What's the bottom line - is giving birth without chemical pain relief manageable? Yes or No!

[Baretoes]

If you could answer either 'yes' or 'no' ONLY - what would your answer be?

Yes - managed it this time although it was not planned that way - failed epidural
Tried G&A and threw up all over delivery room

I don't think it's as simple as 'pain is a state of mind'.
Having a baby presenting in the best position for birth must contribute a lot. And that is...luck.

It was manageable (just) for me both times but I had relatively quick labours. If I have another I wouldn't rule out pain relief though, you don't know how you'll feel until you're in the middle of it!

My son was eleven pounds and I pushed so hard I had a rectal prolapse...nice. However I didn't have any pain relief other than gas and air because I felt like I'd gone 'through' pain - if you know what I mean. The plus side was that after he was born I was lucid and able to eat a Mcdonalds and watch Strictly Come Dancing. Marvellous. And despite the caring sharing midwife telling me "Oh you'll prob be incontinent now" it all popped back pretty quick and I'm fine. So my answer is yes you can do it without pain relief IF YOU WANT TO!(If pain ain't your thing have the drugs!!!)

It's definitely manageable. I had no pain relief other than my TENS machine. This was with a 47 hour labour and 3 hours of pushing. Unfortunately it ended with an emergency c-section (obviously had pain relief for that LOL!) because of the position DD was in.

I went to hypnobirthing classes which were amazing and I definitely recommend.

Yes twice with just TENS and G&A

But for me the issue was time - I could cope with that level of pain for a few hours (both labours were short) but I did find it very tiring and very sore so not sure how long I could've sustained that for...

Yes - deep breathing was the key for me. Good luck!

yes i would say it is manageable to a degree. have had five babies all natural vaginal deliveries- first was my angel baby- still birth at 43+ weeks, labour was 8.5 hours and had everything- the pethidine made me puke, epidural didnt work, diamorphine also didnt work and gas and air which helped a bit. Second-now 7, induction,had 3x prostin gel and arm, 32 hour labour,had epidural and gas and air, almost had cs but just escaped it. 3rd now 5,also induction,2x prostin and arm, 2 hour 15 min labour, spent 1 hour 45mins in bath, had pethidine (didnt puke this time) and gas and air, 4th now 20 months, another induction, 2x prostin, waters went naturally, 4 hour 37 min labour, just had gas and air. 5th now 8 months, final induction, no prostin, arm as 4cm dilated on admission, hormone drip, 1 hour 28 min labour also just gas and air. not having any bloody more!!!!!

Yes (with G & A) on two counts for me

natural, quick labour & delivery for first

ARM induction then syntocinon drip for 2nd

Yes. All pain relief known to man on first birth - absolutely horrific, two subsequent births without anything at all, really positive experiences.

Gas and air and birthing pool!!!

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Yes yes yes, home birth, pool, lovely midwife and lots of noise. Felt great. (it's good to actually say this there seems to be a bit of thing that you can't be part of the club unless you have a horror story to tell).

I asked my midwife how much of it was due to luck and how much to preparation - she said all to preparation, so I recommend active birth classes

ALL to preparation?!!?!

What a load of f*cking crap, and how offensive to women who have had difficult births that they couldn't have done anything about.

I now have experience of both types of birth, having had a baby pop out on 3rd Dec in 4 hours 20 mins with no pain relief except TENS (my first was posterior presentation, 32 hours and epidural).

For my first baby I had done the breathing exercises, had a positive attitude etc - the second I didn't bother with the breathing and didn't actually believe I could give birth without serious pain relief, just somehow I got lucky and had an easy birth.

The idea that there's no luck involved is completely ridiculous.

Yes x 4.

I think she mean't in my case - I agree that for some people no amount of positive thinking is going to help them have a drug free or 'good' birth, it might help though..

Oh, and I would put the midwife down to luck too

Ditto to Kathy. Lots of preparation for ds1. Waterbirth planned, with lots of positive vibes.

After 16 hours (not all in the water!), I announced that I was getting out an having an epidural. Found an assertive side to myself that I didn't know I had!!

DS2, did no preparation, went in ready to be assertive and demand my epidural and he shot out like a bar of soap, with just a little gas and air.

Have to say that recovery was a lot lot quicker with just G & A. Didn't realise how ill I'd felt with ds1, until I had the more natural delivery. But I was very glad that I hadn't had to battle on any more with ds1 and no anaesthesia - specially when they sent in the men with the machinery to drag him out!

Good luck!

"Oh, and I would put the midwife down to luck too"

LOL - good point!

Not read all your replies, but not for me - no, definitely not.

Mobile epidural took the "edge" off the pain, allowing me to focus and push. WHen it was wearing off I started losing it and felt completely unable to focus, just frantic, til I got my top-up dose

yes, for me. you may be different.

Yes definately. My first labour I had everything they offered me except an epi and basiacaly missed the whole birth! Second just had g&a much better but had a migrane after because of the g&a. 3rd just birhing pool. Fantastic . And 4th I had at home very very quick labour had nothing and it was brill

My first was an induction, and it was hard going. Induction labors I think make for harder labors overall, because your body is being pushed to do something it isn't quite ready to do. My labor was 13 hours, and I had an epidural after 5 hours of hard labor - contractions every 1 - 2 minutes, and lasting that long also. My daughter was overdue by 10 days, and pretty big. With the epidural on board though, it was harder to push effectively, because I couldn't feel the contractions very well. The MW had to tell me when.

With my second, I went into labor on my own, and labored at home for most of it. I could manage these better, because it was more gentle, and the contractions built up from milder to stronger, so I had time to adjust. This labor was only 4 hours 15 minutes, and I had nothing, not even g&a.

I believe that baby position contributes to the amount of pain you have. And I think that you can see how it goes and how you feel and decide then whether or not you want you want drugs.

Yeah. Mine was at home (unintentionally) so had no pain relief & it didn't hurt that much I didn't think.