Oxytocin drip pain relief

[Serenity05]

I've just had my waters broken by my midwife and I'm now being given an hour to see if my contractions ramp up. If they don't I'm going to be put on an oxytocin drip and I'm after experiences/recommendations for pain relief. I'm wary of having pethidine in case I react badly to it and it's stuck in my system for four hours but I don't know if I like the thought of losing control if I have an epidural.

I had the oxytocin drip and just gas and air. It was manageable but in hindsight I wish I'd had an epidural.

I had an epidural which was lovely for a few hours but then stopped working completely. There not like they were in the olden days you decide when to top up and I was given the option if I wanted less so I could feel the contractions and when to push however sadly mine didnt work x

Feel more sorry

I had the oxytocin drip with both of mine and I ended up needing an epidural for both. Good luck, its very exciting for you.

Has the drip and I asked for an epidural at the same time as, at that stage, I had been in slow labour for a couple of days and was tired and in a lot of pain.
Best of luck!

I had an epidural before going on the drip. Would thoroughly recommend! But of course you can see how you go :)

I had the epidural before the drip as the woman in the end next to me scared me half to death about the pain of the oxytocin drip. Apparently it makes the whole experience more painful because The drip excels the contractions and pain.

Recommend epidural first, never felt a contraction! I don't know how I'd do a Labour any other way now

I had the drip without any pain relief. Hell on Earth. I had a drug free second labour. Third I went for an epidural.
Get yourself an epidural, you won't regret it. I say this as someone who refuses all drugs unless essential

Thank you so much everyone. So the consensus is epidural!

I had the oxytocin drip after a very long labour and opted for gas and air and pethidine. It was plenty. The pethidine did send me a bit doolally but I needed it after the preceding three days and I snapped right out of the haze when I needed to.

I decided I would follow what my pain relief plans would have been for a normal labour and start with gas and air and escalate up.

I knew it would hurt more, but I didn't want to go straight to an epidural as I felt I was at a high enough risk for interventions already without one. I'd also never experienced labour before, and felt I had quite a high pain threshold, so hoped I could get through it without one.

Long story short, I did need to escalate up to diamorphine, but labour was otherwise fine and didn't need any interventions.

Epidural- I stupidly toughed it out for 10 hours on gas and air before collapsing in a sobbing heap begging an epidural.

I had the drip with my first and I needed epidural.. I tried to manage without as long as possible but I ended up having it and it was a bliss from that point on..

Epidural! They're great now. You can top up every 15 minutes so you're in control of how much you feel and can have total pain relief. I totally recommend it.

I didn’t have an oxytocin drip, but did have a long back to back labour and had similar worries about pethidine. After about 20 hrs I asked for an epidural and it was bloody brilliant! Wish I’d just had it straight away. I even fell asleep for a bit!

I would just add that, in my view, it's better to have whatever pain relief you need to be comfortable, rather than struggle through and end up too exhausted to push.

Once they broke my waters my daughter was born 2 hours later I didn't need the drip. I wish I had an epidural though it was agony as I only had time for gas and air.

Have the epidural. I had the drip because of spine to spine positioning. You do not want your baby making that turn without pain relief.

I had the pitocin drip and an epidural. My epidural was one that needed to be topped up roughly every half hour, and I’m so glad I had it. The pitocin contractions were thick and fast, and according to my midwife meant I was having less ‘natural pauses’ than a normal, unmediated labour would offer. I was very frugal with how often I topped up the epidural. It meant I was in quite a lot of discomfort, but also meant I could move around, go on to all fours etc and go and have a shower 60 mins after delivering.

I’m due to be induced again next week and really hoping to have a similar experience. Good luck. X

I had the oxytocin drip after being in 'labour' for 2 days prior.
Started off with just gas and air and was managing fine but by the 6th hour the midwife advised me to have an epidural so I could rest before pushing.

I wish I'd have just had the epidural at the beginning. It was blissful, I slept and ate. Fantastic.

I had the epidural on all three induced labours. I found it great.

Good luck x

Thanks again for all the replies everyone. My daughter was born late last night, around eight hours after the drip went in. I did indeed opt for the epidural in the end and it was definitely the right call, although I wish I'd asked for it straight away. I went a couple of hours on just gas and air before asking for the epidural, which would have been fine... but then the anaesthetist got called into theatre for an emergency so I had to wait for another anaesthetist to come free, so I had an extra hour and a half of intense pain. And then when it did finally go in, it was a bit lopsided so I had a patch on my right hand side where I could still feel everything until I managed to get into a position where it spread out a bit more. It was absolutely worth it when I got to the pushing stage though - 40 minutes of pushing and a second degree tear and I didn't feel a thing!

Aww congrats OP :)

great news about the birth of your daughter

Huge congratulations to you!