So - those of you who DIDN'T have an epidural

[Cleofartra]

.... and are OK about not having had one, and don't feel cheated or traumatised, what do you think made it possible for you to cope without one?

Given the comments on the other thread about giving birth being similar to the pain of a catastrophic injury or having surgery without anaesthesia, women who haven't given birth might be surprised that ANYONE manages without an epidural and comes out the other side with their mental health intact.

So - what made it possible for you to do without an epidural and feel ok about it afterwards?

Short, uncomplicated labour?

High pain thresh-hold?

Good care?

Other pain relief worked well for you?

In summary - I got excellent care, plus it was all very straightforward and short.

I wanted to avoid one, as I'd read and panicked (probably unduly) about possible side-effects - and, more importantly, a couple of friends had recently had bad experiences, like multiple attempts to get the needle in and/or then left paralysed during the birth. But I had no idea how much it would hurt or how I'd cope, so I was still open to the possibility if I needed it.

In the event, I was induced, so was expecting to need lots of pain relief. But it turned out that breathing, staying active some of the time, going in the birthing pool some of the time, being in a relaxed environment with my dh, a gentle, calm midwife, low lighting, being allowed to howl like a banshee for the bits that hurt, and being upright for the pushing bit were pain relief enough.

They asked if I wanted pain relief quite early on, and I said I didn't at that point, but let's discuss it later. Later, however, I didn't actually think of it - it literally didn't cross my mind - I was just trying to focus on breathing/getting to the end of each contraction - right up until crowning, when I decided that it hurt too much ... about 5 minutes before she was born - so even if I'd thought to ask for pain relief at that stage (which I didn't, as during my lucid moments I could only think to apologise for the howling and for the pooing that I thought I was doing) it would have been way too late.

No idea what I'd have said if they had actively suggested pain relief again!

I did lots of reading and a birth hypnosis cd before, which I think helped me to know what to expect and to relax - but I also think that they would have been useless without the excellent care and/or if the birth had been complicated. (I've not told many people in RL that I had no "proper" pain relief, as people say "wow, well done", whereas I strongly believe it's all about luck - there's no "well done" about it.)

i had three home births. I wasn't scared. my Mum was there. a midwife was there the whole time (though for DD1 i was 6-7 dilated when she got there) - i had had a miscarrage and abortion before which i remember as more painful experiences. most painful was a stop-start-stop miscarriage for which i was at work all day (on temp to perm contract, didn't want to take day off!)

so - good care. good situation. Not frightened, in control. Active labour so i had something to do - i think walking is great for labour - wiggles the baby out, but also i felt like i was doing something constructive.

High pain threshold I think... Laboured at home for about 10 hours and went in when I couldn't bear any more pain even though I wasn't 3 - 4 mins apart. Was 7cm on arrival. 8 hours to get to full dilation and 2 hours pushing. Had G + A and by the time I thought I couldn't do it any more it was waaaay too late for an epidural. In retrospect I wish I'd asked for one on arrival. I found the whole thing really traumatic (meconium in water and losing two pints of blood did not help), and think an epidural would have helped me cope a little.

i didn't strictly have no pain relief either - DH back massage was great for reducing pain. like two massive hot water bottles on my back.

home birth can be viewed as a means of reducing experienced pain too.

Midwives were excellent, reassuring and didn't interfere at all.

I have a history of very low blood pressure, so having something known for lowering blood pressure is not in the cards for me. I also can't do gas & air as I can't stand the dizzy, nauseous feeling I get nor the feeling of not understanding what's going on.

Unlike most, I seem to get through better when I'm just left alone. My best labour so far has been my second - her contractions were wonky 7-15 minutes apart for 24+ hours and as a planned homebirth I was told not to contact anyone til they were consistently 5 minutes apart so I laid in our spare room in the dark and quiet with my husband changing my heating pad every so often, lots of cuddles from my son, and having music on occasionally (though mostly I find noise annoying). It went from wonky contractions to non-stop pushing impulse and she was born 15 minutes later with the paramedics at the door (for some reason, even though I lived in sight of the hospital at the time, the midwifes sent to me were both 45 minutes+ away even at 3AM). It was lovely, even though my husband hated it (I caught the baby and he helped deliver, freaking out as he thought the cord was around her neck - it turned out to be her arms with her elbows out as she was face side up).

