Pethidine and diamorphine

[CookieDoodles]

What are people's experiences of having either of these pain relief drugs during labour?
I'm due in a couple of weeks and I'm writing my birth preferences. Ideally I'm hoping to go with gas and air and some Hypnobirthing techniques to get me to through, but was open to taking pain relief drugs if need be.
However - the cons seem to massively outweighs the pros with these drugs! I can't stand being sick/feeling nauseous (who does I guess!) and the thought of dealing with that as well as labour pains does not appeal! As well as feeling dizzy and disoriented.
Then there's the chance of some of the drug being passed to baby.
So has anyone used these drugs and were glad that they did!?

Sorry if you see this thread 3 times!
My APP crashed and it's posted multiple times

I tried gas and air and hated it. It made me vomit instantly and I hated the whoozy feeling as I didn’t feel in control.

I had diamorphine with DS as soon as I arrived at hospital (6cm dilated). They gave me an anti-sickness tablet with it so didn’t feel nauseous. It took the edge off the pain and I had DS within 3 hours of arriving at hospital.

With DD I got to hospital in a lot of pain. Was not at all dilated but in real pain so had Diamorphine. My contractions then stopped completely for 24 hours so I went home (had to wait 24 hours after being given it though). Arrived back at hospital next day at 2cm, had another dose. DD born within 20 minutes. Thoroughly checked for adverse effects as it was given closer to delivery than they like but all was fine.

I wouldn’t hesitate to have it again if I had another child.

I had pethedine with my first and ended up off my face, which was nice at first and then got a bit nightmarish. It was a long labour though and it did wear off by the time it came to pushing. I don't think it helped with pain it just made me care less.

My mum had it but too close to birth so she couldn't remember me being born. Similar story with another friend who was off her face with a newborn (2nd baby, misjudged how quickly labour would progress).

If you are struggling early on and dead against an epidural then it would make sense to try it, but three babies in now and I think if I had another one I'd just skip the meds and go straight to epidural. That was the plan for my third but he arrived too quickly in the end.

Good luck, best plan just to roll with it and see how you feel at the time.

I had diamorphine (although not planned in advance as I was aiming to have the birth that you're planning!) I really didn't want to have an epidural due to the increased tearing risk. I felt fine on diamorphine, completely in control still- it just took the edge off the pain. Gas and air is the work of the devil and I will never touch it again!! (lighthearted)

I had Pethadine the first birth, never again it was horrendous. Felt off my face and didn't remember much.

2nd just gas and air, was nice to remember more and not feel so out of it

Pethedine for first birth, awful - felt out of it in labour and felt sick for about three days afterwards. No pain relief for second birth, DD born 20 mins after I realised I was in labour 🤣

It's really tricky to say because different people react so differently to the drugs. Even gas and air which is considered to be fairly "mild" - some women think it's great, others find it makes no difference and others actively dislike it! It's a shame you cant try them all out in advance to see which one you like best!

I had pethedine having been so sure before that I wouldn't want it.

In the end I had a very long early labour and stayed at 3cm for days with strong contractions. The midwife suggested I have some pethedine so that I could sleep for a few hours.

Worked amazingly, made me very relaxed but didn't make me 'out of it' at all. After a few hours dozing my waters had broken (without me realising) and I had progressed to 5cm.

No sickness or nausea as they gave me an anti sickness injection at the same time as the pethedine.

I would definitely have pethedine again if needed in early labour.

Bad experience with pethedine here too. Was a drip induced labour and they ramped up the contractions until I couldn't cope hence needed the pethedine. Felt totally out of control and out of it with the pethedine and it didn't really help with the pain. I ended up with an epidural in the end.

I know people who rave about how good pethedine was for them though!

I had Pethidine and it did stop the pain but it made me very out of it for longer than it stopped the pain. I then had an epidural as I had the drip to try and speed things up and then an emcs.
I think I would have been happy with the Pethidine if I had a normal birth after it wore off as did allow me to rest. But having ended up with a c section it seemed a bit of a waste of time with hindsight and I didn’t enjoy being out of it.
I was too exhausted to breath the gas and air deep enough to work but found standing under a hot shower wonderful for the pain and hospitals don’t run out of hot water. I was under there for hours.

Had Pethidine with my first as they wouldn’t give me gas and air and would not have it again..was in serious pain, it didn’t help with the pain at all, just made me groggy and couldn’t really speak up for myself..they/nurses just ignored me , only came back when I screamed baby is coming out (went from 1 to 10cm in 2.5h)..due with the second one this/next week and specifically making notes that not having any Pethidine! Doesn’t help with the pain. Good luck.

