Different pain reliefs?

[jadebryce]

Different pain relief and how they make you feel at the time and effect they have FTM

Epidural all the way for me. It's the only option that actually removes labour pain, the others are just coping or masking tools. For my first, I believed the hype and had my hypno tapes. I had a tens machine at first which was helpful for early labour. But I progressed quickly and found it was way more painful than I had been led to believe. I wasn't yet at the point of completely intolerable but I knew it would get worse. I asked for an epidural (not in NHS), was given it right away and it was amazing. My pain vanished, I could feel my baby moving down and I could feel just the start of contractions so I knew when to push.

For my next baby, I told them to put me down for an epidural at my very first appointment! I was induced on the drip for that pregnancy, it took a while to get going so I ended up getting my epirudal before I was even at a level 2 or 3 of pain as the anaesthetist was free at that time - again, not the NHS. So my second birth was virtually entirely pain free.

In both cases, I felt no side effects. I didn't feel numb or pins-and-needles or anything in my legs. I simply felt no pain. I felt the same way as you might feel when sitting on your sofa - just unaware of a body part that I wasn't using. I was able to rest and prepare my mind for the forthcoming birth. And I was crystal clear and focused in my mind on every single second of my children's deliveries. When I had been in pain, I couldn't even remember that I was pregnant. With my epidurals, I was able to speculate for the final time whether the baby would be a boy or a girl, who they would look like, etc. and once born I was able to focus entirely on them.

I would highly recommend it. For me, the balance of side effects and the benefit of the pain relief means epidural wins hands down for me.

Best wishes.

Definitely an epidural for me too. Nothing else touched the pain.

It absolutely depends on you and how you feel and how your labour progresses. I had no pain relief at all besides using a tens machine at the start and I coped fine. I had two puffs on gas and air and decided I didn’t like it. It gives you a kind of dizzy feeling, like being drunk. In hindsight I was too far advanced when I tried it and I couldn’t reconcile in my head the feeling it gave me with needing to concentrate on what I was feeling. If I’d had a longer labour I may have got into it a bit more.

I’d research all the pain relief options that are available to you at the place you want to give birth, find out a bit about them, rule out any you def don’t want and then rank them in the order you’d like to try.

Ultimately it’s a very personal preference and depends a lot on what happens- my labour was quick and straightforward but if it hadn’t have been I may well have used different pain relief.

I was desperate not to have an epidural as had heard horror stories from others but I ended up being induced and couldn't cope with the pain. Next time I'll ask for one straight away if I have to go through the same thing.

I’m a retired anaesthetist, and agree with the above - if good pain relief is your priority, nothing else comes close to an epidural. However, some women prefer less intervention or a more natural birth, and there are other options such as a TENS machine or opiate injections. Discuss all the options available with your midwife, bearing in mind that you can’t have an epidural unless you’re in a hospital with an on call anaesthetist - we can’t attend home births, and stand alone midwife units don’t have any medical back up.
The other thing I’d say is, don’t be too rigid with your birth plan- you don’t know how you’ll feel about the pain until you’re actually in labour. It’s ok to change your mind, and you’re not a failure if you planned a natural hypno job with whale song on a bean bag, and end up with an epidural and/or lots of emergency intervention!
I had my two kids with no pain relief other than a bit of second stage entonox, but that doesn’t suit everyone. And yes it was damn sore for a couple of hours with the first one, but I’m quite needle phobic!

My epidural didn't work fully - if it had no pain would have been great (although weirdly I'm glad I experienced some now, I was FTM, was induced and it ended in C section, I'm glad I experienced some pain in hindsight.. can't explain why)

Anyway I mostly had gas and air and it worked really well for me. I heard someone explain it as "it doesn't take the pain away from you, it takes you away from the pain" and it did, technically the contradictions still hurt like hell but i just cared less (and I still felt in control)

@Babdoc - anesthetists are amazing! My c section one was incredible so thanks 😊

Does an epidural make your feel 'out of it'? Thanks for all the info

No. No impact at all on how you feel emotionally etc. It just numbs you (does usually mean you can't labour standing up though which is easier)

Depends what you mean by "out of it", jadebryce. The epidural is purely local anaesthetic with some opiate, injected into your lower spine, so it doesn't affect your brain or level of consciousness. But if you have a high dose or a more concentrated solution, you may get some numbing and muscle weakness in your lower half, which some women dislike. It's temporary, of course, and you get full muscle tone back afterwards. In the early days of epidurals, we used much stronger solutions, and women complained they were too numb to push, or felt that they were cut off from all sensation of the birth. That's rare nowadays - the local anaesthetic is quite dilute, and the opiate in the mix provides more of the pain relief.

