Pain Relief In Labour

[meltingmarshmallows]

Looking for some honest experiences from Mums who have already done it re: childbirth.

I've planned to try and have a water birth with gas and air. Largely because I'm terrified of an instrumental delivery and have read that an epidural could increase those chances. In addition friends and family have said Pethadrine made them feel sick and totally out of it. And when I read about the various other options the side effects seemed off putting. In short there was no silver bullet ... Every option seems to have a major downside.

Everyone I know who has given birth recently in RL has told me "take all the drugs". There have been some traumatic births which I'm trying not to dwell on but on the whole, of those I know recently all have involved a lot of intervention and not been how the mum has planned.

I appreciate they're only trying to help and every birth is different but it's made me really wonder if a natural birth is likely. I don't have an especially high pain threshold and I don't want to be traumatised ... Whatever gets baby here safely and leaves me well enough to get on with the task at hand straight after is the best option.

It feels like there's a strong sense of pushing natural birth from health care professionals which I am taking on board (thus me aiming for this). But when people in RL / random people in the hair dressers / seemingly everyone I speak to is telling me to take the drugs ... I'm wondering if I'm being naive.

I'm down to be midwife led, but sort of think if I'll end up having an epidural it may be better to plan for that and do it sooner. So as not to increase risk of instrumental delivery etc. That would mean no pool etc which I really would prefer. It's all very confusing and hard to get info on.

If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to hear about your choices in this respect. And experience of the various pain relief options.

My first was induced and I managed with g&a. Fairly quick 5 hour labour, taken off g&a to push, I went in with a very open mind, didn't get stressed and remained calm throughout which I think helped. Hoping for a similar experience this time, hopefully without induction but I think I was lucky in that being induced wasn't a big traumatic experience for me.

Agree with all the pps who have said to keen an open mind. I had the same plans as you for very similar reasons and I was very lucky that I was able to stick to my birth plan.

My labour was 30+ hours although only 6 of them were in hospital - I didn't go in until I literally had no break between contractions. I used Tens machine from about 12 hours in right until I got into the pool (which was for the final 1.5 hours). I added gas and air to tens once I was in hospital. I delivered in the pool and was completely midwife led. I had a second degree tear which was the worst part of the entire experience, contractions were tough but manageable using breathing techniques. I kept an open mind and did consider epidural and pethidine at a couple of points but then decided I would try for that little bit longer without.

In terms of what you can do from now, start considering how you want to deal with the contractions. Ive heard great things about hypnobirthing although I didn't do it myself. Pregnancy yoga teaches breathing techniques and movements to get you through labour, I swear by Juju Sundan's book. I didn't use all her techniques but it was fantastic at showing me a few things to get me through the pain of each contraction. Stay as active as you possibly can in pregnancy - I had spd so walking wasn't possible but I was able to swim and swum almost everyday in the final month of pregnancy. Being active will help you stay active during labour which helped me a lot.

Good luck

I had really extreme pelvic and leg pain during labour, and the midwife guessed the baby was pushing on the sciatic nerve. I found it extremely hard to manage with just water and g&a. I was at a freestanding MLU though, and I just couldn't face the whole blue lighting to hospital thing, so I just suffered through it.

I'm pg again and considering my options. I would go for an epidural in an instant, but there are plenty of drawbacks to the hospital: you get put on a ward before discharge, the hospital is known for poor quality care (by the regulator). I know if I go to the MLU I'll have a midwife with me the entire time, rather than being left on my own for ages, which I find massively reassuring.

I think it's totally normal first time round to be scared you won't be able to cope with the pain, and to feel very conflicted about what pain relief you might want.

I was same as you OP... I very much wanted to avoid an instrumental delivery if possible so I really wanted To manage without epidural.

I opted for MLU and just gas and air. Was it painful? In all honesty yes, I've never experienced pain like it. But it's very different emotionally from 'negative' pain such as when you injure yourself (it felt very different to me anyway)

I also think a good midwife can make a huge difference in helping you to focus and feel calmer about what's happening.

I'm really pleased I had my babies like this. I'm sure I'd have felt the same if I'd needed intervention but tbh most pregnancies and labour have the potential to be straightforward medically.

I really wanted a water birth in a MLU... sadly I was then put under consultant care and induced so that went out the window. I was induced, promptly shouted for an epidural, had it fitted soon afterwards. Induction was 43 hours from start to finish but it was very successful, had no instrumental delivery and even managed to get on to my side to push.

My point is, sometimes things don't go to plan and that's ok! Aim for a physiological birth if that's what you want, but don't beat yourself up if it doesn't happen! X

I desperately wanted a water birth in a midwife led unit, I thought labour would be painful and hard because I'm such a weakling, best laid plans and all that..... in reality I didn't get to the hospital in time ended up having my first born with only paracetamol for pain relief and had him in the hospital waiting room (as it was late at night 23.17 to be precise nobody was around to witness luckily) I think our body's are capable of a lot more than we think. Whatever route you choose to take, don't be to disheartened if it doesn't end up going to plan. Good luck x

@NotCitrus I can imagine that, I was wondering what to wear and concluding it's probably not going to be all that important haha!

