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!?

pethidine made me feel sick and out of it. I dont think it particularly helped me with the pain either. I ended up having epiduaral afterwards the one time I had it, and it can also stop baby from latching on after birth.
My SIL loved it when she had it though

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

Pethidine was wonderful.

Much needed relief when tens, water bath, gas and air had done nothing to help.
Didn't make me nauseous / sick. Didn't make me dizzy. Made me a bit 'light headed' I suppose, possibly a feeling of being a bit 'high' (?) but not out of control.

I had diamorphine both times and loved it. No nausea and I was able to fall asleep until it was time to push.

I had pethidine and it knocked me out I couldn't keep me eyes open and don't remember much from labour. The midwife told my partner if I was to give birth again I wasn't to have it because I was too out of it too push! I did hypnobirthing and was told to go for diamorphine but was persuaded not to because they can only give you once, regret it now!

Oh OP. I too wrote a plan. Infact I think I printed out about 4 of them & laminated them 🤣... had visions of a no drugs, waterbirth whilst meditating & sniffing my lavender oil.... ended up being induced, having 24 hours of very painful labour, where gas & air did precisely NOTHING.

I then ended up having an emergency CSec. The pethidine was AMAZING! Managed to grab an hour of sleep before the birth. I wasn't sick, I was just VERY HAPPY to have some relief from the pain.

My baby is now a beautiful, clever, happy child. Really go for all the drugs if you need them & don't worry about it. And good luck xx

Pethidine is the nuts. I had it during my first birth and was able to doze for a few hours. When I came round I was fully dilated and ready to push. For some reason I decided I wanted to be a hero and be drug free for my second birth. It was agony and I actually regret not having the pethedine. The pain was so excruciating I was completely traumatised afterwards.

I had pethidine twice! Long labour... after induction. The first was when I'd got to 4 cm in the middle of the night and it let me get a couple of hours sleep which was handy (didn't sleep the night before, didn't sleep the night after, didn't really sleep the night after that, it wasn't just drugs responsible for me being away with the fairies!)

Second dose was probably mid day. I don't know how much that achieved because I was out of my tree on gas and air. The general combo of pharmaceuticals was great. I went in planning on a water birth with gas and air if needed. Ended up using everything starting with paracetamol and TENS and ending up with a spinal block for an EMCS.

She didn't latch and didn't breastfeed, but she also went straight to NICU overnight so we didn't get a chance to try that first feed, she had a tongue tie and I never had any milk so I think breastfeeding was probably doomed.

If I did it again, I'd take the drugs!

Had Diamorphine with DD - it was wonderful & allowed me to sleep for a few hours. Gas & Air did nothing at all. Unfortunately the Diamorphine wore off by the time I was pushing & no epidural as anesthetist was in an emergency.
Had Diamorphine & Gas & Air with DS - helped me to relax & felt very spaced on the G&A. But ended up with a spinal tap & CSection.
If you want or need the drug, do it. No one questions the need for them in any other major medical procedure.

Had Diamorphine with DD - it was wonderful & allowed me to sleep for a few hours. Gas & Air did nothing at all. Unfortunately the Diamorphine wore off by the time I was pushing & no epidural as anesthetist was in an emergency.
Had Diamorphine & Gas & Air with DS - helped me to relax & felt very spaced on the G&A. But ended up with a spinal tap & CSection.
If you want or need the drug, do it. No one questions the need for them in any other major medical procedure.

As well as feeling dizzy and disoriented.

It's much worse than that. Pethidine. I was one of the something like 40% of people who have a truly horrible experience on it. It was like going from stone cold sober to so drunk you can't speak or focus in about 4 seconds. Terrifying.

And no, it doesn't stop the pain at all - it just makes it that you can't scream. I felt like I was under water and screaming and nobody could hear me.

It was appalling and I suffered life-changing PTSD.

Second labour - I had nothing. It was perfect.

@vickyq1983

Pethidine is the nuts. I had it during my first birth and was able to doze for a few hours. When I came round I was fully dilated and ready to push. For some reason I decided I wanted to be a hero and be drug free for my second birth. It was agony and I actually regret not having the pethedine. The pain was so excruciating I was completely traumatised afterwards.

Funny that we had total opposite experiences!!

Just goes to show - it's a question of how your body responds.

I had pethedine with my second, freaking amazing stuff! But as with most things, it depends on how your body processes things.

