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Childbirth

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

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Original poster

How many of you would not have had your children or wouldn;t have anymore if you could only have gas and air during labour??

79 replies

MadameCastafiore · 29/08/2011 12:28

Obviously labour with intervention that needs additional pain relief not included.

I would have had another, wasn;t a huge issue for me but wondering on the back of another thread whether it would really put most women off of having children.

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Hassled · 29/08/2011 21:19

I loved Gas&Air. Secretly I don't believe it touched the pain but it made me think about lovely weird stuff (I ran through most of South Pacific in my head with DC4) which helped.

I've only ever had G&A and Pethidine. Pethidine was fantastic for about 15 seconds, and then pointless - but it was a nice 15 seconds.

Boosaphena · 29/08/2011 21:19

I never intended on an epidural however after 2 days of induction pain no sleep for 3 and the onslaught of a forceps delivery I'm extremely glad I gave myself a break and had one. I have to say although my 2nd was a home water birth with no other relief, I'd seriously have had to consider if I could take THAT much pain again. Maybe I'm a woos and a failure for not being stronger, but man that was horrible!

clairefromsteps · 29/08/2011 21:35

I was planning on having a nice natural birth with my twins, mostly pain control with breathing exercises and maybe a bit of gas and air at the end. No problem, I thought, I deal with pain very well. I did OK when I broke my toe, didn't I?

Turns out I DON'T deal with pain very well and labour is a bit different to a broken toe. I lasted about five minutes before I caved and begged for an epidural. I was in so much pain that the anaesthetist had to give me a sedative to get me to calm down enough for him to get the spinal in. Then to add insult to injury I ended up having an EMCS.

It took me five years to work up the courage to have DC3 and I had a planned CS. Nice and calm. The anaesthetist from my previous birth was, unsurprisingly, nowhere to be seen.

lostintransition · 29/08/2011 21:38

I had 2 babies at home with just gas and air. Would do it again tomorrow.

ZhenXiang · 29/08/2011 21:44

Had gas and air and pethidine, pethidine did nothing for the pain anyway just made me 'out of it' so will just be going for gas and air this time round.

Firawla · 29/08/2011 21:44

i had epidural for 2 out of the 3 of mine but if could only have gas & air still wouldnt put me off having more dc. i used g&a with all of them as well as the epidurals, it is great stuff. with my 2nd i was very happy with just that, think its because the other 2 were induced it was more painful. tbh even with no pain relief i dont think it would necessarily stop people having more children, because labour is one day or a couple of days but children are for life so it is worth it.. glad we do have pain relief available though!

Dillydollydaydream · 29/08/2011 22:01

I've never experienced an epidural so I'd be happy with gas & air.
I've had 3 dc.
Dc1- tens, g&a, dc2- tens, dc3- nothing (was delivered at home by Paramedics as he was in a hurry!)

I used to work on labour ward and quite often ladies that had epidurals needed interventions so it has put me off a bit.

SouthernFriedTofu · 29/08/2011 22:08

Epidural scares the holy poo out of me.

I had gas and air and pethadine with dd. Pethadine was rubbish and I realise now not good for the baby. I live in the states now and they don't do Gas and air which I think is fucking diabolical. I don't want an epidural but can imagine screaming for one without the g&a to take the edge off

Hulababy · 29/08/2011 22:12

It wouldn't have put me off in the slightest.

Mind you, as DD was born following failed induction, the full menu of drugs and intevention and 50 hous later a c section -I suspect matters would have been taken out of my hands and neother me or DD would be here at all, full stop.

Lougle · 29/08/2011 22:27

TENS & Gas and Air
Pethidine (NEVER AGAIN) TENS and Gas and Air
TENS and Gas and Air

Gas and air is fab.

BeeBopBunny · 30/08/2011 09:02

That's exactly what happened to me - mw's were too busy to give me anything other than g&a and I only got that when I was 8cm. At the time I said i would never ever do it again, but I would now. Just need to persuade DH...

spudulika · 30/08/2011 09:43

Gas and air, pethidine (never again!), epidural (never again!)
Gas and air
Gas and air

LOVE g&a. Wish they sold it for recreational purposes!