I had diamorphine and it was fine, no sickness or issues, still felt in control, had gas and air throughout too and I found it helpful. I think its one of those things you cant really predict as everyone will have a different reaction, I had a rough idea of preferences but hadnt ruled anything out as I thought I would be more relaxed knowing I had options, I just knew I would start with gas and air then work up if needed more relief for pain which is when asked for the diamorphine. Good luck x

I just had gas and air and I was sick as a dog off it.

I ended up having morphine. It was given with a very big dose of anti nausea medication. I had no nausea at all. Which is amazing considering I’d had hyperemesis gravidarum during my pregnancy and I’m a very easily nauseous person normally. It did fully wear off about an hour before my daughter was born. But it gave me a chance to rest a bit between contractions. I was very tired from 2 sleepless nights due to a long painful early labour.

I had a long labour, 4 days and nights of contractions, in the end I was given a pethadine injection so I could rest as I was physically exhausted. I felt fine, no dizziness or sickness. I just felt relaxed and was able to get some much needed rest before I had to push.
I was given it at 5am, and gave birth at 6.58am, so about 2 hours or so before. It really helped me.

Gas & air didn’t touch the sides !!! Absolute rubbish ... diamorphine was good though. It did take the edge off. Felt a bit spaced, but not completely off my face.

I had pethidine for my first; the baby was in a bad position and the contractions were hard to cope with from early on. They then gave me drugs to speed up labour, which increased the pain. Pethidine just made me feel out of control and dopey - and I don't feel it really took the pain away, anyway. They topped it up later, and my baby was born with very low APGAR score which they put down to the pethidine in her system. (I had tried gas& air, which made me sick, and I could't have an epidural because of spinal problems). For my second baby I had a TENS machine, and nothing else.

I think it's good to research all the options, then you'll have a better idea of what might work for you when the times comes, if needed. Hope all goes well

Gas and air made me nauseous

I was fine on diamorphene although ended up having an EMCS

I had diamorphine (I was induced) and it really helped. It took the edge off, it didn't exactly make it less painful but I didn't care as much if that makes sense? I wasn't totally out of it but I felt like I was about 3 glasses of wine down! It came with an anti nausea injection so I had no issues there. I declined gas and air because up until that point I'd gotten some good breathing going and I was wary of interfering with it, plus I didn't want to feel sick or lightheaded. So for me, the diamorphine was excellent. However, everyone's body and brain responds differently, it's impossible to know how you will feel until you have it x

I had pethidine and it worked a treat for me. They gave me an anti-sickness shot at the same time so I didn't get sicky with it.

I had a dose when I was 4cm dilated, it clearly had a very relaxing effect because DS shot out 50 minutes later. That gave the mifwife (and DH) a surprise.

I absolutely LOVED diamorphine and they give you anti sickness medicine at the same time, so no nausea. Would really recommend if you need a break and a rest from the contractions. Properly takes the edge off.

I had diamorphine at 8cm with no problems as well. It definitely helped with the pain and made me able to get a bit of sleep in between my contractions. No nasty side effects and felt fine after baby was born x

Gas and air made me so very sick, they kept giving me various different oral antiemetics none worked - well they just came straight back up. Finally 28hours an amazing anaesthetist stop the sickness with iv drug.

OP I was given diamorphine and hated it. I felt totally out of control. Like the worst drunk you've ever been but there's nothing you can do to sober up.
It also made me really lethargic so I couldn't stand or move to enable labour to progress.
I got to 5cm at home with paracetamol too and thought I'd do great but ended up with an episeotmoy (sp) and forceps.
They tore a muscle in baby's neck and I was in a lot of pain for weeks afterwards. I attribute most of this to the morphine as I was not in control during the Labour.
Avoid it at all costs....
However as others have said my tolerance could have been very low. Due number 2 in Feb and I will not be having it again.
Good luck with your birth

I had diamorphine during my induction. I really don't remember having an antiemetic though. I never had any nausea or sickness, so I guess I must have.

The diamorphine was great. I was sound asleep between contractions. Making up for the two nights before where I barely got any (nerves). When I was conscious, I was pretty incoherent. I kept forgetting which hand held the gas & air (kept sucking the fingers on the wrong hand). I don't remember too much of the labour itself as a result.

The diamorphine wore off after about 5 hours, which fortunately coincided with 10cm and time to push. There was enough of the painkilling effect that pushing didn't really hurt, but I was now lucid enough to follow directions, and to remember the pushing phase and meeting my baby. 🥰 Baby was quiet when she came out. Might have been due to the morphine, but her breathing and APGAR score were otherwise perfect, so could just be her.

I didn't expect the diamorphine to work as well as it did. I had taken morphine before (I realise now it was oramorph, not injected) when I was 11 after I had broken my leg. And I remember that pain vividly. It seemed the drugs didn't even touch it, and I was expecting the same here. It was a bit of a shock to me how well it worked. I would definitely take it again in future labours, if I felt I needed it.