I had diamorphine and loved it. I was 8cm and had no pain relief until then. I was freaking out and not coping with the pain at all, shouting and all kinds. I tried gas and air and it just made me instantly vomit each time I tried and gave me no noticeable pain relief so gave up on that quickly. I did actually ask for an epidural then as I was freaking out with pain but the midwives didn't think I would be able to cope with the siting so they suggest the diamorphine. I was reluctant to take it purely for fear of nausea/vomiting especially after I'd done a fair amount of vomiting over the preceding 3/4hrs but they told me they'd give me an antiemetic medication at the same time and they thought I could do with the pain relief. I trusted them and I'm very glad. I didn't have any nausea or vomiting and the pain relief started very quickly. I had been in labour and awake for about 23hrs at that point (middle of the night) and the diamorphine meant I spent most of the remainder of the night actually dozing on and off and having a rest, it was great. I felt calm and no longer in pain.

The main downside for me is just that it had wore off by the time I started pushing, which in itself wasn't a big problem for me, but then I ended up having a ventouse delivery with an episiotomy, with no pain relief other than a pudendal block which didn't work, and then more locals for stitching which didn't work. All of that was fucking EXCRUCIATING and gave me birth trauma and I still sometimes have nightmares about it 2 yrs on. Whereas if I'd had an epidural in place I wouldn't have had to go through all that.

Had Pethadine with my second - it is amazing! Was off with the fairies but in a really nice way. Didn't experience any pain and when it came to pushing I snapped out of my trance no problems.

My first child I had no pain relief, hypno birthing, pool etc.

For my third my birth plan is just going to say pethadine in bold capital letters haha

Had Pethadine with my second - it is amazing! Was off with the fairies but in a really nice way. Didn't experience any pain and when it came to pushing I snapped out of my trance no problems.

My first child I had no pain relief, hypno birthing, pool etc.

For my third my birth plan is just going to say pethadine in bold capital letters haha

I had pethedine the first time round about 1 hr before giving birth. I tried very hard to avoid it second time round as I have only hazy memories of the first 12 hours or so of DC1s life. Having said that, DC1 was back to back and I had been labouring for a long time and it gave me a bit of a break before the very hard pushing began and so it was the right choice for me at the time.

Pethidine was wonderful. I was high for about 10 minutes and then slept for 5 hours.

(When I woke up I was still only 2cm dilated during a long and boring induction)

Oh and my baby latched fine despite the drugs and csec. He BF for 1.5 years.

I had several doses of diamorphine during a 52 hour labour and it did absolutely nothing for me but make me kinda spaced out - didn’t even help me sleep. The jag hurt like a bitch too!

Epidural was the only thing that gave me relief, next time I’ll be going to that straight away if possible.

My mum reacted so badly to pethidine that I decided not to have that whatever happened. Would have preferred an epidural to it and I did take that option for one of my babies.

Had pethedine in labour. They won't give it to you if they they the baby will make an appearance in the next couple of hours. So giving it plenty of time to be out of their system. Theses an antidote, which can be given to the baby if needed, which will reverse the effects. The midwife where I gave birth said they'd never had to use it.

I had a shot of this the effects lasted 2 hours. Very nice, relaxing drug. Didn't take the pain away. I just didn't care as much about the pain. Gave me a chance to rest. After this wore off. I had less than 2 hours before baby arrived, just used gas and air.

Would opt for this again.

Oh I was given a shot of anti sickness to stop it making me sick. So I can't comment on the sickness.

Had pethedine in labour. They won't give it to you if they they the baby will make an appearance in the next couple of hours. So giving it plenty of time to be out of their system. Theses an antidote, which can be given to the baby if needed, which will reverse the effects. The midwife where I gave birth said they'd never had to use it.

I had a shot of this the effects lasted 2 hours. Very nice, relaxing drug. Didn't take the pain away. I just didn't care as much about the pain. Gave me a chance to rest. After this wore off. I had less than 2 hours before baby arrived, just used gas and air.

Would opt for this again.

Oh I was given a shot of anti sickness to stop it making me sick. So I can't comment on the sickness.

I had remifentanil IV with the self dosing clicker thing which is fucking amazing and every maternity hospital should use it as the opiate of choice IMO.

Lots of hospitals won't give diamorphine. Mine wouldn't. Pethedine then epidural.