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Childbirth

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

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Original poster

labour with just gas & air?

114 replies

nataliekristin · 26/02/2015 17:25

my mum thinks I'm mad for thinking I'll be alright with just gas and air! i really don't want an epidural and would prefer to do it using only gas and air, obviously this is just my ideal situation and things can change. I'm a first time mum so I can't imagine what pain I'm in for!!

OP posts:

Showy · 26/02/2015 18:07

"All contractions peak and then fade so if you can get through that increase of pain and the peaking then you know that one is over, makes it more manageable. "

This is what happens in a textbook delivery. It is not guaranteed. My contractions hit at full intensity and never peaked. They hurt the same all the way through. They were also 2.5 minutes long with a 30 second gap between them from the very beginning.

Basically, you don't know. Needing drugs is nothing to do with success or failure, nor is it about pain thresholds. It's about what happens on that day and what you need in that moment.

Hakluyt · 26/02/2015 18:07

Keep an open mind.

I actually found gas and air made things worse- I'd got into a pattern of breathing and th g&a upset it. So I had two huge babies with nothing.

But I think I am a freak of nature.

Hakluyt · 26/02/2015 18:09

"Basically, you don't know. Needing drugs is nothing to do with success or failure, nor is it about pain thresholds. It's about what happens on that day and what you need in that moment."

This. Times 100.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 26/02/2015 18:11

Hmmm...... I don't like the term "your reaction to pain." Makes me think of a snotty midwife rolling her eyes at a a labouring woman being (in her eyes) over-dramatic and implying she should be able to manage at the stage she's at.

OP: it's the levels of pain that are different in each woman's individual labours. I had major pain with Ds1 but much more less pain with DS2. so of course my reactions to them were different as the second birth was easily doable on G & A. I wasn't any "braver" for DS2, it just honesty didn't hurt as much, so I tell everyone that.

What I'm trying to say is that you just don't know till it happens what the pain will be like. No-one can possibly predict that. you may feel that g&a isn't touching the pain at all (this was certainly the case for DS1 so they suggested an epidural in the end and I agreed like a shot).

With DS2 when I went into hospital I told them I wanted an epidural because I just thought that the pain levels would be the same as with DS1. But the midwife gave me an internal and said "that was a MASSIVE contraction you've just had then, I felt it, and you're already 6cm dilated and to me it feels like your cervix will dilate quickly from now on. And you know what, the pain won't get any WORSE than at the time of the contractions, the contractions will just get closer together. If you can take the edge off them with the gas and air and get through to the end of each contraction with the g&a then I really believe that you could manage to get to the pushing stage without needing any more pain relief. Do you want to try?"

I reluctantly agreed but didn't think she would be right but you know, turned out she was! Excellent, confidence-giving midwife!

CurlyhairedAssassin · 26/02/2015 18:12

X post. Should have have just posted what hakylut said!

JassyRadlett · 26/02/2015 18:18

I think keep an open mind - fine to aim for just gas and air (and yes it's possible, as my giant headed 9lb baby demonstrated) but there are so, so many other variables that I wouldn't stick to it if it's not working for you, or make it a criteria of a 'successful' birth.

Gen35 · 26/02/2015 18:18

I totally agree it all depends on many factors - don't get too attached to a plan. Dc1 - epidural at 2cm dilated, dc2 gas and air fwiw.

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 26/02/2015 18:20

Agree with Showy and Curly

It is absolutely nothing to do with pain thresholds.

Fadingmemory · 26/02/2015 18:22

Be open minded. I had nothing during all three labours which were all fast.
Breathing exercises helped enormously to calm and relax me.

MaCosta · 26/02/2015 18:24

gas and air plus tens machine here for both births. I really liked the tens machine it helped a lot.

I was about to have an epidural with DS1 but they left it too late and didn't get it in. DS1 was face up and a dry birth because my waters had broken a couple of days earlier and so it wasn't the easiest birth but still possible on gas and air with a tens.

NellysKnickers · 26/02/2015 18:25

Just gas and air with both..........although if I ever did it again then I would take any drug going, just for scientific purposes, to see how different it is.

OllyBJolly · 26/02/2015 18:26

I've had two babies with no drugs at all.

First time was because I was a pigheaded idiot for 26 hours.. the whole experience could have been so much better for everyone if I'd been a bit more openminded.

