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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Thinking of a birth centre birth, minimal pain relief.

114 replies

H000 · 23/05/2026 08:25

I would love to know people’s experiences with giving birth in a birth centre rather than a labour ward.
I’m aware in a birth centre that epidurals are not given.
My first baby is due in 9 weeks and I’m depending and trying to tell myself I can do this without an epidural.
My reason being that I want to be mobile and feel more in control. The thought of a needle in my spine also freaks me out.
I know all births are different but would love to hear experiences of birth centres and or non epidural births.

OP posts:
OrangeSlices998 · 23/05/2026 19:55

Parker231 · 23/05/2026 13:26

Why wouldn’t you want an epidural? I didn’t see the point of risking being in pain. They are amazing. I had an early one - had lots of sleep, watched Wimbledon final and was totally relaxed and without a pain or discomfort. Giving birth was a piece of cake!

Lots of people don’t! Can slow down labour, increase need for instrumental birth, risk of infection with needing a catheter/IV access.

CrispAppleStrudels · 23/05/2026 19:57

OrangeSlices998 · 23/05/2026 19:55

Lots of people don’t! Can slow down labour, increase need for instrumental birth, risk of infection with needing a catheter/IV access.

This is also a good point. Even without an epidural, I needed a catheter as DD1's positioning meant I was struggling to empty my bladder. After they took it out, I had the worst UTI of my life and didnt end up being discharged until day 5 pp.

VintageLane · 23/05/2026 19:58

I had two hospital births with no pain relief whatsoever. I very much wanted this, but was open to other options if I felt unable to cope. As it happened, my births were easy and not painful, but I think having an open mind is important.

OrangeSlices998 · 23/05/2026 19:58

OP I had my first in an alongside birth centre, just down the corridor from the labour ward. I had a truly fantastic experience, could guarantee I’d be able to have a waterbirth (assuming all was well with me I mean) and the one pool wouldn’t be used! I also had a birth centre midwife who was very knowledgable and relaxed and confident about physiological birth. I got to the birth centre at 1330 at 3cm, baby was born in the pool at 1655. I had gas & air, the pool, and did the positive birth company hypnobirthing course online. HIGHLY recommend! 3 births down I’ve used the techniques for each birth, gave my husband a really clear role, and lots of tools to mentally prepare myself.

You can always change your mind and ask for an epidural, you can’t get the epidural in then change your mind and ask to go to the birth centre! You might surprise yourself.

Lapplach · 23/05/2026 20:00

Having a vaginal birth without an epidural is the default in the UK, not the other way round. Plenty of women manage with gas and air/breathing techniques/a TENS machine absolutely fine. I did twice and honestly found childbirth, whilst exhausting and painful, not the big deal it is sometimes made out to be but I'm aware I was very fortunate things went well, my babies weren't enormous, I was in good fitness etc. Planning to not have an epidural is a perfectly normal (indeed, statistically the normal) and valid choice, just be open minded things might change.

OrangeSlices998 · 23/05/2026 20:01

Yes the TENS! I forgot how much I bloody loved my TENS machine, I hired one I think or maybe borrowed from a friend? Underrated but amazing for early labour

shellyleppard · 23/05/2026 20:02

I was hoping for a natural birth with minimal pain relief. Had it all planned out, relaxing music etc etc Baby thought different.... ended up with a emergency c section. I was absolutely bricking it, but he's now 21 and amazing. Just be open to having pain relief cos sometimes the best laid plans go wrong

Parker231 · 23/05/2026 20:03

OrangeSlices998 · 23/05/2026 19:55

Lots of people don’t! Can slow down labour, increase need for instrumental birth, risk of infection with needing a catheter/IV access.

I weighed up the pros and cons and avoiding any pain and discomfort was so worth it

LizandDerekGoals · 23/05/2026 20:06

I had my first baby at home in a birthing pool. No pain relief. No issues.

I had my second in a birth centre. Had some gas and air. Also had retained placenta and had to be bluelighted to hospital.

You have to go with the flow.

ImpatientlyWaitingForSummer · 23/05/2026 20:13

Had my second baby at home (planned home birth), and she arrived before the midwife made it! So was delivered in our bedroom by my partner, and my medication was 2 paracetamol when the contractions got pretty bad. Stark contrast to my first who was delivered in the hospital with an epidural, and the delivery along with the recovery was one of the worst experiences of my life. I’d take the unmedicated homebirth a million times over, was a wonderful experience!

mamaduckbone · 23/05/2026 20:16

I had a wonderful experience in a birth centre with my second, no pain relief apa from Tens machine and paracetamol (gas and air makes me feel sick) but was a few minutes away from being blue lighted to hospital. I think you just have to be open to what might happen.

Greybeardy · 23/05/2026 20:21

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 23/05/2026 08:37

I would have liked a birth centre, but didn’t go with it because the hospital didn’t have a full maternity unit, meaning that in an emergency you would have had to be blue-lighted 20 odd miles to the next hospital. But I know some are simply on the next floor/next building.

