

DS2 - just gas and air. He was fine.

DS3 - no drugs, not even gas and air, but had a doula. He was fine.

I had no pain relief during any of my three labours. Partly because this is France and here it's epidural (which over 90% of women have IIRC) or a big fat Nothing - gas/air and pethidine just aren't on offer.

But I had fantastic ante-natal classes which taught me excellent breathing techniques for managing contractions. Highly, highly recommended if you don't want pain relief. Quite brilliant.

I get quite emotional in a good way thinking about my 3rd labour and birth in fact

<<regrets reading thread and goes for a lie down>>

I had a pretty-much drug-free birth with DS2 - but did use TENS (so don't know whether this is what you mean by 'natural' pain relief?) I had read Sheila Kitzinger's New Experience of Childbirth before the labour, and tried to put it into practice, plus had attended active birth classes.

I went into the labour quite confident that I'd be alright with TENS/g&a, as I had been fine on DS1's birth (although obviously I was open to changing my mind if I needed to).

Got through the contractions with vocalising, circling the pelvis - lots of pacing around between the contractions.

Arrived at hospital 15mins before DS2 was born, and spent a good ten minutes trying to find the labour ward, so only just got there in time - but the pain was pretty manageable so I didn't realise I was so close to pushing.

I think I had one puff of g&a before I delivered DS2.

Very very positive and powerful experience - but I think I just don't have terribly painful labours.

I'd vote for everything available, but nothing pushed on you. With DD1 I had G & A, and with DD2 nothing as it was so quick. It was important to me to know that pain relief was available though.

My 3 births were much the same.

With my first I had no idea what to expect but hoped to hold off drugs for as long as possible. I started on the old TENs fairly early on, gas and air after a while and that was me. TENs was just a distraction really, G&A was wonderful just took the edge off.

I'd read about "active labour" before having my first so was keen to stay mobile and upright. I'm sure that helped.

Subsequent labours I had more fixed ideas about what I liked - dim lights, don't talk to me, don't touch me. I was very focussed and pretty quiet. I really concentrated on breathing and my dh's role was to hand me the G&A and then pass me the ice chips. He was my spokesperson, I would grunt or nod or whatever. Poor midwives, I pretty much ignored them, I can barely remember them being there but they were very tolerant and got that I just wanted to be left to get on with it. They did insist on monitoring contractions from time to time and I think I was quite rude about this...

well i was going to take any pain relief offered. ( although not keen on the idea of the whole needle in the back bit)..

As it happened all births were quick.

Ds1 I had to keep asking for something.. and was told to try and hang on a bit later on... I yelled at them.. when DS1 got all twisted and stuck..and his heart rate dropped very low very suddenly.. they ( now a team of midwives.. students peads obs and medical student) forgot to give me anything... so I naturally gave birth via a ventouse!! no he was a "natural birth" as such!

Ds2 also very quick.. tens machine came off and I was too late to have anything but G+A and all I could do was hang on tight to the mouth piece.. I never actually got to use it.. so there was "natural birth" number 2

DD was the quickest.. was 8 cms on arrival into the delivery room ( having just got to the hospital in time and contractions having only started 20 mins before hand).
I was determined to have Some pain relief.. was offered G+A.. took three big lungfuls.. giggled.. and promptly threw up. I gave up on the idea LOL.. and DD arrived "natural" LOL

I am not an earth mother and the only thing that got me through the births was actually getting to the point of thinking it can't go on forever and get the thing out and stop the pain NOW!!

hop that helps LOL

Cheers for all this. Am just trying to fill in some missing gaps so, for any of you who missed my later postings (and don't like to shout but think post will get overlooked, otherwise)

ANY THOUGHTS ON NATURAL PAINRELIEF/MOBILE EPIDURALS AND OR SPINALS?

Had Tens and G&A with both my labours.
1st labour I waited until I couldnt handle the pain anymore and then screamed for an epidural- the midwife smiled and left the room. No chance, I was already 9cm dilated. DS was born 4 hours later. After this experience I was dreading 2nd labour. By the time I got to the hospital and had a couple of puffs of G&A and DD was born. A much nicer experience 2nd time round. I wish I'd just asked for more pain relief sooner in my first labour.

DS1 - started with TENS machine which was probably no more than a distraction device.