Second I begged for an epidural at every antenatal but when it actually happened it was too quick (20 minute labour) for any drugs (didn't even get undressed although did get to labour room!) I was offered gas and air for the stitches, took one puff and really didn't like it. Made me feel very disorientated (but I had just been through a very crazy experience which was probably disorientating in itself)

So keep an open mind.

FamiliesShareGerms · 26/02/2015 18:29

I had no pain relief so it's definitely possible. Just understand what implications your decisions can have (eg pethidine takes a while to wear off and you can't use other pain relief until it has) and don't feel a failure if you end up with the full works. Safe delivery is really the only thing that matters

Lovstigen · 26/02/2015 18:30

I had nothing with the 1st, but used Gas and air with the 2nd and 3rd. 3rd baby was 10lb 5oz!!!

I really liked the G&A, took me away from the pain, felt quite drunk then it wears off straight after you take the mask off.

I also didn't wish to have an epidural I was too scared!!!

But in the throes of labour you have the option and the right to change your mind :-)

nottheOP · 26/02/2015 18:34

I did it but wouldn't recommend it. It's awfully sore!

pootlebug · 26/02/2015 18:38

Is a waterbirth a possibility? I think water was way better for pain relief than both pethedine and gas and air.

1st birth - G&A + pethedine
2nd birth - water birth, no drugs
3rd birth - water birth, G&A

I don't think an epidural is a given, and nor should it be - but like other posters say I'd keep an open mind and go with what works on the day. I have experienced very long labours and very short ones - whilst the short ones are more intense, it's the longer ones that really make you want something to 'take it all away', in my experience.

slithytove · 26/02/2015 18:43

I had tens and then gas and air for pushing. 3 pushes later she was born. It was fine.

slithytove · 26/02/2015 18:45

That was number 3 btw. Home birth.

Number 1 was epidural vaginal delivery
Number 2 was section after failed induction

nipersvest · 26/02/2015 18:46

i had ds on just g&a, he was out in 3 pushes, i got dressed and we went home, all over very quickly.

labour hurts like hell but you've got to go with how you feel at the time, aim for just g&a but obviously if things don't go to plan, have whatever you feel you need or the midwife suggests.

OhPuddleducks · 26/02/2015 18:50

It is possible and I remember being very intent on it when I was pregnant. Actually, when you have the baby, how they got here and what you did or didn't use fades into nothing-ness. The prize at the end is the same however you get there.

I managed one with just gas and air (my second) but the other was going badly wrong and I ended up with an epidural even though it was in my plan not to have one. See how you go (and maybe don't talk to your mum about it - everyone has a view on birth and when you're pregnant, they're determined to give you it!)

joopy79 · 26/02/2015 18:57

I had no pain relief, just back massages and a hot water bottle! Listen to the midwives and find a comfortable position to push. It wasn't my intention to have a drug free birth but I'm not in the UK and epidurals are not routinely offered.

thatwhichwecallarose · 26/02/2015 18:57

Would you consider tens? You can use it at home and had no side effects? I didn't like G&A and quick labours meant both of mine were just tens. It bloody hurt but I coped!

Isithappening · 26/02/2015 18:58

Pet hiding!.

Auto correct at its best. I really should read what I have written before I press 'post message'

CurlyhairedAssassin · 26/02/2015 19:06

Just re-read the thread and Showy, my first labour was exactly like how you describe: very early stages (at home still) were just very irregular period pains but when I got to hospital - WHAM! The most painful LONG contractions ever, each one came out of the blue with no warning whatsoever with hardly any pause in between - just straight in at the highest intensity with little let up. ie. they didn't slowly peak like the textbooks say, so probably why g&a was no use as you have to inhale right at the start of the peak for it to have any effect at the more intense pain at the peak.

It was a revelation to have a textbook "contractions that start slowly then peak before fading, at regular intervals" with DS2. I remember actually thinking to myself "aha! So THIS is what labour is SUPPOSED to be like, how all the books describe contractions!"

I realised I was great at "textbook" labour, but really when you hear a lot of people's birth experiences, how often does a textbook birth actually happen? Not that often. Sometimes they're more difficult, sometimes they're actually easier! My mum and sister both thought it just felt like strong period pains and wondered what all the fuss was about! My sister describes how she went into the bathroom in the hospital because she realised she was at the pushing stage and wanted to collect her thoughts on her own first. She was calm and pain-free enough to make that decision and had just g&a.

toomuchnutella · 26/02/2015 19:10

ignore people who say things like that. Some Just seem to want to scare people.

I had 5 with nothing.3 in birthing pool.

It can be done.it can e en be enjoyable!

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