How on earth do women give birth without epidurals?

[Begaydocrime94]

genuine question, for those of you who have given birth without epidurals, how?? Just gave birth for the second time and was hoping for no epidural this time but caved pretty much immediately. How do women cope without? Do some women just cope better with pain etc?

I’ve been around a pretty long time and birthed 3 children and had a lot of painful conditions, operations etc

ive to conclusion we all experience different types of pain differently. No one of us has a universal high tolerence to pain. Some people’s agony is another’s “bloody hell that hurt “ or even “ouch” AND vice versa.
whether is birth, broken bones, stones, abdominal pain, cancer, heart attacks none of us can tell someone else how we will experience that pain

We all have different neurological wiring, we all have different physiologies, we can all end up with a sensitised pain pathway where the brain perceives pain in increasing vigilance.

if you are in pain, rate it. Then Ask for pain relief. Push as hard as you can if you’re not getting what you need. But as stories above verify we, particualrly as women, get our pain minimised very often. There’s no medals for withstanding any pain. There are no magic tricks to avoid your pain, other than the obvious trying to relax and removing fear and that only works for some pain. It’s certainly not a flipping competition . Do not compare your ability to manage any pain to other women’s experience- it’s a fruitless search that will lead you no where

I dilated very quickly too, but I am thankful that the epidural was possible.
My biggest regret was the pethidine. DS was very drowsy and had to be helped to take his first breath.

1st time happened so quick i wasnt even in the hospital long enough for them to check how dilated i was. 2nd was a bit longer than the 1st but not long enough to have time to asked for anything else except the gas and air. 3rd one i wish i got one as i got the drip thing in my hand to bring my labour on but he was stuck so took hours before he came out

A male perspective here. I had an epidural during emergency surgery. It went wrong and the surgeons were very worried that it would paralyse me. Fortunately I recovered but it was a worrying time. Epidurals are not without risk and not a thing to be embarked on without good reason.

Head circumference makes a huge difference as does your own anatomy. We are not all built the same nor are babies the same size. If you go privately you will be guided from scans as to which way you should go C Sec or even attempt natural. Obviously the 3rd world NHS does not offer such guidance!

3 births and no pain relief apart from gas and air for any of them! People are always amazed and think I'm some hynobirthing goddess but the truth is all of my labours were super fast and was told it was too late. I think I asked the first 2 times but by the third I don't think I bothered as knew it was happening fast again and what the answer would be!

No choice as went too fast. The pain was hideous. Asked for it but no time. Gas and aired off my head.

I believe we have different body types and levels of pain so don't buy into anyone who tries belittle your toughness or suggest lack thereof when it comes to pain relief

Nope. In my case pethidine and gas and air (which did nothing) and it hurt like hell (40+ years ago)

I had drug free births. If I’m honest, I didn’t find it that painful. I didn’t have any sort of plan the first time, I thought I’d need drugs but I didn’t. The second time, I knew I’d not want any drugs.

Weirdly it was a cannula I was focused on and dreaded getting, don't know what it is but I have a real 'thing' about them, can't look at one if visiting someone in hospital or I start coming out in a cold sweat. Had one in within about 5 minutes of landing in the delivery room though, and told DP he d have to sit the other side of me as I couldn't look that side any more.

This happened to me too, as my waters had only broken annd contractions started 15 minutes before it became excruciating, although they begrudgingly gave me some pethidine. One sleepy hour and 2.5 hours of pushing (made worse by still having the pethidine in my system) and baby was here

'Do some women just cope better with pain etc?'

Yes, that's definitely the case.
However, there are obviously other factors such as the position of the baby, the shape and of mum's pelvis relative to baby, how effective uterine contractions are in progressing the labour, etc

Ooh this - I had a cannula with my second because I needed anti sickness and they wanted one in just in case. It was the worst part of labour by far, it was huge and so uncomfortable 😂

Apparently it was “way too early” for an epidural, born 45 minutes later. 😫

Really painful but not frightening as you know once the baby's out the pain is pretty much gone. Though the womb contracting can be somewhat "ouch".

Even a slight unexplained pain has me googling, however.

I had an epidural with my first but opted for paracetamol and gas & air with my second and third. I like being able to walk, move and control my body. It hurts, but at least you get a cute baby at the end of it.

I definitely think we all experience things differently. I was already 6cm dilated when I went to the birth centre and managed perfectly fine until that point. I did end up asking for an epidural later on as the pain was very bad but my labour was pretty quick and I was already 9cm by that point so it was too late. I had severe mastitis and a breast abscess at around 6 weeks postpartum and found that pain worse as there just seemed no escape for days on end and I was only allowed to take paracetamol as was breastfeeding.

I'm currently pregnant again and planning on not having an epidural this time but I am also open minded as it really will depend on how things go during labour.

I’ve had multiple large babies without pain relief ( no hypno-birthing either!) but I also walked around with a femoral fracture for a month before my physio sent me for an MRI so can only surmise that my pain receptors are a bit sleepy.

My labours were painful and I think with each subsequent I became less excited about the experience, I found the feeling of pushing and the baby moving down way worse than the contractions, I hate the 2nd stage. I think I probably have a fairly wide pelvis which also helped. The broken bone pain was much worse but I suspect that’s because there was no baby at the end, just surgery and rehab!

I didn’t have a choice sadly! Got sent home from hospital in early labour only for things to progress so quickly that I didn’t make it back until I was 10cm.. no way I could have anything but gas and air!

I did ask but midwife kept putting me off, she was secretly sure I could go without.
Gas and air was good.

I had had an epidural with my first but i dont think it worked. It didn't block the pain at all and the gas and air was also turned off. Another midwife came on shift and it on finally.

DD came out as they were getting me ready to go to theatre for an emergency caesarean - they offered me an epidural for it, but I said I'd rather it was a general, but in the end I had neither.

I had epidurals with all of mine, and had no problems with it and didn't need to have any interventions. But if it wasn't an option to have them, I could hardly stop the birth and refuse to continue could I? I have a high pain threshold and I'm sure I would have coped, I just didn't see any advantage in experiencing pain if I didn't have to.

I suspect a lot of people who give birth without pain relief have quick labours which make the whole thing much less difficult, if mine had been long I would have absolutely needed an epidural.

I didn't have pain relief for the birth of my DC. I have a fairly high pain threshold and I felt I'd be alright. I enjoyed giving birth to be honest - intense contractions, but I kind of enjoyed the birthing part each time.

I know how lucky I am to have had straightforward births (bloody big babies though )

I had my daughter at home where I felt safe, low lights, I could move freely, I had no sweeps or intervention, 2 midwives who monitored but didn't interfere and a birth pool.

A woman who goes into a brightly lit hospital with staff she doesn't know and is told to birth on her back isn't going to have the same experience with the pain management. Especially if she is having an induction which a vast amount of women do nowadays

In fact more than half of women have an induction or c-section now, which if you think about it is fucking crazy