Had an epidural as soon as I got to hospital (was thankfully already 5cm dilated). Asked for a mobile one but they didn't do them. Planned to have one as I didn't want anything that might make me sick (emetophobe) and was very glad that I could have one straight away as I had been in labour for 12 hours by then, no sleep that night and 8 of them were established labour. Worked like a dream but I had a 4 hour second stage which I suspect was the fault of the epidural and DS was delivered by forceps. Only dodgy moment was when they let the epidural wear off for better pushing and gave me a mega dose of drugs to speed up the contractions at the same time so I ended up continuously contracting with no breaks and no pain relief. Needless to say I made them top up the epi sharpish.

DS2 - Tried having a bath in the early stages, thinking that if I was in labour it would help as water births are supposed to be good. Made absolutely no difference, if anything more uncomfortable from being in a bath, despite the fact it was a bigger than average bath and I wasn't cramped.

Tried the TENS again - don't know if it worked or not this time but it was certainly a distraction and something to get a grip on when the contractions kicked in.

All progressed very quickly once I was sure I was in full labour and I had convinced the hospital I should go in. Dealt with it mainly by breathing and making sure I didn't hold my breath and breathed through the contractions as they say. I was very calm (surprising for me) and I do attribute this to the breathing. It was something to focus on.

Fortunately, my waters broke before I even got out of the bedroom and DH phoned an ambulance and DS2 was born 20 minutes later with the aid of gravity. The nice ambulanceman offered gas and air but I refused as it was a bit late!!

Minor tear, no stitchs, big baby and only mild after pains so no more pain relief was needed. I was very lucky.

really keen on trying the pool this time round.

am also hypobirthing.

got caught out with DD2 and wound up giving birth with no pain relief at all (G&A made me sick) and really didn't feel empowered or any of that - just felt trapped by immense pain and panicked.

Your painthreashold goes up anyay when you become pregnant.

But befefore we get all cometitive over birthing, it's worth remembering that some women expereince more pain that others and indeed, some nearly die and some do. Very often it's nothing to do with a 'gutsy attitide' - I have that in droves.

Sorry yes, and it was a venthouse deivery.

TENS - Good thing.
Water (hospital birthing pool) - incredible - the only thing I had that actually reduced the pain.
G&A - outlet didn't work - One thing I would recommend for midwifery training is that they learn how to actually fix the bloody things - quite often it's not just the mouthpiece IMO.
Breathing/relaxation techniques - very, very good idea if well-practised beforehand - you can't learn how to do it in labour IMO.

Spinal block for stitches - absolutely bloomin incredible. Lay back and listened to radio while being pieced back together in theatre. Now that's a version of motherhood I can handle.

I had an open mind. If I felt I needed it I would have it.

I did need it - I was 'over contracting' - having full blown contarctions from the start with only seconds inbetween with no respite. I got gas and air as soon as in the delivery suite. Asking for pethadine which I finally got three agonising hours later. It didn't help, so I asked for an epi which I got an hour later.

The epi was miraculous with the pain of contractions - had a very odd 10 hours watching the contractions happen on the monitor and hearing the screams of other women giving birth..I kept asking, 'They haven't had an epidural have they?'. I never got an answer, just a shrug of the shoulders and a sympathetic smile.

When I began to puch him out it was as if I had had no pain killers at all. He was a very big baby though, 10lbs +

i also believe I have a high tolerance to pain and a gutsy attitude

BRING IT ON!!!

no pain relief apart from g and a, and didnt bother with that in third labour - the pool was great

although I dont recommend a high forceps/ventouse delivery with no pain relief a la dd1 unless you want post traumatic stress syndrome

No, it was a hospital birth (which I very much wanted). But I did everything the MWs had told me to speed up labour - lots of walking around/sitting on a birthing ball for the early part. I really didn't want an episiotomy/ventouse/forceps if I could possibly avoid them.

Anna8888 - was that a homebirth? I am considering one myself.

I should probably add that I have quite a high pain / goriness threshold - I had my short-sighted eyes lasered with no sedation at all; had a varicose vein op under local. So I wasn't particularly anxious about pain in childbirth - I knew I would be able to bear it.

I had absolutely no pain relief whatsoever except for a long hot bath for the one and a half hours that preceded me starting to push.

It was all absolutely fine and if I were to give birth again I wouldn't want any pain relief other than a hot bath.

Bump re mobile epi's etc

Oh, and while I'm here, can I respectfully request some thoughts on "natural pain relief".

For instance, did you use any of the following and were they any good or just pants?

waterbirths/breathing techniques/massage/music/hot water bottles or wheat bags/hypnobirthing/homeopathy etc etc

Hi again - thanks for all this.