FWIW, my first was back to back, and I just needed gas and air. I was offered an epidural when I first went in (13+ hours before giving birth), and to their surprise, refused. My reason was simple - my sister had had a major operation whilst I was pregnant. They had been going to do it under epidural, but in the end decided to use GA because that way, if she ended up paralysed, they’d know it wasn’t the epidural. Which was kind of off-putting. Of course, my sister’s situation was utterly different. Theoretically, I was open-minded to an epidural - but I couldn’t face it.

In the event, I loved giving birth. It hurt. A lot. But 3 out of my 4 births left me high as a kite. I mean, really high. I felt like I imagine taking class As would feel like.

To be honest, good births are luck. But if your birth centre is attached to a full maternity unit, I’d say go for it. I think often those of us lucky enough to have good births don’t talk about it, because it can seem a little boastful.

for clarity, in case anyone reads this and panics that the risk of paralysis with an epidural is high.... for a lumbar epidural, the risk is about 1:250,000. There are some conditions that increase the risk and we'd usually say an epidural isn't a safe option for those women. FWIW, the risk of paralysis with surgery under GA isn't zero either, but it's just that you can't blame an epidural if you haven't had one (i wonder if there were other things going with your sister that made it a more complex decision).

BertieBotts · 23/05/2026 20:26

I've had three babies and being mobile was really important to me, and I found it bearable. Not the most fun I've ever had, not an experience I'm keen to repeat a fourth time TBH, but absolutely bearable, especially with DC1 and 3 where I did quite a lot of prep (I naively thought with DC2 oh I'll be fine I've done it before.)

For the majority of midwife led units in the UK if you change your mind and want an epidural they can transfer you to the consultant led ward which is usually nearby, often even in the same building. They have to have some access to emergency caeserean surgery for example so other interventions are generally available, the main risk is that you might have to wait longer for an epidural if you decide in the moment and you have to both be transferred and wait for the anaesthetist to be available, and with both of those delays you have a higher chance of ending up where it's too late and they can't do it. But IME planning for a birth without these things leaves you in a better space in case something like that happens or for whatever other reason it is unavailable.

The main thing I would say to avoid is the mindset that if you can make yourself calm enough or relaxed enough that you can control how the birth itself goes or how much pain you experience. This is a mindset where if for whatever reason, which might be completely out of your control, it doesn't work as you expect then you can end up feeling as though you have failed which is enormously painful and difficult and can be traumatic. And TBH - I actually think that even if everything goes well, childbirth has aspects which can be traumatic. I don't say that to be scary, I just mean to say don't add on expectations for yourself which have a possibility of "failure".

The better mindset IME is focusing on tools you can use to help yourself through situations which can be overwhelming, tools which help you for example remember that a contraction is short, or which feel productive, or which can help you to retreat to more of an inner place (which sounds woo but will make more sense when you've actually experienced labour). The very best book I read was Birth Skills by Juju Sundin and I think this is so brilliant I recommend it to everyone. There is also a good youtube channel by an American L&D nurse called Sarah Lavonne.

I think it can be helpful to learn a bit about different interventions and why they might be offered and what it might mean in advance. But TBH it can also be a hindrance to know too much, because some interventions sound scary (I was terrified of the idea of an episiotomy) but they really won't be doing things just for the sake of it - midwives are trained to support you to try to avoid the need for intervention, and when intervention is suggested it is usually because it is the better of two bad options at that point, and so sometimes it's best not to really think too much about it, because if you are at that point then usually it's something which makes sense anyway.

Apprentice26 · 23/05/2026 20:44

OrangeSlices998 · 23/05/2026 19:55

Lots of people don’t! Can slow down labour, increase need for instrumental birth, risk of infection with needing a catheter/IV access.

I believe this is all been completely discredited now even in 2010 they had their doubts about labour being slowed down by epidurals.
Harvard says no Yale says slowed down by 20 minutes to half an hour.

Swarly · 23/05/2026 20:46

I had my first baby in the birth centre last year following an induction at 41+5.
I had minimal gas and air at the pushing stage. The pain and pressure of the contractions was absolutely awful. Honestly if I hadn’t unknowingly got to 10cm so quickly in the induction ward I wouldn’t have made it without stronger pain relief. Keep an open mind and see how you progress. The birth centre and labour ward were next to each other at my hospital so it was easy to be transferred between them.

