Looking for positive stories/encouragement to go ahead with unmedicated labour

[Lalarosex]

hi mamas

FTM here 38 weeks. I really want to give birth in water unmedicated and have read hypnobirthing book and this is my plan. However every birth video/story that I hear makes me doubt my abilities to do it as women describe the excruciating pain of unmedicated birth or are absolutely screaming in videos. I have terrified myself

I am of course open to needing an epidural at the time but would like some encouragement and positive stories of unmedicated birth. Wishful thinking but can anyone tell me it’s not that bad haha!

Thank you 🙏🏻

Top tip: get a tens machine. Absolutely amazing, helped me through my second two births with nothing more than paracetamol. Keep an open mind though, and just don't focus too much on the whole birth bit, in many ways it's the smallest part of your life with your new baby.

Do you mean unmedicated, or do you mean without pain relief?

Unmedicated would mean without medications, so without chemical induction, chemical augmentation, antibiotics or a managed third stage, not just the pain medications.

Mine were all unmedicated by personal choice and by luck of the draw and I’d happily labour every day as the high I got from each one was unbelievable- walking on air. I hear some people get it running marathons but the post birth high was epic. I didn’t sleep or eat for days. I was buzzing.

But I’m not sure if I would have got that very visceral chemical balance if I’d needed interventions especially artificial hormones. And I had no clue it would happen, nobody told me. It was a lovely way to start parenthood and I was very lucky, I think it’s nature’s way of helping you through the first few days.

I had an unmediated birth, I went into it thinking I don't want any medication, labour started off not painful just mild pains, once it started hurting I asked them to check me I was 1cm, about an hour later I begged for an epidural as the pain was too much they declined stating I wasn't far enough along, I knew I was I could feel her moving down inside me I kept begging nobody would listen, a student nurse helped me so much she taught my partner to hold me and make me breathe through the contractions rather than rolling around, grunting etc, this helped so much, the pain was there but it definitely took my mind off it, shortly after they checked me and I was 10cm, pushing was no where near as painful as contractions. Looking back im glad I didn't have an epidural

First birth I had practised hypnobirthing. I had to be induced but managed to get through with using techniques I had learned to keep calm. I did have gas and air during crowning, and local anaesthetic for the episiotomy! Second time, again, I had gas and air during crowning. I wanted a water birth for mine, but both times knew I couldn't bear to be in water, so be prepared for your wants to possibly change.

Depends on your place of delivery I guess. I chose a natural childbirth hospital and it wouldn’t have surprised me if they whipped out a medal! Best decision ever. I loved all my labours and actively did not want medical intervention. The benefit was me having the births I wanted.

Just to say I think all women should be able to have the birth they want medicated, at home or a surgical table.

You will be absolutely fine for 95% of the labour if you focus on holding the space, keeping oxytocin flowing, relax. The tricky 5% "no going back" pain comes at transition, when you are about to start crowning/ and actual crowning. That is when you will think fuck this is insane why didn't i get an epidural/i'm never doing this again/ will i die from this much pain...But! you must remember women have birthed like this since forever, we are designed to do it. Trust yourself. And luckily that bit at the end is short lived, and your body literally pushes through it. So go for it! You can do this.

I've had two babies, unmedicated water births.

It;s your first birth, so I would absolutely just go with the flow.

I find contractions exactly the same as period crampy pains, so I was always fine until the transition bit. I had a tens machine which helped a bit.
DS1 was a late placental abruption, but with DS2, I only asked for pain relief when it was too late...and it was horribly crunchy, but fine.
DD - I asked for the epidural a bit sooner and it was much easier.

I had a water birth with my second.. did have gas and air just before pushing but pretty much just but down on the mouthpiece!

You have no idea what your labour will be like. I did hypnobirthing with it first hour in labour I felt so anxious, had diamorphine, vomited loads and had an unexpectedly massive baby so needed an episiotomy! I also had a 36 hour labour so was exhausted! (10 hours "active labour" despite a full day of contractions every 5 mins then 2 hours waiting to be checked).

Baby 2 all my hypnobirthing stuff came back to me and I had a lovely, calm, quick birth! Less than 2 hours labour!

I never planned unmedicated but apart from a little G&A with DC1 (it made me feel awful so stopped) that was it. DC2 was also B2B. I had precipitous labours each time. From first twinge to birth was 45 mins with DC2&3 and under 3hrs with DC1. It was horrendously painful and I would have taken the pain relief if there'd been time.
I think you should keep an open mind. My BF was adamant she wanted no medical intervention. She took everything, including an epidural once labour began. It made her quite upset afterwards.

I’ve had 3 DC
Two unmedicated natural births ( only gas and air)
one emergency section due to breech birth
The two natural V births were v quick and brilliant recovery.
Left hospital the same day
I was v quick recovery from section too but they keep you in hospital longer
Natural V birth is much easier and quicker

I was keen to have every type of drug I could get my paws on, but circumstances dictated that first and second labours I had nothing whatsoever. They were painful but I focused on the fact that it was perfectly natural and I knew the pain was finite. It's very different from say, breaking your leg.
I had gas and air with the third and it was an absolute blast. Everyone in the room was in hysterics. I was laughing about the fact that I was mooing like a cow and everyone else was laughing at me. I felt brilliant!
Everyone is giving good advice. You can't really plan too much, just go with what you want/need at the time. I agree with keeping mobile as long as possible. Every labour I was really jogging around and making a lot of noise. I found it helpful to let it all out! I also took raspberry leaf tablets for second two labours and they were very quick (1 hour and 1 and a half hours.)