Few more queries - did anyone have a "mobile epidural" - if so, were you remotely mobile? Also, did anyone have a combined spinal epidural? If so, what was it like?

went into labour at 30 weeks.
hind waters broke and dd had restricted growth so was given the old steroids in the bum for her lungs but also put on a drip to stop the contractions.
Was kept in for 5 weeks and kept going into labour, was losing water all the time and dd stopped growing at 33 wks.
Was finally induced at 35 weeks after a sweep didn't work.

I knew absolutely nothing about the labour process, i had no clue what transition was or any of the stages really. The midwife led me through it all.
They gave me pethidine when the first pessary did it's job straight away as both dd and i were not too well so needed to rest.

The labour got really heavy but then stopped, so i was given cyntocin (spelling?) and the glucose drip thing but i was also given a epidural at the same time as they said the contractions would get very intense very quickly and they thought i was a bit too tired to cope with the pain.

I fell asleep for a little bit, when i woke up i told the midwife there was something between my legs and she told me not to be so daft, but i persuaded her to have a look and she then blanched, ran out of the room and returned with another midwife, a paed for dd and a consultant for me.
Dd's head was just about to crown!

Pushed for 20 mins and there she was.

Both of us were very sleepy afterwards, i was completely out of it, dd went to special care and didn't feed for nearly 48 hrs which i think was probably because of all the drugs i had.

If it were physically possible for me to have another i would have had a home birth i think with preferably no pain relief.
I feel cheated that i have no idea what a normal labour is like and never will.
Throughout the process the midwives didn't speak to me, they spoke to my mum and they were convinced that i was very young because i don't look my age.
I found that really patronising and wish i had been able to stand up for myself better. They were even bringing in groups of students throughout the day without asking me if it was ok. At one point i lost my temper when a group trooped in when i was being examined.
I told them they could at least have the decency to introduce themselves before staring at my fanny.

Phew! Sorry,you probably didn't want the entire birth story but that was really rather cathartic for me.

I had terrible backache with DS1 so I used a tens machine which was a life-saver as the birth centre wouldn't give me any drugs due to (apparently) not being in active labour. When the batteries died on the tens I felt the urge to push so I ended up rushed in in an ambulance, fully-dilated. Still managed to have the planned water-birth as contractions slowed down in the water. No time or need for drugs.
DS2 was also a water-birth. No drugs. Knew I could do it without that time.

Epidural with the first, no probs ish. Normal birth.

With second, begged for epidural and the MW kept fobbing me off. Was then "too late" etc etc. So just had gas and air and normal birth. Some MWs like to with-hold the old epi imho. Gives them power...

I used a TENS machine - great for early labour. My second stage was quick and no time for further pain relief - wish to staff had pointed us towards the G&A when we got into the labour room, but no pain relief was mentioned. Planning to remedy that this time round.

I did have a local for the stitches, in fact I insisted on one in a strident voice

I used gas and air. It was bloody marvellous. I had Mr Men hallucinations through my contractions, with the figure morphing from Mr Messy in between to Mr Sneeze at the peak. Bizarre!

I had wanted a natural birth, but up until about 6m in, I was terrified of the pain. (My mother had 4 dreadful deliveries - nearly died - and told us alll about it. Repeatedly.)

But then my fears just kinda dissolved in about the 7th month, I don't know why.

I meant to book a TENS machine from Tesco and even took a flyer, but labour started that night. And the MLU where I ended up didn't have them!

I went in the pool, which I had very much wanted to do. Hated it. Out in 10 minutes. (Think I am only woman in history to hate the birth pool!)

Was persuaded by MW to try G&A. She and dh both thought I was in lots of pain by then - maybe about 3hrs in? I don't remember it as pain per se, just that labour was very hard. Hated G&A even worse, as it made me unable to concentrate on contractions, so I gave that up after about 15 minutes too.

Then nothing else, til it became apparent ds wasn't coming out and we went for an ECS. Then the works, didn't feel another thing.

i wanted a natural birth but went in both times willing to have G&A if it got too bad, although i was hoping to cope without as people had told me it makes you feel drunk and that didn't seem appealing to me while in labour.

coped fine both times by just zoning out and breathing and both mine were back to back... dd turned and got tangled in the cord but ds was born facing the wrong way round.

i would suggest if you're not used to coping with pain (i've suffered lifelong migraines which painkillers don't touch) then a meditation or self hypnosis class would probably be of benefit if you want to go the pain relief free route.

I was determined not to have an epidural, but apart from that had no strong opinions on pain relief before it started.