My other two births were a lot more painful and stressful (my first a hospital birth, the other a home birth with contractions starting off at 5 minutes apart but still taking almost as long), I believe mostly because the midwives felt like things needed to be done to speed things up, that I need to be more active to get things going when I labour much better in quiet and calm. Sure it takes a while but it's a lot nicer. If I'm blessed enough to have a next time, I'm going to ignore the time between contractions and call them in when I get my signs for transitions (which I find very obvious in me) to hopefully get them in soon enough for delivery (my poor husband does not want to deliver again) but not be there long enough to stress me out. I'll also never having the injection for the placenta again, it only causes me to have pains worse than labour and my placentas to not come out right.

Sorry - ignore last post! Didn't see the bit in the OP about 'felt okay about it after'.

i went into labour determined not to have one. For what reason I can't truly say or rationalise now. I remember wanting a truly natural birth. I had no idea how bad it could hurt, but i trusted i could do it.

I did do it, altho i had gas and air. The post traumatic trauma in my case wasn't worth the pain. I have never felt 'proud' i did it without an epidural.

I wish I hadn't had that birth experience.

mrschemist that would explain it then!

Feel doubly cheated now as it was touted as a good alternative to an epidural, which would take the edge off the pain!
They could have sold it to me with the 'it'll get you caned and take your mind off things' would probably still have had it! :)

I didn't get the option of any pain relief as it was not the cultural norm where I gave birth both times (Japan). They only do epidurals if they think you are heading for a C-section or possibly forceps; no gas and air or anything else, so everyone just gets on with it. They do use a shot of local anaesthetic for episiotomies and stitches, though.

I had a long back-to-back first labour with an attempt to use ventouse, and coped OK. I think if the option isn't there, you just do.

I was more terrified of getting a needle in my spine than getting baby out, also the thought of catheters and being immobile was really off-putting. I'm hospital phobic so wasn't intending to go anywhere near one.

I did an active birth class and read the hypnobirthing book so I had bought into the idea that a'cascade of intervention' which was more likely with an epidural.

DS1 was back to back and I was ambulanced into hospital when my waters broke as there was blood everywhere. I did ask for more pain relief than just gas and air when I got there but it was already too late.

DS2 born at home with a few puffs of gas and air, probably would have had more g&a but the midwife took 3 hours to arrive so there wasn't time to have more.

On the whole I think I've been lucky and if I was to have another I'd try to do the same as my second again. Labour is pretty unpredictable though so you just have to go with whatever works at the time.

I had a quick labour. Couldn't have any pain relief as it wouldn't be working in time. Literally I got to hospital after feeling a few contractions, laid on the bed, got my waters broke by the Midwife and DD was born. All in about 30minutes (including a 10minute car drive)

Well I got gas and air but it didn't work for me so I just held it the tube.

www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/birth/epidural/index.php

I read lots including the above. I hadn't realised the impact of an epidural potentially on the baby. As that article says though it's a cost/benefits assessment really and it's hard to be ojective during labour or before if you don't know how the birth is going to go.

Went to a childbirth class and read up alot on how labour works so felt informed and confident enough to give it a go with only G and A. Of course it was painful but it was my second so knew what to expect. Had an epidural first time and hated the fact it slowed everything down and made me so detached from it all.

I think it's a choice women should make but be fully informed about and don't think they always are.

First birth I went into with a totally open mind and was prepared to just see how I got on.
The shocker was it wasn't as bad as I thought, yes it was painful but one thing that never occured to me was that in between contractions I felt perfectly normal and TBH breaking my foot had been more painful than contractions.
I don't think there was anything magical about how I coped with it, I did have great midwives with me and my mum and friend were a fantastic support.
WHen it came to the second time around I never even considered and epidural as the first time I had been in total control and didn't want to lose that by having one. I was very active and wandered around a lot.