My labour progressed so fast (2.5 hours total) so I got paracetamol which did nothing as I was pushing 20 mins after taking it and gas and air. I don't know if I would have chosen to do it that way but had no choice. I've had previous back problems so really didn't want an epidural but had considered other options like pethadine

@jadebryce defiantly no "out of it" or "high" from an epidural. Both gas and air, and pethidine (which are commonly offered to labouring women) can give some users that sort of feeling though. Neither removes the pain, they give a "don't give a damn"'feeling instead.

Other options often used are paracetamol, immersion in water, and TENS, as well as breathing exercises. None of these will leave you feeling out of it. But they aren't particularly effective at removing pain either.

I think it totally depends on the situation, I have intense 45 second contractions every 3 minutes right from the start of labour I progressed quickly to 4 cm which was fine on paracetamol and hot water bottle, after that my waters went baby had pooed, I was hoping for a water birth, I'd had some gas and air at this point which helped through the contractions, after baby pooed & was rushed to labour ward there was lots of messing and I had lost total control of breathing due to the panic for baby so was breathing has and air like it was just air, 16 hours in I had an epidural (totally not what I'd planned) it was amazing, I had a nap and didn't feel anything... after the baby was born I was sick constantly for hours, felt weak and tired, not sure if this was down to the amount of gas and air (I'm pretty sure I knocked myself out at one point I was having weird visions) or just the length of the labour/blood loss.... but I wouldn't rule anything out and go with the flow when you're in there! - can't comment on any other methods as I haven't tried them x

Just seen your out of it post, if I'd have known what my labour would have been like and how long it would have been i would have had an epidural so much earlier so I could be awake and well when baby arrived, I couldn't breastfeed the first few feeds just to being so ill, and I slept / puked a good few hours after as well so I didn't get first hugs or skin to skin because I was so weak

What does FTM mean? I only recognise it in the trans threads.

Neither removes the pain, they give a "don't give a damn"'feeling instead

This is true. This is very useful when giving birth though, and when the hours stretch on and on.

Didn't want a big needle in my back. Wanted to be fully mobile.

Had large back to back babies on gas and air. It's like being really high basically. If you dont like the feeling you stop and it goes away instantly.

Much more likely a reaction to the epidural or the labour itself than gas and air Mehh. One of the points of gas and air is that if anyone had too much they couldn't hold it and breath it in. Making it self regulatory.

I'd have loved to have an epidural but have never had time so have had to do it both times with nothing more than paracetamol. The several failed Ventouse attempts and forceps were 'fun'.

Oh someone's post there reminded me of something I had almost entirely forgotten. In my first labour, I vomited after every contraction. Which was quite unpleasant, especially after my stomach was well emptied. This stopped immediately when my epidural kicked in. Apparently my body's reaction to pain is to throw up! I was very pleased to stop

Epidural! I was induced and very (loud and swearily) insistent on it. It helped that it was recommended by consultant due to epilepsy, pain being a fit trigger.

After my waters went I was a mess and refused to agree to an internal or the drip till they'd done it. They wanted to see how far I was because "it might not take effect in time" to which my response was "well let's get it in sooner rather than later then and you can examine me all you like after!"

Turns out I was only 3cm - what a wuss! Mine was controlled by button so you were in charge of the dose, and I didn't go OTT with it, but very glad of it indeed when it got to episiostomy and forceps time. And the stitching afterwards!

While waiting I had gas and air, started off giggling about sounding like Darth Vader... by the time they were placing the epidural though I was sucking on it like a woman possessed and it felt like it was doing naff all.

I don't think you can plan.
I planned a very natural birth - mobile, tens machine/gas and air only, hypno breathing etc. I was totally opposed to epidural- as my only ever baby was born I wanted to experience labour as much as possible (damn fool that I was!!!) I ended up having to lie on my back throughout, strapped to machines, and unable to move as baby's heartbeat was erratic.
The tens machine did nothing to ease the pain, the gas and air hardly touched it as labour progressed and I ended up with an emergency spinal block, catheter, emergency forceps delivery... The ease of pain with the spinal was immediate and it didn't affect my head.
I had a very difficult labour and all plans went out of the window pretty much from the first step, but it all really doesn't matter when you are holding your baby in your arms.
Good luck op.

I've opted for remifentanil.. Then if needed epidural.
My fear for epidural is a catheter.. Only simply because I had an op last yr with a catheter and who removed it couldn't wee.. So had to have put back in for 24 hours and stayin longer.. And I fear of overnight stays.

Now obviously anything could happen and have to stay in anyway, so epidural is not completely off the list but will try and avoid

I had epidural with DS and it was amazing tho.. So u never know lol