Began with a TENS machine - which didn't seem to do anything, but it gave me something to fiddle with which I suppose was a distraction.

Midwife brought gas & air to the house - I threw up after the first puff.

After a while, was clearly going to need some form of pain relief so had to go to the hospital.

Pethidine injection into leg - threw up. Lots. Felt a bit more "distant" as a result of the pethidine, but not really out of it, and still a lot of pain.

Glucose drip for ketosis and syntocinon to increase contractions (turned out to be a bad idea)

Had forceps delivery, as fetal heartbeat dipping in a worrying way. Local anaesthetic for the episiotomy.

More local anaesthetic during stitching, as first one was earing off.

I knew that for medical reasons I would not be allowed an epidural. This upfront knowledge really made me focus on the fact that, no matter how horrendous things got, I would simply have to cope.

The result of this was that - slightly inexplicably - I chose to have no pain relief whatsoever. I kept on declining their offers of gas and air, thinking (while screaming) 'but what if this gets even worse?' as I didn't want to use up my few pain relief options too early.

As it was, DS was born by ventous after a total of 27 hours in labour (14 in established labour) with no pain relief - just the last 8 hours with me screaming like a banshee!

(I had actually hoped for a waterbirth, but they laughed at that idea when I got to the hospital and told me I wasn't allowed one due to my medical conditions )

oh forgot to add....had nothing with DD. not so much as an aspirin.
it hurt like hell but was a fantastic experiance. it ws all over in about 3 hours, 30 minutes from feeling pressure.

she was handed straight to me and we went home later that day. she was a pink and happy baby.

There is no way on this planet i would ever use any form of pain relief during birth again.

With my first i had an epidural. i am a total whimp and knew i would ask for it.
it ended up totally ruining the birth of my son. it tired him out and more importantly i couldn't feel when to push. i was tired and wasting my energy.
by the time he was born (74 hours) he had had to have a needle in his head, i had to have an epesiotomy and they had the forceps ready.

he spent 16 hours in special babies and was jaundice.

He is Autistic and has various behavioural issues, learning delay, language delay, gross and fine motor difficulties...the list goes on and on.

not all of it can be placed atthe feet of my horrific labour but i do think that it will have impacted on him...especially after reading about birth trauma and cranial osteopathy

Thanks for all your responses. Oh, and Cod's. (I nearly put in the OP "I wager good money that Cod will be on here in a minute".) Should have put that bet on.

Just G&A but I sucked on that baby like a Whitechapel whore. Was still clutching the mouthpiece long after DD was born. I planned to have nothing more than G&A but after transition began begging the MW for a caesarean. When she told me it was too late I turned to DH and loudly declared "I hate that bitch"

"I personally found the pushing stage easier to cope with without pain relief - it just felt as though my body had a job to do and was getting on with it. Very hard work but not as painful as the earlier contractions which were just unbearable."

Tatties, me too - at least you feel like you're getting somewhere with the pushing stage. Transition was just grim.

I had on my birth plan that I wanted G&A only, no pethidine, no epidural <wry smile>

TENS did nothing for me, G&A did nothing for me, had two shots of pethidine which were lovely and helped me rest but they refused to give me any more. Eventually after 42 hours of back-to-back labour and only 3cm dilated, I had an epidural -- I was literally paralysed with pain and absolutely exhausted. The epidural worked in terms of stopping the pain of contractions but left me somewhat uncomfortable as my whole legs had pins and needles!

Eventually ended up in a ventouse delivery and episiotomy as DS's heartbeat was dipping.

Hoping that DC2 is a bit quicker so I've more chance of making it through without the epidural...

I had pethidine and G&A during earlier stages but pushed ds out with nothing (midwife took G&A off me as I wasn't pushing hard enough!)

I wanted to have a birth without pain relief, but also realised that I might change my mind when the time came.

I was induced and didn't cope very well with the contractions, tried TENS but just couldn't relax (being in a tiny cubicle on ante-natal ward didn't help) so agreed to pethidine. It was bliss and I rested and slept. Then woken up by very intense contractions - called for midwife who said a bath might help. It didn't, I was wailing, saying I couldn't cope, needed an epidural. But of course that was transition and I was fully dilated so was too late for an epidural. Then had G&A while pushing until MW took it off me.

I personally found the pushing stage easier to cope with without pain relief - it just felt as though my body had a job to do and was getting on with it. Very hard work but not as painful as the earlier contractions which were just unbearable.

I desperately didn't want an epidural unless it could not be avoided (ie emergency C section) because I have an absolute terror of anything happening to my spine.

