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

if i hadnt had an epidural for ds i wouldnt have coped with the pushing stage (posterior presentation, ds put his hand up and had placenta round his neck) anyway, without epidural we would have both been in a lot more danger as wouldnt have been able to push him out. so for that situation- no I couldnt have coped. as has been said before. is not a competition. roll with it and if you need pain control, GET IT.

Fortyplus - apologies did not mean to offend!

Also this is not my first time.

BaileysMilkshake - don't worry - none taken, but I do sometimes think back to the pain I endured for hours during my very straightforward deliveries and try to imagine what it must be like doing it somewhere with no sanitation or medical help.

What for?

Had epidural everytime, was up and about straight after everytime, had amazing high every time. Only bad parts were the bit just before having the epidural, and the stage 2 the first time 'cos epi had worn off. Totally pointless agony.

The other thing people don't tell you is that having the epidural put in feels lovely. Like a cool wave washing down your body. Mmmmmm.

Yes fortyplus, but as someone else has already said, no one has ever died from the pain of childbirth. They die from lack of sanitation/infection, complications, and doctors who didn`t know what they were doing.

Placenta praevia, transverse breach are very dangerous. Pre-eclampsia too.

But the ^pain itself of a relatively straightforward birth?- thats not dangerous at all and never killed anyone.

I gave birth to my DD (2nd child) just over 2 weeks ago without pain relief. I tried gas and air very briefly but found it stopped me concentrating on pushing, so gave up on it almost as soon as I had started. The pain was bad but not unbearable and the feeling of achievement I got afterwards was immense. I was up and about straight away and home 6 hours after. I was very lucky as the whole labour from start to finnish only lated 5 1/2 hours.
My first labour was 50 hours from start to finnish and I had an epidural. DS ended up having to be pulled out with forceps after a failed attempt at the ventouse. I was absolutely exhausted and found it took alot longer to recover. I had the epidural put in because I was so tired, not because I was finding the pain to much to handle.

"no one has ever died from the pain of childbirth."

That's pure supposition and I'd be surprised if it were true. If you had a weak heart it could kill you, for a start.

yes absolutely, I was induced and had no pain relief except gas. I had a dam good sceam tho you'd be surprised at how much that helped.

Still don't understand why gas & air doesn't count as pain relief.

in which case no then for me i loved the stuff

not read the whole thread but in response to the OP,....

with ds2 I had nothing. No gas and air, no drugs, no tens machine. It was manageable but I suspect that this is because it was a short (25 minutes!!!) labour.

I suspect had it gone on for a long time I would have had at least gas and air

ds2 was 8lbs 11oz too...

Had every thing going when i had dd had a terrible labour. Had nothing with my 2nd and 3rd they were so much easier.

I had ds2 with only gas & air but I wouldn't dream of saying that I gave birth without pain relief.
Surely gas & air IS pain relief, isn't it?

It is possible and for some women manageable - but you don't get a medal for it! Epidural with dd after 12 hours with tens and cocodamol. Only way to go IMO. Inventor should be knighted.

This is SOOOOO personal though and everyone experiences childbirth differently. No offence to anyone here, but I do find the holier than thou attitude that some women adopt when they have done it 'drug-free' rather nauseating.

I went into it thinking that women have been doing it for a v long time and most have lived to tell the tale.

It does hurt. With DS (1st) it wasn't so much pain as the fear that my whole bottom would split apart that made me quite screechy towards the end.

With DD (2nd) it went on for hours and got v tired but the final really painful bit all happened very fast after they broke my waters.

I'd say - yes it hurts but its over pretty fast and then you have the most gorgeous darling little baby that is totally dependent on you to worry about so the pain fades to insignificance.

PLus also you get to lie about about looking Madonnaesque anmd everyone sends you flowers and thinks you are fab.

Alos G&A is tops - if only I had an excuse to have some now (takes swig of large white wine instead).

Yes, have done it twice with nothing, not even gas and air.

It's not holier than thou, but I have always felt, even when a child, that I'd rather have a lot of pain for a shorter time than have the experience drawn out, whatever the experience was. And I had read, especially, about epidurals, that they can lengthen the labour. Also I had a friend who wasn't able to feel to push and so ended up having her first baby delivered by ventouse. So that put me off.

I was also put off anything that might make me feel sick.

Anyway my second labour was as good as I could possibly have wanted, and why shouldn't I feel proud with myself?

I agree with the others who have said that it makes a huge difference having a supportive midwife.

It is too simplistic by far to answer yes or no only.

If you have a posterior delivery I think it would be madness to resist chemical pain relief...but for a normal delivery ime it is perfectly possible.

My MW said 'If you broke your leg you wouldn't ask to have it set without pain relief, would you?!'

i didnt have pain relief for ages even though mw and birthing partner kept trying to get G&A down my neck. i found the birthing ball shower and bath great as was having my back massaged. in the end i gave in and thought i might as well have some, but then it made me feel all dizzy so i had to stop. and then cos i had got used to it the pain felt so much work and i panicked. so i asked for pethidine. never got it though cos bubba arrived in the meantime!

I always thought they should give you some gas and air to take home after the birth - enough for about 5 years!

I always wonder what kind of labour people have had when they say things like they didn't have an epidural because they were scared it might make them feel sick.
Very different from mine, that's for sure

I think it depends massively on what kind of care you get from your midwife. If you have a supportive, positive midwife who is able to give you plenty of one to one care then you are far more likely to be able to manage without pain relief, even if it's a long first labour, posterior position etc.

Also depends to a certain extent on your attitude - if you go into labour expecting the pain to be manageable and have other strategies for coping then you're less likely to need pharmacological pain relief. Which is not to say that anyone who wanted or requested pain relief is a wimp!

It hurts like hell but its not constant and gas and air take the edge off. It really depends on your labour and how far apart your contractions are. Mine were intense and minutes apart from the beginning (induction). I had acupuncture and concentrated on breathing. I was amazed that the breathing helped so much. The senior midwife at the hospital practiced acupuncture and I paid him privately to be there. He was amazing.