To want the pain relief

[kittycat84]

I'm 7 due till due date!! And it's only just starting to sink in that I've going to go through labour! 😱!

I want a epidural from the start!! I'm so scared and it's starting to stress me out! Everyone keeps giving me there stories and opinions and the underline feeling I'm getting is go natural! No pain relief just "gas and air for me" 🙄!
All this pressure from people ! Some I hardy know.

Back story of I lost my first at 18 weeks, felt all of that! I'm so scared, it's prob not even about the pain just the what if something goes wrong,
Aibu to want a epidural from the start! I want to be relaxed as possible, just seems so much pressure to not have any pain relief,
Stressed 😖

Thought I’d share my experience with NCT course and pain relief advice.
We just finished our NCT course today and I have been impressed. Though I think a lot is down to the individual leader.

Ours asked us all (by email before the first session) what we were thinking/planning for birth and she was brilliant at keeping the course relevant to our answers rather than pushing any agenda.

All 5 women on the course said they wanted an MLU or hospital birth and were interested in pain relief. I felt that we just got the facts on each pain management method, how they worked, what they felt like, timings etc. No scare stories at all.

We did get lots of info about natural pain management too and reasons not to be frightened of labour but ‘natural’ birth was not presented as being innately better.

Overall I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of info and lack of preaching.

That's really good Laurel, I think it's important for them to not be judgemental before birth as no one can predict what they will want really. Labour is such a new thing, I don't think anyone really knows how they will react until it happens.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and good luck for the birth. The best advice anyone ever gave me was to keep an open mind and that the outcome of the birth is the only important thing. Doesn't matter how you get there.

If someone breaks their leg they don't do it 'naturally' (aka without pain relief!)

I broke my leg badly when I was pregnant and because of the baby they would only give me paracetamol and gas and air. They wanted to reset the dislocated bones like that too 😭 I would have killed for an epidural then