I was open to the idea of pethidine but didn't have it. I have a high pain threshold and knew I did anyway, but wasn't sure how it would hold up against childbirth, I mean that's the worst thing ever or so you think before you do it.

Labour was straight forward if protracted (36 hours from onset of contractions to delivery during which they came every five minutes without ceasing, getting progressively stronger), didn't have any pain relief until I was 8cm dliated at which point MW broke waters and contractions came much stronger and faster.

I asked for some gas and air at that point (or specifically, my mum unhooked the tube and mask from the wall and fitted it together herself because she thought I might faint!) and that was all I had.

I wanted everything under the sun first time round, from about the time of my positive pregnancy test. What with every single culture saying that childbirth is hideously painful and all. I was the only person in my touchyfeely antenatal group saying yep, epidural, that's the one for me.

It didn't work very well - only on one side; but given that I was in labour for two and a half days, or something vile like that, I came out of the hospital saying bloody hell, I could never do that without drugs.

For some insane reason (mainly because hospital is fairly horrid to be in) I decided, however, to try for a home birth with my second baby. Had a pool. And about as much gas and air as I could stuff into my frame. Fab stuff, gas'n'air. Doesn't knock out all the pain - in fact I reckon half the benefit is because you are actually breathing, not tensing up - but it is a very nice drug.

When I had dd1 11 years ago, I had an epidural, mainly because a) I'd been labouring overnight and was 12 hours in and too tired to push, b) they gave them out quite readily back then, and c) I was scared of the idea of being in that much pain. I tried g&a before the epidural but it made me sick, TENS didn't really have any effect and was advised not to have pethidine as that would probably make me sick too (turned out to be right when I was given it for a different reason some years later). Epidural probably delayed labour and contributed to ventouse delivery (as dd1's heartrate was dipping they whooshed her out at the last minute), but all was fine in the end.

Dd2 - had been up all night with d&v and was totally exhausted and felt really ill - I was praying I wouldn't go into labour that day but sure enough at 11am contractions started 5 mins apart! When we got to the hospital (having set off pretty much straightaway) I was told I was almost 10cm dilated and it was too late for an epidural - at which point I burst into tears! I felt so terrible. Lovely anaesthetist took pity on me and gave me an epidural. Labour was 8 hours in the end, probably double what it would have been if I hadn't had the epidural, but dd2 was fine, no assistance needed (though I did tear).

Ds1 (only 3 years ago) - different story altogether - epidurals no longer routinely offered. I knew I didn't like g&a, and that morphine would probably make me ill, so I had a waterbirth. Absolutely fab, pain was totally manageable. Didn't feel the need for any other pain relief at all. Birth was about four hours from start to finish. Ds had his hand up against his face when he was born and still I didn't tear.

Ds2 - different hospital, no pool . Gave birth on land (though spent some of it in a bath), on my own (ie without dh, there were midwives there!), not the best experience - but I think that was more down to dh not being there than anything else. Did find it harder than having ds1 - transition was horrible - but I had good care and ds2 was fine. One small tear but I persuaded them not to stitch it and it healed fine.

(Incidentally, between ds1 and ds2 I had my appendix out and was given morphine intravenously - it did weird things to my brain - I was wailing and crying apparently! - so v. glad I didn't try using it during labour)

oh, i forgot to say that i also laboured in a pool for a while but found that pretty underwhelming too. it didn't help the pain and i just ended up feeling pissed off that i was all pruney.

DD1 - epidural. Didn't plan it, wanted to go with the flow. Turns out she was back to back and her right hand was up above her ear, cupping her head. She was born via forceps delivery.

DD2 - nowt. Because of the epi first time round, I didn't realise how far progressed my labour was. By the time I arrived at hospital, I was over 9cm dilated, only a lip of cervix in the way, so no time for other pain relief. G&A made me puke. It hurt so bad I wanted to die, but there was no help for it.

DS - I would like to try water and/or diamorphine if hte pain gets too bad, but will see how it goes.

Had 3 babies and didn't have pain relief with any of them

Furst time I didn't want any but was prepared to have some if I needed it. However had booked myslef into an activebirth unit so knew I'd only be able to have gas & air and only if I asked. The pain was bad but I dealt with it by thinking 'it's going to get a lot worse than this'. And anyway I arrived at the hossier 10cms dilated and ready to push so would have left it too late anyway. That and I used a tens amchine which in itself I believe to be utterly useless but trying to work out if it was on and was I using it correctly etc distracted me throughout the contactions so it worked well in the sense.