@LatinForTelly Thank you for that info, will check out her stuff & am also going to be looking into hypnobirthing.

My Mum actually had me in the 80s with just gas & air whilst doing an early hypnobirthing pilot thing! And I've heard nothing but good about it from everyone here / people in RL.

@60percentofthetime Thank you for the advice, I think that makes a lot of sense. I'm hoping for one way of doing it but will keep a very open mind and adjust if needed.

@dippypanda that is great to hear, something I'm worried about is being induced as lots of late babies on my side of the family & it's my first ... Great to hear a positive story! Good luck with your birth 

@riddles26 Thank you! I have PGP which is making things hard but next week once kids are back in school and pool is a bit calmer I plan to swim as much as possible.

@Babbitywabbit Thank you for the positive story, I really hope I can avoid an instrumental delivery if possible!

@FruitCider thanks for sharing your story, it's great to hear a positive one from when things deviated from the plan! But still turned out well.

@Mummaofboys wow! That's a good point re: our bodies being capable. I need to remember that!

Thank you everyone for your replies, sorry I've not responded to all but I am reading & have got my birth partners reading too .

Also noticed this thread was 'thread of the day' on the homepage. I hope the fame and fortune doesn't go to our heads .

I feel a lot more relaxed and in control about things since posting, so thank you so much for contributing! The key takeaways for me so far have been:

• Keep an open mind!
• Don't rule out anything.
• I'm keeping my 'birth plan' simple. Not focusing too much on any one plan but instead some simple points like, would prefer not to have pethadrine. Don't want students in the room. Etc
• I'm looking into hypnobirthing / related approaches
• And hiring a tens machine

I agree stay open minded- but also stay positive. So many people want to share horror stories, try not to listen to them. I made the decision not to listen to anyone elses stories or discuss intervention- if you need it, you need it but I didn't feel the need to dwell on it beforehand. The only things I knew I definitely didn't want were pethidine and morphine.

I was in active labour for forty minutes and had nothing, not even g&a (but DH says I asked the poor midwife about 75 times for paracetamol!)

My advice is to stay positive about it all and go with the flow. It will be fine and you'll cope.

Start at the bottom and work your way up from there .

I've had 5 and that was the idea with the first one and I've had water births with gas and air with all of them, I've never needed more than that bit would have asked for more if I'd needed it.

Just go with the flow, trust that your body can do this but remember if you need pain relief it's there .

Good luck

Also the student midwives I've had were amazing please do t keep them out, it means you have more help there and a lot of them are nearly qualified, one of my labours were made so much better because of my student midwife, I was almost sad when it was over we had a right laugh 😂

I have given birth twice. Drugs the first time and no drugs the second time (apart from gas and air).
I decided no to drugs the second time as I had a pretty traumatic first time, failed epidural, episiotomy and ventouse...
The pain without drugs the second time was intense, prior to getting in the water I didn't know what to do with myself, there wasn't a position I could get comfortable in. Once in the pool I did feel a sense of relief however it was still intense. But there wasn't a moment I wanted any other pain relief though. Baby ended up being back to back which we didn't know until his head came out facing up instead of down. Supposedly more painful too. And harder to push put so did have a few tears. But all in all a much better experience for me.
The pool took about 45 mins to fill so keep that in mind, longest 45 mins ever!

Try not to worry OP, child birth is beyond planning in my experience, with DS1 I wrote my birth plan to include all sorts of pain relief and interventions (what a complete waste of time) I didn't need any of it and I don't think the midwife even cast an eye over it! I had a very easy labour, no pain relief, no gas and air, by the time I got to hospital I was ready to deliver. Needless to say with DS2 I didn't bother with a birth plan, 2 hour natural delivery with him to so just take it as it comes. And once you have your baby in your arms, nothing you have been through matters. good luck OP.

If you're keen on trying to cope with pain without too much pain relief, but are not into hypnobirthing, then try this book:
Birth skills

This helped me so much during labour. Basically, you learn techniques to distract you from the contractions. It really helps. I used it throughout my labour and the midwives were commenting how I was still calmly strolling around at 8 cm dialated and all I used were these little stress balls that I squeezed during a contraction. I used some gas and air after my waters broke, but just for the mouthpiece to bite on as another distraction. Overall, I didn't think labour was too bad!

Just give the book a read and then test the technique by holding ice cubes in your hand. You'll be surprised by the difference in perceived pain between using the technique and not using it.

You don't know how it'll effect you till the event. I would suggest keep an open mind, but controlled breathing & other techniques 'can' help. I think it's very individual though. I didn't even know I was in active labour as I have endometriosis, so it was a shock to find out how far I was gone.

There's so many options, maybe get clued up on a few, so epidural verses mobile epidural. Good techniques and positions to alleviate pain. Why some drugs can't be used before birth. Why it's useful to have some earlier if you're struggling.

I would advocate don't suffer in silence. Let them know how it feels to you.

Best of luck.

@Kikibanana86 I know what you mean but several people who have given birth in the same hospital have had male students asked to come in. Some felt they couldn't really say no. Personally that would put me more on edge so I'd rather only the vital people are present, male or female.

@Springishere0 thanks for the recommendation I'll check it out!