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Childbirth

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

Original poster

Gas and air - what's it like?

233 replies

mamatomanygirls · 16/10/2011 16:39

Hi, I am due to give birth to no.4 in 7 weeks.

This time I would really like to try and avoid an epidural for various reasons. However I've always been scared of gas and air as I have a complete horror of vomiting or even feeling sick and I've heard it can make you nauseous.

What is it like? Does it really help with the pain? Does it make you feel sick and lightheaded too?

Thanks in advance.x

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Yuraye · 18/10/2011 11:30

It's actually really effective. For me I gave birth to a 10lb baby girl on gas and air for the first half of labour, and then nothing at all for the second half. It makes you feel light-headed and woozy, but it didn't make me feel sick at all. I could still hear everyone perfectly well, know what was happening, and still feel myself in labour, but the pain was minimal whilst I was on it.

clairben · 18/10/2011 12:12

hi I have had 3 children and have had gas and air.
it is ok for pain relief but do not have to much.

a little to just take the edge off is great.

also try and look into a water birth I had 2 children with no water and when i gave birth to my last child 5 and a half years ago it was wonderful.

i sat in a lovely big warm pool on a seat in just my red bra.

my husband sat behind me on a chair so he didn't have to see lots of blood or have to wipe my fluids away as i had wanted the last 2 times

it was so so much better water birth every time. hope this helps

clair

Restrainedrabbit · 18/10/2011 13:04

I've had 3DCS and 3HBs, used G&A every time and it never made me sick, like you I have a serious phobia of being/feeling sick but thankfully that never happened in labour with or without the G&A>

SinisterBuggyMonth · 18/10/2011 13:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TribbleToilandTrouble · 18/10/2011 13:32

Its the only reason I'll even contemplate giving birth again.

ben5 · 18/10/2011 13:34

made me feel really sick and talk rubbish( nothing really new there!). It did make me not really care about the pain. I remember asking all the time, after ds1 was born, if the midwifes were sure it was a boy! I was convinced I was going to have a girl!

Ryma · 18/10/2011 13:40

I was sick, but it was good help.

Almostfifty · 18/10/2011 13:45

I used it with all four of mine. I love it.

I love it so much, that I emptied two bottles at my first delivery. Blush

They tried to take it off me to push with all of them. They didn't succeed.

kathhere · 18/10/2011 13:59

I wasnt allowed an epidural or anything with DD2 so had to rely on gas and air and tens, I found it so helpful, in the middle of contractions it gave you something to focus on other than whats happening down below! and yes, great for when I had stitches afterwards too
didnt feel sick with it, so hopefully you wont either

feralgirl · 18/10/2011 14:20

Frigging awesome stuff and I totally agree that you should be able to buy it in pubs and clubs. It's like being really stoned. The MW had to wrestle it out of my hand with DD as she wasn't getting enough oxygen Blush It helped me block out everything else and focus on what I was doing.

Quite a few of my friends really didn't like it though, I think it differs for everyone.

TantieTowie · 18/10/2011 14:30

Don't know if you're supposed to use it like I did, but on gas and air for DC2 I thought I was going down a green and pink tunnel to an underground nightclub rather than giving birth (gave birth in 45 minutes after arriving at hospital and only a tens machine up to then). No pain at all, and pushing felt like nothing really. When I opened my eyes I was in a delivery room - very disappointing.

That was just through breathing gas and air non-stop - they seemed to get worried about the baby though after a while and took it off me.

For DC1 I was induced because my waters had broken and I had gas and air then too but it just made me feel sick. Don't know why it was so different.

reallacecurtains · 18/10/2011 14:34

fab! no sickness just boozy feeling - though mw told me better not to have it when pushing as you need to concentrate...

pinkx5 · 18/10/2011 14:38

Had G&A with first twin delivery and couldn't juggle being inconveniently sick with very inconvenient contractions! Haven't tried it since (3 more deliveries but no pain relief - wanted nice fat epidural on my last delivery but they refused (!!!) as I'd done 2 other deliveries without any help bar hypnobirthing - very good, would recommend even just for calming and breathing techniques). I'm also very phobic about vomiting, especially now after first delivery! Horses for courses, everyone's different - may work well for you. Good luck!

cinnamongreyhound · 18/10/2011 14:55

I used it for both of mine, vomitted continuously with the first and not at all with the second so pretty sure the gas and air had nothing to do with it! I rarely drink because I don't like the way it makes me feel and g&a has that kind of feeling at the start but if you carry on using it it goes away. I found it really helpful as I someone else put kind of detatches you from everything, plus you get to bite on the the mouth part and I found it helped me focus on breathing as it makes a whizzing noise. I used TENS and then G&A with my second and nothing else and it was enough for me. It wears off very quickly when you stop breathing it so if you do feel nauseous and it doesn't work for you the effects are gone very quickly.