Number 2 - had a home birth and didn't occor to me to have pain relief. However this was a lot more painful, contractions very fierce havibng been bought on by castor oil and a bigger baby. But again it was a case, with me, of keeping calm, staying in control and thinking 'i can do this'. This time I got in teh bath to labour and DP poured water from a jug onto my belly. Didn't stop the pain but it ws the distraction thing again.

DD3 - I had another home birth but this time bought a pool. Water was an amzing pain killer. This time I had a silent labour and very much used breathing to control the pain along witht he water.
Only after the birth and I was being examined did I this time ask for gas & air and set about laughing so hard, it was great!

Gas and air. Planned on nothing but was persuaded to have g+a and was glad of it in the end.
Something injectible for stitches plus more g+a.
Good outcome all round I thought. It didn't hurt as much as I'd expected and I could cope.

TENS machine and gas and air for me. I was open minded about pain relief beforehand as had no idea how painful it would be or how I would cope with the pain, but ideally didn't want pethidine because of the effect on the baby and didn't want an epidural because i am a bit phobic about being numb/paralyzed. in the event, i found the pain was quite manageable until the final stages, by which point i was too far gone to do anything other than soundtrack my contractions with a series of operatic screams go with it.

the TENS machine in conjunction with breathing/humming/mooing was brilliant, but i was really underwhelmed with the gas and air, it did very little for me. i still used it when they were stitching me up though.

DD1 - pethedine so I could have some sleep after being in on/off labour for 24 hours. Then gas and air and then an epidural(lovely) when they started the oxytocin. I think the pethdine made her very sleepy and reluctant to latch on.

I had always thought I would have some sort of pain relief and as soon as I was strapped to a bed being induced and monitored I went straight for the epidural.

dd2 - (PROM again!) Started with gas and air when I hit established labour and then moved onto an epidural a few hours later. It was a very busy night on the labour ward (13 babies born in a 12 bed unit) and the midwife was very absent.

I asked for paracetamol when I thought things were getting a bit painful with dd1, and found that I was fully dilated after being sickwith the paracetamol.
Gas and air from then on. Didn't feel I needed anything more (although would have asked for something more for stitches afterwards if I'd been thinking straight - They really hurt)

General anaesthetic for dd2

Gas and air for ds. Was enough for me, helped by a relatively short labour and quick delivery.

wrote on birth plan that I didn't want any painrelief unless absolutely necessary. Ha

Started off with TENS machine that was ripped off and thrown soon after I entered the delivery room as every time I tried to get on the bed the wires got caught, came out adn gave me an electric shock. Plus by then it was doing fuck all.

Ended up with gas and air (bit through first mouthpiece so had to be replaced), pethadine, and an epidural that was topped up 3 or 4 times (I could still feel my lower half, but not the pain so didn't affect me as some did). I also was given stuff to force the contractions (2 types as first didn't work).

I had a ventouse and an episthingy (where they cut you) and collapsed shortly after as had lost lots of blood (got given 3 litres afterwards).

Was not an easy birth adn came out thinking at least I didn't have to have the emergency c-section they were threatening me wtih.

Am pleased I had the pain relief as remember little of the birth - which in my case was a good thing. I remember the important parts, but have forgotten the stuff that left my dp shaking.

I'm quite happy the amount of stuff I had as the outcome could have been a lot worse as there were problems. Was in hospital for 5 days in the end (mixture of problems with ds and with me), but a c-section would have been harder to recover from I think, and I'm glad I managed to avoid it.

with dd it was a very long labour, over 48hrs

at first I wanted as natural as possible and for the first 24rhs of proper active labour I used a tens which was fine

but after a couple of days of not sleeping was susceptible to suggestion and was given Pethadine this was awful I felt paralysed but still in pain, absolute hell

eventually I had an epidural which am sure delayed labour even further but managed a VD without extra assistance

Oh and both mine were spine to spine to, ds had cord wrapped around his neck three times, and dd was a brow presentation.

Midwife said 'goodness me, you don't do easy babies do you'

I'm not doing any more either.

I didn't have any pain relief drugs except for a local whilst the ventouse was done. I did use a birthing pool which should be classed a pain relief IME.

I'm in the Netherlands and there is no pain relief offered for home births (and yes, that includes gas and air). I was quite happy with that and prepared to go to hospital if I couldn't hack it.

In the end I had to go to hospital for a ventouse delivery after the stupid MW forced me to push for an hour with no urge to push I was given an injection of local before it was done and more local for the stitches.