CaffeinatedMum · 23/05/2026 20:49

I’d say go for it but don’t set your heart on it and be open to whatever. My first I did with just gas and air, I begged for an epidural but was told I was too far gone. Fairly straight forward quick ish labour and managed most of it at home so I was a good candidate for a birth centre birth next time you would think, ended up with every pain relief going, a failed epidural and an emergency c section. Yet both labours started and initially progressed in an identical way. You just can’t tell how it’s going to go. (C section was absolutely fine by the way, they’re nothing to be scared of and I wish more people said that)

FernFaery · 23/05/2026 20:49

Swarly · 23/05/2026 20:46

I had my first baby in the birth centre last year following an induction at 41+5.
I had minimal gas and air at the pushing stage. The pain and pressure of the contractions was absolutely awful. Honestly if I hadn’t unknowingly got to 10cm so quickly in the induction ward I wouldn’t have made it without stronger pain relief. Keep an open mind and see how you progress. The birth centre and labour ward were next to each other at my hospital so it was easy to be transferred between them.

Yes the pain is indescribably awful, not the kind of thing you can ‘mentally push through’. It’s nothing like any pain you experience even by breaking a limb or similar. It was so bad with my second I was vomiting. I know some people will pop up to say it was ‘manageable’ but IME they only say that looking back, never at the time.

Lapplach · 23/05/2026 20:50

I'll also add that I know some people who did want epidurals but there was no one available to give them and I think I was probably only allowed into hospital too late to have one - I wasn't admitted until 9cm and 7cm, I suspect because I wasn't making a howling fuss and indeed even hammed it up the second time a bit to allow myself some time to settle in.

Lapplach · 23/05/2026 20:53

FernFaery · 23/05/2026 20:49

Yes the pain is indescribably awful, not the kind of thing you can ‘mentally push through’. It’s nothing like any pain you experience even by breaking a limb or similar. It was so bad with my second I was vomiting. I know some people will pop up to say it was ‘manageable’ but IME they only say that looking back, never at the time.

I absolutely don't doubt this was your experience but it really isn't everyone's, particularly with second and subsequent labours. I had gas and air readily available but was able to breathe through contractions at the very end rather than use it. As I say before, I know this is luck rather than anything else but some people do get lucky.

ANiceCuppaTeaandBiscuit · 23/05/2026 20:55

I had a birthing centre birth with my first. Pros were the space, quiet, bigger bed. But, I had a very long labour, it was exhausting and became so painful in the end. I had fully bought in hypnobirthing, and in the moment it did nothing for me. Second time round it wasn’t an option, I was >40 and baby measuring small so they booked me in for an early induction so I thought may as well have an epidural straight away. I can only tell you my experience but second time was lovely, I slept through a lot if the labour. The midwife told me as I got further dilated not to top up again as I’d need to feel enough to push. I had the energy for it, so it was much quicker, and I was actually allowed home the same day and felt great. It was a really positive experience.

OrangeSlices998 · 23/05/2026 23:10

Parker231 · 23/05/2026 20:03

I weighed up the pros and cons and avoiding any pain and discomfort was so worth it

Absolutely, you do you. I genuinely don’t have an opinion on what pain relief anyone else uses, it’s just something people comment a lot like I’m an idiot or want a medal for opting not to have one! 🤷‍♀️

OrangeSlices998 · 23/05/2026 23:13

Apprentice26 · 23/05/2026 20:44

I believe this is all been completely discredited now even in 2010 they had their doubts about labour being slowed down by epidurals.
Harvard says no Yale says slowed down by 20 minutes to half an hour.

Edited

If you get it too early it absolutely can. Which makes sense, gravity and mobility are two things used to encourage labour along without an epidural. For some women it can help speed things along because it removes the pain, they rest and have more energy. Anecdotally as someone who’s worked as a midwife it definitely can slow things down and then the hormone drip is often recommended. Can make pushing tricky depending on how dense the block is and how close to pushing a top up is done.

Esmeraldathe3rd · 23/05/2026 23:23

I absolutely despised the hospital. I'm on my third. My birth plan is "leave me the fuck alone. Keep your hands off me and out of me. Cut me without my permission and I'll cut you."

I would recommend anyone to be very deliberate about their choice of birth center.

I won't tell you my horror stories. But have someone that can stand up for you, that will say "she said no, you don't have her consent." When the doc takes a knife to your fanny so you "don't tear".

Best pain relief I had was the bloody comb I thought was a naff fad but it was a fiver so why not. Epidural doesn't work on me because my spine is curved. Tens was bloody irritating, water surprisingly wasn't comfortable. Plan this time is lay on my side, sleep as much as possible. Carry a nerf gun to ward off anyone waltzing in the room and shoving their hand in me without even saying hello.

Overthebow · 23/05/2026 23:28

I’ve had two births, and didn’t have an epidural either time. For personal reasons I didn’t want one.

Bumply · 23/05/2026 23:36

Not a birth centre, but my maternity ward didn’t have elective epidural (shared anaesthetist with neighbouring hospital and only available for emergencies).

I was aware of this from the start (my pregnant friends who were all at a bigger hospital were shocked).

I managed births of both my sons with just gas and air. Was perfectly happy with this and hadn’t fancied the thought of needles in my back.