Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Flip

Original poster

Is this normal or am I a lightweight?

23 replies

ShinyMoonInAPurpleSky · 19/04/2011 17:22

I had my baby 8 months ago but I have wondered about this for a while...

I've watched OBEM and seen women on G&A chatting away, walking around and sometimes even having a great time!

I walked round and was active etc from the onset of labour but for the last 2 hours, from when I asked for G&A I was practically nearly unconscious! I was physically incapable of even turning my head when asked, never mind standing and walking. I was flat out on my back and dh had to keep dragging me up the bed to stop me sliding off the end! I don't remember anything about how long it took, who was there, who spoke to me, what I was asked - just a sort of fuzzy whiteness with contractions inbetween. DH said he had to tell me to "breath in, breath out" or I wouldn't breathe at all for some of it!

Once my body began pushing on it's own I regained some sort of awareness (because it bloody hurt more than the contractions!!!)

He thinks it's because I have never been drunk or experienced any other type of intoxication and that it worked more than it should have done because my stomach was completely empty (because I took one gasp of g&a and threw up - again dh says it's because I'm a lightweight!). I hear so many people saying that g&a didn't work for them when in my case it seemed to work a little too well!

Anyone else experienced anything similar or am I a weirdo?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

frida75 · 19/04/2011 17:33

I want a bit peculiar on G&A too! I was convinced that it was making my voice squeaky like when you inhale helium, I was very silly and giggly to start with but I got used to the sensation. I'm sure I heard once that one toot of gas and air is equal to 10 gin and tonics so It's no wonder really!!

TurtlesAreRetroRight · 19/04/2011 17:37

I reacted very, very badly to G&A. I'm teetotal and have never taken drugs beyond paracetamol. I was so out of control I just sank into myself. Nothing made sense to me. I have a lot of gaps in my memory surrounding dd's delivery.

I don't think there is a 'normal'.

Original poster

ShinyMoonInAPurpleSky · 19/04/2011 17:41

Ooh turtles, you sound like me! I can't talk about ds's delivery without having to ask dh what actually happened!

You see frida I would have loved to go all silly like that

OP posts:

TurtlesAreRetroRight · 19/04/2011 17:44

Do you know I have no idea how I changed out of my clothes into a hospital gown. I know when dd was born (emcs) I was in a gown. I entered the hospital in clothes. No idea what happened to my clothes.

pettyprudence · 19/04/2011 17:44

erm.... i thought gas and air didn't really have any effect on me other than to regulate my breathing through contractions. I am either a g&a heavyweight or in total denial about my state during labour

TurtlesAreRetroRight · 19/04/2011 17:49

I was a birth partner for my friend who said the g&a didn't affect her. And that will remain the official party line.

She was clucking and snorting with laughter at the fact that 'I'm laying, I'm laying'. Yes dear.

ConfessionsOfAnAchingFanjo · 21/04/2011 11:14

at your friend Turtles

As well as feeling really thick headed and almost numb (in my face, still felt the contractions) I nearly started hallucinating on the G&A (and I'm sorry to say I'm not teetotal)! At least when feeling like that got to much I could stop and have a few breathes of air to clear my head.

hotcrossbarry · 21/04/2011 11:49

my face went totally numb, and my lips sort of tingly on G&A, and I vomited after each puff. I kept throwing the mouthpiece as far away from me as possible because I hated it so much! I only used it for about 30 minutes, and that was plenty for me! I rarely drink, and when I do, am pished after a single swig :o same with caffiene or anti histamines - a single swig of a caffienated beverage gets me high, and half an anti histamine knocks me out. I'm very cheap to maintain :)

WidowWadman · 21/04/2011 18:30

I felt totally sick on G&A and was completely out of it, very unpleasant, really. It did nothing for the pain, either.

TheBananaFaceOfEvil · 21/04/2011 18:45

I went a bit bonkers on G&A. I went through a phase in active labour where my body felt like it was turning itself inside out and emptying itself with every contraction. I heard running water and realised I was weeing on the floor . DH saw what was happening, ran and got some paper towels and cleaned up, only for me to do it again straight away, and I started giggling, "Tee hee - I weed on the floor again! Ha ha!". I PMSL. Literally.

violetwellies · 22/04/2011 16:09

Oh Banana Face thank-you, I nearly PMSL at that. I'm 35+2 and getting in a right sweat about the impending delivery, all my fears have vanished I want some of your gas & air :)

Bunbaker · 22/04/2011 16:12

G & A did absolutely nothing for me either. I gave up on it and just managed on TENS.