TBH I the pain wasn't as bad as I had expected, I mean it was fucking bad, but I could handle it fine.

Gas& Air and diamorphine twice.

Went straight into established labour so nothing for first 30mins, G&A for an hour, diamorhpine (didn't work), requested epidural but had to wait, told 2 hours later it was time to push and too late for epidural so panicked and asked for more diamorphine...didn't work but distracted me for a while.

G&A for stitches (ouch)

Just paracetamol aferwards as didn't want any more spacey drugs. Baby was prem and sleepy (from my diamorhpine probably!) and I wanted to be as alert as possible.

I had pethedine with DD1, the G&A made me dizzy. Pethedine was great.

With DD2, different HA, no pethedine, only diamorphine. It worked as pain relief, but I was hallucinating, started to feel paranoid and had a couple of major panic attacks. Diamorphine was horrible.

My only thoughts pre-labour were that I didn't want an epidural.

If I have another DC, I'll have to do without pain relief, unless the HA have started using pethidine.

DS1, induced, MW offered pethadine, I had no idea what it was but if it helped 'take the edge off' as she told me, I thought it can't be a bad thing. Once the pethadine had kicked in I knew nothing else, when I came round after DS1 was born found I'd had an epidural which apparently didn't work until I tried to stand up to go to the post-natal ward.

DS2, also induced, had banned any mention of pethadine, used the G&A mouth piece to bite on from about 7cm, but didn't get any good lung fulls of G&A throughout the labour. Think I had about 3 proper puffs of it when she started stiching me up after, but soon realised that actually stitching isn't any more painful than an injection so put it down.

This time, as long as there is a G&A mouth piece to hand, I'll be fine (...she says shitting it very bravely)

DS, 1st baby back to back (copy that comment RS - still is in fact!) didn't get much pain releif (waters broke early morning, presented at delivery suite that evening, didn't want to check progress as infection risk), two paracetamol and voltoral were all that was offered when my DM demanded something!! I did have tens but frankly was wondering from loo to bed to back again and it just got in a bloody annoying tangle and I didn't get a chance to read the instructions to know there was a boost button. Eventually given G + A minutes before discovering that I was in fact fully dilated. Thought that is was heaven in a mouthpiece.

DD was totally different, induced so slow build up which I didn't have with DS. waters were broken for me and tried again with the tens. The midwife told me it was working but you could have bloody fooled me. Especially when about half an hour after giving birth i still had the pads on and could feel nothing.

This time I got given G + A at 5 cms as the pain was immense. First few puffs and I cried out that 'It's not working! I want an epidural!!' DD born within about an hr weighing in at 10 and a half pounds. I often wonder if it was the induction or the big baby that made this labour so painful and have told DP that I'll have to have another to find out. Dp however believes we don't really need to know!

First labour, first 30 hours (oh yes) nothing but breathing and massage, then gas and air, once they put me on oxytocin, then a spinal when the tit of a consultant announced 'hmm it will have to be forceps and you're going to need a big episiotomy I'm afraid' .
Having the spinal was horrendous, (no, I'm sorry you can't take gas and air to theatre with you and please can you not push, grrrrrrrrr), but once it was done it was great, after being in very painful labour for 36 hours the midwife saying 'now I'll let you know when you are having a contraction, so you know when to push' was like a dream come true.

Second labour was very quick so just a bit of gas and air for pushing.

As far as I was concerned gas and air was fantastic, no sickness, just like being hopelessly pissed to the point where nothing seems to matter, but wears off really quickly.

Gas and air and a TENS machine with dd. Didn't want to have anything else because of poss effects on baby and increased likelihood of intervention.

Will let you know about ds in a few days!

I planned to have an epidural, largely because of fears about internals - I finally got one after 12 hours of very slow and painful labour. It mostly worked, but left some painful spots - and I think it did help slow down an already slow labour though it's impossible to know for sure. Everything stalled and I ended up with a CS after another non-dilating 12 hours.

While having the epi put in, I had gas and air and was really surprised how effective it was - I loved it. The pain was so bad, I'd assumed G&A wouldn't do much. If there's a next time I'd want to try G&A on its own.

Decided beforehand I would not want pethidine or anyhting that could affect the baby.

Tried TENS at antenatal classes and hated the sensation, so that was out.

my pain relief (2nd time around) was the hot water tap - or rather the hot water coming from the tap, as was an unassisted home birth. Oh and TENS machine prior to getting in the bath, and bach rescue remedy

1st time around, pain relief was gas and air and TENS

I do wonder if the size of DD had anything to do with how much more difficult it was. she was 7lb 3oz the boys were 10lb 2oz and 9lb 10oz respectivly.