There was a point with number three that I remembered pushing out ds1 (11lbs) without any pain relief (wasn't using gas and air for second stage) and thought 'oh bollocks - I don't want to do that again!'). But opting for an epidural would have involved too many compromises in relation to the other things which were important to me - having my baby at home, not being separate from DH, having an independent midwife care for me, having an active birth.

exoticfruits · 30/08/2011 09:58

Epidurals would scare me-something to avoid. No one ever saw me before I was 8cm dilated so it was too late for anything other than gas and air.

exoticfruits · 30/08/2011 10:00

Number 3 none saw me early on, they wouldn't take me seriously when I said 'excuse me, I am about to have my baby'. When they finally examined me, I said 'can I push' she said 'yes' and that was that! There was no time for even gas and air.

bagelmonkey · 30/08/2011 10:10

I planned to give G&A a go, but decided I'd have an epidural if I felt I needed it (was being induced)
In the end, by the time I asked if I could have any pain relief it was time to push, so I didn't get to use the G&A anyway. Got a local anaesthetic injection for the episiotomy for forceps bit though, so didn't feel that much.
Labour only lasted about 2 hours though. Think I might have asked for an epidural if it had been as long as a lot of other peoples labours!
Would still have more if no happydural available.

PamSco · 30/08/2011 10:11

Great thread. I'm a new mum and am planning a hypnobirth but so curious what I'll be like in the heat of the moment. I want babs to be drug free so i want to be as well. But hell will I be able to do it, find out in 2 months

My mum LOVED g&a so I'd like it for afterwards and a g&t.

debka · 30/08/2011 11:51

I had G&A for the first. Nothing for the 2nd, was quite looking forward to a bit more G&A but she came too quick! I'd have another tomorrow so long as someone took it away and gave it back when it was about a year old!!

commanderprimate · 30/08/2011 11:56

Well, we'd both be dead, so yes, it would have put me off.

madeupme · 30/08/2011 12:01

I wont be having another unless I get a cs! Let alone pain relief (thankfully after last time, cs is highly likely!)

ThePathanKhansWoman · 30/08/2011 12:01

I'd do most things for G&A.

StarlightMcKenzie · 30/08/2011 14:21

gas and air may as well be air as far as I'm concerned.

Didn't do anything. Neither did the pethedine. Don't know why they call either of them pain relief. More like 'shut-up' drugs!

SouthernFriedTofu · 30/08/2011 15:15

Gas and air I don't think really does anything for the pain. It just makes it all not seem like such a bad at the idea at the time.

pamsco I did the hypnobirth class, in the end I had a back labour and after about 12 hours I gave in to the G&A and eventually pethadine (pointless shit and it really doesn't help and isn't good for the baby). What I would say to you is that looking back if I had taken the gas and air straight away when it got to be too much I'd have probably had a much easier time remembering everything I had learned in the class. But because I felt like I was "failing" I held off on any drugs. I got scared because I hadn't expected the pain (posterior labours are lengthy and painful- no getting round it- but I didn't know anything about them). And as you know fear makes pain worse. I think hypnobirthing is a great wayy to help prepare for pregnancy and labour but its main flaw is that it does leave women feeling like failures if everything doesn't happen as it should or they give in to pain relief. Don't let that happen to you!

jellybeans208 · 30/08/2011 15:29

I would only ever have gas and air personally. I know 2 young girls who are in pain one 7 years later and 1 two years later. Both are with specialists for backpain and were told it was caused by epidural not done right. I wouldnt take the risk personally but thats because I know those 2 and it scares me!

Anchorwoman · 30/08/2011 16:09

For me G&A was a useful distraction in the first few hours on syntocin, but didn't touch the pain when it really cranked up. Just added 'dizzy' to the long list of already unpleasant sensations experienced.

Epidural didn't arrive (after 4 days of induction and repeated asking during the last stages on drip) until it was too late and I was already out of control. Then it didn't work anway. I was so relieved when they finally got the anaesthetist and then all I got was a slightly numb leg for a short time. I think banking on having any effective pain relief that's 100% guaranteed is a mistake.

PamSco · 30/08/2011 17:01

SFTofu I guess it depends a bit on your practitioner. The woman who taught our classes was super careful about the "fear of failure". Having spoken to people who have attended other practitioners the approaches are very different.

I know what you mean but I think I'm pretty sorted in my head around what I'd like v flexibility. One thing that has helped me is gallstones - passed a 1.5cm stone through a 7mm duct in June - no gas and air, no painkillers. I feel "tested" with regard to pain No a bit of G&A for that would have been grand. It's all about being flexible to me - at teh moment teh hospital aren't but that is a whole different tangent.

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