Third time was a homebirth so it wasn't an option anyway.

Taking into account how positive good care has been for most of the people who have posted on this thread - this article is pretty worrying .

Women will be much less likely to get the support they need in labour if the mw's are so stretched.

I hate needles and just the thought of having one in my spine makes me dizzy.
I had 1:1 care first time I gave birth (induced on drip, so monitored continiously) and 1:3 care second time round (midwife, student midwife, studend dr).
it was painfull but managable, I went into the "zone" until I needed to start pushing. knowing it will be over at some point really helped.

the silly thing is though, that a home birth is the cheapest way for a woman to give birth for the NHS. a C/S is the most expensive.

so to save money, they should up provision for home birth, along with information so women are assured of the benfits in low risk cases, i hear so much superstition about it even from well-informed women.

I heard something interesting on Radio 4 the other week (can't remember what programme) but the medical experts were stating quite categorically that , contrary to popular belief) there is very little variation in people's pain threshold - it's all down to how people respond to the pain they feel. In other words, the nervous system works pretty much the same for us all, but other factors - level of fear, physical environment, mental resilience etc - come into play.

I only had an epidural for my CSection - dc1 and 3 were vaginal births without epidural.

This has probably been covered by the thread, but IME the following factors are relevant:

• not comparing giving birth to a catastrophic injury or illness. If you start from the perspective that its a natural function, you can view childbirth quite differently (even thugh the pain level may be that catastrophic injury)

• reading up on various methods of natural pain relief - water, mobility, massage etc. And equally, reading up on epidurals, and accepting that there is a greater risk of intervention. And I'm not saying that as a negative judgement, simply stating the fact that the more armed with knowledge you are about the side effects etc, the more empowered you may feel to do without one

• being in a supportive, unmedicalised environment. I opted for MLU first time, though my dc3 was in hospital as it was a VBAC. Interestingly, I coped better with my first birth (which was longer and more painful, as first ones usually are) than the 3rd.

• having good support in the form of partner/midwife/whoever. My midwife at the MLU was superb.

There is no one simple reason how women cope without epidural, but I think the reasons above contribute to it. I also wonder, on a slight tangent, whether a bad experience of a medicalised birth first time, leads many women to re evaluate, and make the decision to go without epidural next time, because I believe the stats are quite different. My understanding is that about a third of births in total are with epidural in the UK, but actually for first births, the rate is over half. This suggests to me, that even allowing for 2nd and subsequent births usually being easier, there must be an awful lot of women who have an epidural first time but are still very motivated to try without for subsequent babies.

Labour with ds
Long labour only gas and air, nearer the end had pethidine, didnt seem to do much.
Afterwards i was ill and sedated for 2 days!
Labour with dd
Short labour, 3 hours from breaking my waters.
Gas and air with 30 mins to go only. Nothing before the Gas and Air.
Dd was born at 00.30. 18 weeks ago

It is very painful and I dont have a brill pain freshold but when in labour you know you dont have a choice, the baby is coming whether you have pain relief or not

i thought your post on the other thread was great too VH

smooch

TapselteerieO - the article is very disturbing isn't it?

If a campaign to increase the availability of epidurals is successful, but without a corresponding increase in midwives working on labour wards - well, the outcomes could be VERY scary, particularly for those women who are least likely to request an epidural: the very young, new immigrants (who have high rates of stillbirth and pregnancy complications compared to indigenous mothers), working class women.

But I'm afraid that's the NHS all over. In an under-resourced system of health-care attention goes to those who are the most able at making themselves heard......

Epidural with DS1, pethidine with DS2.

Difference with DS2 is that it took 6 hours, first contraction to birth.

DS1 took 20 hours until I had epidural, no sleep for about 36 hours (contractions started in evening). I think exhaustion was the difference.