DS1 Half a paracetamol, i was 18 i think the midwives thought i'd have hours to go, so ignored me mostly untill he was nearly out

DS2 Gas and air, he was back to back and it hurt!

DD Gas and air, it lasted forever the little minx had her head sitting squint in the birth canal.

I didn't feel i needed anything more with any of them, although some attention when labouring with DS1

I had PE with my first PG and was drugged up to the eyeballs and couldnt feel a thing!

Between contractions, which I couldnt feel, everyone else geared up to it and I sat there - pushing - and then asked the MW during the contraction if she was going home yet or staying with me for the duration! Everyone laughed but I thought it was relevant!!

DS1 and I were quite ill afterwards and it took a long time to get back to normal.

With ds2 I gave birth in Italy and NO PAIN RELIEF was available - nowt, niente, nada! so as soon as I was offered a waterbirth I went for it and it was fab! I was fine and ds was fine and we went home after 3 days and the recovery was much speedier than first time round.

Tens machine and gas and air (what a wonderful invention that stuff is!) only - no time for anything else, and no real need as it was all so quick.

oh - and dd was back to back and 9lb 12oz

Was fully intending to have any pain relief I wanted/needed (including epidural)

Had paracetamol (v. early stages) and TENS machine. It wasn't as painful as I had anticipated and was also quicker so I was able to manage the pain. I was just starting to get tired and thinking I might need something else (gas and air) when I was told I was fully dilated so didn't need it. Had loads of it for the stitches after though

Didn't want much pain relief beforehand, and managed to get through both labours with a tens machine. Briefly tried one puff of gas and air and vomited. The midwife took it off me straight away.

Labour was every bit as painful as I had expected, second labour was more so, but he was just under 10lbs and I think that made a difference to me. First baby was 7lb 6oz and I delivered her myself.

Definitely didn't fancy pethidine because I had heard it can affect baby. Didn't want epidural cause don't like needles.

Tens took the edge off the pain, but no more. And at the end of the labour, I don't think it made any difference at all.

i had gas and air only as had been told i wouldn't be able to have an epidural so i had to deal with it

i just listened to my body - was upright and mobile/squatting and it was all ok

What helped was 2 birth partners to support me through it - no doubt at all how much that helped

Was euphoric after delivery; told DH i "would be doing that again"

DS was also back to back <<awkward bugger baby>>

I had gas and air from 6cm, mostly to stop me throwing up. But it did work. Only downside was that I scratched my face badly on the mouthpiece by leaning on it

The best things were the non drug though - really hard back massage and a hot flannel on my back (DS was OP), and my lovely doula

I never got to a point where I wasn't coping, so never got to thinking about other pain relief

no pain relief apart form gas and air
no reason why

oh GOD NO abby

I didnt have pain relief in my first labour because I had heard so many horror stories about giving birth that I had it in my head that I was going to feel like I was going to die.
So when I didn't I just knew it was going to get worseso I thought I would save my options for when it hurt more.
The point where I felt I couldn't do it any more was as DS1 was crowning and by then it was too late.
I did however have gas and air for my stitches and it made me feel so tipsy that I started talkig to my midwife about bum sex as she stuck her finger up my bum to make sure she hadn't stitched right through

DS2 I already knew I could cope with the pain so was much more relaxed about it all. same as above for gas and air with stitches though.

i had a homebirth, assumed i'd have g and air. but put on my birth plan that i'd ask for it, didn't want things forced on me.
forgot i'd written it
was thinking about other things
no pain relief

(natal hypnotherapy cd on a loop though...)

More site stuff going on Chez Abs. Oh, it's been a laugh a minute here, what with tales of flying ventouse, vile forceps and other gory bits and pieces.

But now, at last, a less thorny subject: drug use.

So, did you have pain relief? If so, did you plan to have it beforehand or was it something you decided on during labour. At what point did you have it - and what methods did you use? Did they work? If so, how long for? Were there any drawbacks for you, your labour or your baby?

And if you didn't have pain relief was it because you were adamant that you wanted a "natural labour" (and before anyone gets uppity about my using that term, you know what I mean, so let's not go down that route, eh? ) or was it simply that, for you, labour wasn't as painful as you expected/you have a very high pain threshold etc.

So, bring on your tales - I'll be most grateful.