TryLikingClarity · 23/04/2011 09:35

When I took my first (lovely) suck of G&A I sighed, turned to midwife and said, "Ohhh, I haven't been this stoned since I was a teenager." She laughed her head off at me

DH told me after DS was born that at one stage on the G&A I turned to him and said, "You have to get out there into town and help that man get himself a new sofa!" Apparently there was an advert for DFS on the radio that touched my heartstrings

In all, I used 1.5 tanks of G&A all to myself! I'm not much of a drinker now I'm in my 20s, but as a teenager I was a bit of a live wire and drank and took some drugs. G&A must have taken me back to those times, and I do think it helped with the pain of childbirth.

Pootletrinket · 23/04/2011 10:46

I used to be a drinking and cannabis heavyweight (quite a few years ago now TBH!) but one puff of G&A made my lips tingle, feel dizzy and throw up- couldn't bear to try another puff!! Guess it's different horses for different courses!

Okonomiyaki · 23/04/2011 16:19

I was totally out of it on the gas and air, it made my sense of time go really peculiar. I had flashbacks to my early teens (god knows why!) with phrases and tunes repeating over and over. I wee'd on the floor too! Didn't give a monkey's.

There was a tv on the wall that I only saw for the first time about 5 hours in due to my general spaciness and when I did notice it the Jeremy Kyle show was playing. Fucking Jeremy Kyle I thought, how dare he barge into my son's birth!

I then spontaneously took all my clothes off just before my ds arrived and topped everything off by FLIRTING with the midwife who did my stitches. I offered to send her flowers, I think.

I will definitely be requesting it next time. :o

5inthebed · 23/04/2011 16:23

I had G&A when I was getting the drain removed after my ELCS for DS3, and I was high as a kite for hours,. The poor midwife had to look after DS3 as I couldn't even hold him

nbee84 · 23/04/2011 16:44

I think G&A did what it was supposed to for me.

When I got to the hospital I was at the point where the pain was making me panic. The pains were still horrendous but the G&A dulled the pain enough to stop me panicking. 20 mins later ds arrived

PenguinArmy · 23/04/2011 19:29

It did a similar thing to me, I ended up having a asthma attack as it messed up my normal breathing.

Poppet45 · 24/04/2011 15:58

I didn't use any til 7cms then went through 6 cannisters . I have huge gaps in my memory of labouring with DS... in fact I think I came too midway through my failed pushing stage from frankly god knows where I'd drifted off to. I then proceeded to walk from my failed water birth, starkers, down the corridor for my emcs, with a midwife chasing me with a sheet. Fabulous stuff.

lynehamrose · 25/04/2011 16:52

No way are you a light weight if you gave birth on just gas and air. I used it during my labours and found it made me' very woozy, but then I moved on to epidural with both my babies as I couldn't cope with that much pain. So 'no way are you a light weight.

AnaYorks · 25/04/2011 17:59

Had a couple of puffs just before delivery and seemed to have no effect at all. However, I don't think I can have been using it properly because used it while having stitches afterwards and it was amazing - like two margaritas! I was happily hammered :) but coherent enough to keep myself at that stage and no more. G&A worked really well for me at that point - it is so individual.

rubybambini · 26/04/2011 16:31

I used it, and 3x50ml doses of pethidine to get fully dilated, then couldn't hack it any more and asked for an epidural. The g&a and pethidine were just distractions and not pain killers for me - made me a bit woozy. Kept throwing the g&a mouthpiece away too.

Only two things killed the pain - a long bath at about 4cm, and then the epidural. I would say you are definitely not a lightweight!

frakyouveryverymuch · 26/04/2011 16:45

I fecking loved G&A - I was really high! Kinda like trylikingclarity! I dont drink or do drugs or even take painkillers unless I'm dying.

It depends how much you take though. In transition when I first got my hands on it I was taking huge gulps and felt quite disconnected, like the one time I got stoned. When I used it at the end to actually get the baby out I was more judicious in my inhalation (so basically not every breath) and was much more lucid.

Flip