I had 5 unmedicated births, longest 27 hours, pushing for 3, shortest 2 hours. The short one was the hardest, it was hard and painful from the first contraction.

My daughter and daughter-in-law each had 4 unmedicated births.

I've had 2 unmedicated births and 1 that started that way and ended in epidural. The first one was long and baby's position meant all the pain was in my back but we got there in the end. The second one was a lovely experience where everything went smoothly, baby was in good position, pain was manageable and i was relaxed. The third one started out well too, but baby turned a bit funny mid labour and progress stalled. I just couldn't get back in the zone with the back pain and generally feeling exhausted and like the labour was going nowhere. Having the epidural at that point was magic.

The only birth plan is to need is that you will go with the flow and be open to everything.

See how you feel.

It really depends on your body whether it's painful or not. I know plenty of people who don't find it painful, but you won't know whether you're one of the lucky ones until it comes down to it.

Also depends on the position of the baby. With my first I did hypnobirthing and was determined to have a natural birth, bought into the ridiculous idea that it wouldn't hurt if I was in the right mindset. Baby was back to back and it was excruciating, so I had an epidural straight away.

With my second, I stayed very active and baby was in the correct position. The contractions were no worse than bad period pain. I made it to hospital in the nick of time and gave birth 20 minutes later. Some people don't feel pain in their vag but I did find crowning super painful, though that's over really fast.

I'd 100% have a natural birth right now over having norovirus - to give you an idea that there are a lot of things more painful.

But again, depends on your body. You might find it easier than a toothache or might be the worse pain ever. Best of luck!

Gas and air was divine. I loved it. No other interventions or pain relief but I was open to having whatever was needed.

For most women you're not in screaming pain the entire time. You breathe gas and air through your contractions. You need to make sure you're breathing it correctly and deeply or it will not help you. The midwives will guide you on this. It's blessed stuff.

During the painful parts I shouted and yelled my head off for sure. But the gas and air got me through. I was terrified of getting an epidural so I was glad not to have one, but I'd accepted in my mind that I would take something if it was really needed. You need to be flexible.

This is basically all you need to do. Every birth is different and there is no point planning, what if you need to be induced for example? The pain is huge very difficult to put into words and you won't know how you will react mentally and physically until you experience it. I don't understand this desire to refuse pain relief- would you have a tooth extracted without it? Women seem to have been led to believe that there is something virtuous about a so called natural birth. Wait till your body tells you that you are in labour, go from there and your body will tell you what you need. Hope all goes well xx

I hypnobirthed my second and it was fantastic. My first, I tried, but I was overwhelmed with fear and couldn't get in the zone. Even if I had, this still would have resulted in an assisted birth (I had forceps and episiotomy) just because of the circumstances. So my advice is just go with the flow. Use your hypnobirthing skills, control your anxiety and see what happens. If you need pain relief then take it, no shame in it. Birthing pool is amazing, Gas and air is great once you get past the initial headache/ feeling sick stage, epidural is good, a spinal block is amazing!

I had an induction (drip) with my first with only gas & air and two homebirths in a pool with no pain relief at all. I didn't find labour that painful at all, any time. I hadn't planned on no pain relief, just never needed it. People had told me beforehand that a home birth would be terrible, excruciating etc etc because all you could have was gas and air but it was completely fine. Being upright (for first labour) and being in water for the others really made a difference. I had to lie down in hospital for one contraction to check how far along I was and that couple of minutes was awful, couldn't wait to get stood up again.
Be open to having what you need, but don't assume beforehand that you will need it.

DS1 I took 2 paracetamol, promptly threw them up, and gave birth. No gas and air etc

DS2 was very fast. Didn't even get round to paracetamol. Paramedic no2 turned up with gas and air after locking up the ambulance. Paramedic no1 had already delivered the baby.

Unmedicated - for some births - it's totally doable. For some births - because of anatomy, because of position, because of duration, because of 101 other reasons, pain relief is a sensible way to progress.

Although I agree that all births are different there is 100% a point in planning and having a well researched birth plan. You can have plan A, B, C scenarios. One of the most important things is that your birth partner knows your preferences and can advocate for you.

my birth plan included what I would want to happen if I had a c section although I didn’t actively want one.
I also included non negotiables I would want in every scenario - skin to skin, being able to move etc.

Writing/ thinking about a birth plan is empowering as it allows you to research the options eg the types of pain relief available rather than just taking it as it comes. For instance I said that I would never want pethidine (I haven’t reacted well to codeine in the past) but I would consider an epidural.
I had a birth plan but it wasn’t 100% fixed on one option and that’s the important thing.

I had three unmedicated births - last one was in water. They were fine. The water was amazing! Also had the second two at home with two midwives present - not sure if you can even do that now but it was fab.

It's absolutely possible. I've had 4 babies, 2 were water births, one was an induction. The first three were gas and air only. Last baby was an induction using the drip so I had a shot of pethidine because the pain was unbelievable! Water really helped me though. Good luck!

I gave birth twice with no pain relief at all. My mother did the same for three. Yes it hurts but every time you have a pain you know the baby is coming and as soon as you have the baby in your arms the pain stops.

I think birth plans are nonsense. Important thing is the baby and you are as healthy as possible so best not to go in with rigid ideas and get disappointed with yourself. It's like saying my child will be an astronaut to mars and then finding they need glasses.