can a midwife turn off the gas and air - please resolve my argument with DH once and for all!

[bethylou]

During labour with DS2 this year, I was getting on very well with the gas and air and, as a side effect, was feeling really quite drunk. I vividly remember the midwife doing some observations and then fiddling with some switches on the wall/monitor etc.. Shortly after that, the effects of the gas and air wore off completely. The room came back into view properly, and with it the discomfort.

At this point, I asked why she had turned off the gas and air and she said she hadn't and could not do it. DH is convinced that I was just going a bit bonkers at this point and that the midwife was telling the truth. I am utterly convinced, however, that she did turn it off! After arguing about it for a while, the midwife did more checks etc.. and the gas and air magically started working again!

To any of you who are midwives or doulas, can you finally put this discussion to bed for us after 9 months?!!

bump

yes then can, my mw told me to let go of my mask when i was pushing but i wouldnt so she un plugged it so i had hold of the mask but nothing was going in to it

I'm pretty sure she can. Not quite the same thing but with my DD I remember shouting "its not working"!! The midwife argued that it must be working as it was from the 'mains', not a canister. Cue more shouting from me .. when she checked she found the valve was broken so the G & A wasn't coming through. I knew I was right!

No, we can't turn it off if iot is mains connected. WE could unplug it but it would have been obvious to your DH if she had I think as it takes a little force and makes a big noise. The valve can break on the mouthpiece but it wouldn't start working again it it had.

Why on earth would she have turned it off though?

Mine was in bottles so more obvious but my rubbish second midwife kindly turned it off 18 hours in and an hour into pushing 'to help me concentrate'. Shame she wasn't concentrating when i was telling her something didn't feel right, I had no urge to push and thought my DS was stuck.
Only took another hour before she decided maybe I needed an em c section after all. He was indeed stuck LOT oh and he was 55cm tall!

First midwife was a treasure, notice my mooing changed pitch at one point and realised my precious cannister of gas and air had run out so legged it down the corridor for more - so much better than the other one and she wasn't even qualified.

Yes - they can also lie. I may have (did) clamped my legs together and refused to be examined until they gave me the pethadine injection that I had been asking for for over an hour.

So they inject my leg, and hour later DS is born, and I'm having the most shocking after pains. MW offers me some co dydramol.
"Can I take these with pethadine" says I? To which she replies - "oh we only gave you anti-sickness"

Mine did when she wanted me to push out the baby. I liked the stuff too much

Loulou - that cracked me up, but how dreadful! After the laughter ended I felt so cross for you!

And yes, G & A can most definitely be turned off. And yes, midwives can also lie to get you to shut up!

Oh my God what mean midwives!!

Mine was lovely and made sure she had the next canister lined up for me when I was worried about it running out.

She did ask me to stop when I was pushing which was actually ok, and then she gave it back to me for the stitches afterwards - I was sorry to see it go, I was having such a lovely time, cracking jokes etc!

Oh my god this makes me so so furious and I'm not even having any more dc's. My birth plans simply said the following

"Do not under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES humour me or try to trick me into going without pain relief. If I say I need it, I mean it. Thank you."

It was the one thing I was terrified of and I warned DH not to go along with any cajoling

I think I'd have stabbed anyone who took my G&A mouthpiece thing off me. It was my surrogate precious baby during all my labours - I'd have stepped in front of a bus to protect that gas thingy. I was cradling it between contractions.

Lol Hassled - me too! They had to prise it from me

The funny thing is, I'm the type who'd have said, "Okay I'll try for a 10 minute break if you think I'm too far out of it" but, if she did turn it off, it completely ruined my confidence in her! I was very cross with her and DH is still laughing about it now. Then they told me I was 9cm and I wouldn't believe them either, saying, "You're just telling me that to try and keep me going. I'm only about 5 really!" DS2 appeared about 40mins later so they weren't lying then!!