4madboys · 18/10/2011 15:01

LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT!!!

helped me give birth to 10lb 13oz ds4 in a birth pool, and also when i had no 5 (dd) she was back to back and it helped me cope when that meant i felt like pushing but wasnt ready.

used it for 4 of my labours and i love it, wish they sold it for home use tbh!

it helped me focus on my breathing during contractions and made me feel lovely and light headed, but not sick.

it was also very good when i needed my waters broken but they were very tough and hard to break so 3 people had to have a good rummage around! and also after birth when they wanted to check if i needed stitches it took the edge of so it didnt hurt :)

oh yes biting on the mouth piece, as others have said also helps for some reason.

is this where i am not meant to mention that i found it rather like smoking a spliff Blush

Quenelle · 18/10/2011 15:57

I had it. It didn't seem to be doing anything at all. But I wasn't prepared to hand it back and find out it actually was.

nottonightlove · 18/10/2011 16:50

i was in that much pain i diden't care

Kaekae · 18/10/2011 17:47

I had a very traumatic first labour and had everything going plus a tens machine. Second time round I wanted a VBAC waterbirth and decided on just gas and air. For me it helped to take the edge off things, I did sort of pass out at one point and the midwife said it was because I'd taken in too much Shock. Made my mouth very dry so ensure you have a bottle of water and lipbalm!

metalelephant · 18/10/2011 17:58

It was great for my breathing, as it reminded me I needed to take deep breaths and exhale slowly rather than panicky fast breathing... Also, it's something to bite into and alleviates the stress a bit! In combination with the shot if pethidine i had early on, it turned me into a bit of a stoner though.
Saying that, I was completely well right after birth, whereas the mobile epidural I had during my first labour made me vomit and hallucinate a bit, possibly because mobile epis have morphine. Saying that, a mobile one is brilliant as you can walk to the toilet, move a bit, possibly change positions etc.

Try to keep an open mind during labour, if you can cope drug free, great, if you need pain relief take it and rejoice. From my own experience and that of relatives and friends, the extent of pain varies and you only know what it's like for you when you're experiencing it yourself.

What helped a lot was walking around between contractions and a warm shower where the water was hitting on my back, that was even better than gas and air.
Lying down during contractions really hurt, standing up was so much better!

Good luck!

DitaVonCheese · 18/10/2011 18:52

Loved it in my first labour - had previously done balloons recreationally (haven't read the whole thread, but those of you saying you'd do it recreationally - you can) and thought they were great, though made G&A seem disappointingly weak in comparison. Was v disappointed when MW made me stop using it for second stage - really took the edge of contractions. However, combo of that and ROARING did make me lose my voice for a few days afterwards.

For second labour three months ago, wasn't so good - it's been bloody ages since I did balloons [responsible parent smiley] and I couldn't get the hang of it at all, plus was doing escalator breaths as learned in Lazy Daisy classes and the two are not compatible!

So my advice is to practise recreationally first Wink

breatheslowly · 18/10/2011 18:58

Can you do it legally recreationally? If so how?

DitaVonCheese · 18/10/2011 19:07

Yes and no - I think it's a bit hazy. You can buy nitrous bulbs perfectly legally for using with whipped cream. I'm not sure whether it's legal to ingest it recreationally. Have a look at laughinggasballoons.co.uk/ (haven't read it all but should give you the gist).

breatheslowly · 18/10/2011 19:12

I got as far as the bit about immediate death by asphyxiation and thought that it probably isn't for me.

DitaVonCheese · 18/10/2011 19:53

Grin Tbh I think you'd be hard-pressed to asphyxiate from doing balloons as your nose isn't covered up - putting your head in a plastic bag and breathing anything in seems pretty foolish to me. This site on the dangers suggests deaths only occur when using in enclosed spaces, which makes sense.

Anyway, I seem to have killed the thread Blush (or everyone's gone nitrous shopping)

roundtable · 18/10/2011 19:59

I liked it. My midwife described it as not taking the pain away but taking you away from the pain which I thought was very accurate.

My hospital also offered morphine as an alternative to pethadine. Midwife thought that less people reacted to it negatively. Maybe look into that too? I echo using a tens machine. I used both at the same time and found it very effective.