Bans on Gas & Air!

154 replies

1stWorldProblems · 26/02/2023 23:54

Saw this in the Sunday Times today but don't have a share token so here's the same story from the BBC Ban on Gas & Air. I'm not advocating dangerous working conditions for medical staff but felt parents should know that this is another thing that might not fit your birth plan - a number of hospitals have withdrawn gas & air as a pain relief option. As someone who depended it on for both my births, I think other parents should be aware of this change.

OP posts:

Codlingmoths · 03/03/2023 22:56

@Entonox 😮😮 copy the data and send it around/ tell them you’ll send it to the media or the lawyers. Of course women want suitable health care but health practitioners cannot be put at risk.

SoCrossAboutThis · 04/03/2023 08:58

It’s just so wrong that even when they know about it they’re not doing anything

EL8888 · 04/03/2023 09:31

Maybebabyno2 · 03/03/2023 10:59

Another planet haha, i had my first sweep in a school on a pop up table during the start of covid. They weren't giving any pain relief 🤣🤣🤣

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I know right!

theblackradiator · 09/03/2023 11:40

thunderouslug · 27/02/2023 10:32

It's still fascinating to me how much labour and pain experiences can vary between women. Someone earlier said that there are ways to cope and I believed that too before having my first. But my labour was weird. People say you get a "break" in between contractions but I didn't get that. Just 18 hours of continous pain. I can't have opiods, so I that leaves gas and air and epidural. I don't know how I'd cope if my next labour is like my first and if there is no gas and air or epidurals. I wouldn't want staff to be put at risk by the gas and air, but I do want to be able to have a labour with realistic levels of pain. I can accept that it's not pain free, but expecting a body to just cope through a day of non-stop pain without being able to even keep water down is ridiculous.

yes I had this experience too with my first baby of the continuous pain. it was horrendous and I needed an epidural. I had always been told the contractions come and the pain comes to a peak then eases until the next one but for me its didn't and I had one continuous agonising contraction at full peak for hours on end. My second birth was totally different and I had the "normal" contractions that came and went it was a breeze in comparison but gas&air was a god send for my second. I really feel for women who are facing labour with one less option for pain relief as its such a scary time.
I just don't understand if they've known about the risks to midwives etc for so long then why haven't they already built better ventilation systems into many of the newer maternity units that have been built in recent years??

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