Did you have a birth without pain relief - talk to me!

[babyignoramus]

This is a long way off yet but I'm one of those people who likes to investigate things thoroughly beforehand...! At the moment I'm considering attempting birth without pain relief - I'm not trying to be a hero, it's just that I can't think of anything I'd actually want. I don't like the idea of pethidine, I HATE the idea of an epidural and I have a feeling that gas and air are likely to make me feel sick. However, I'm keeping a very open mind and may well end up having the lot!

I'd appreciate hearing your stories.

Ta!

Yes if you don't time it well, and if you take short gasps of it.

yes, if you're not breathing it deep and slow enough, you'll feel very sick and it won't take you under the pain anyway. Pointless.

ah
thats what i did wrong then
mind you, no-one had ever shown me the 'proper' breathing stuff... only occured to me when in advanced labour. doh! bit late to be taking lessons then.
my mum did say at one point; 'dont forget to breathe' and i wanted to lamp her.
arf

Fist time I had no pain relief, because I am terrified of needles, and gas and air did indeed make me ill.

However, bizarrely I found my first labour was not actually that painfull, altho in the end I did have to have a bit of gas and air when they numbed me to do an episiotomy as dd had to be delivered by forceps.

With DD2 I had gas and air, and it was painful, so I needed the distraction of gas and air, it made me really dizzy and felt like my head was filled with cotton wool.... I'd have had everything if it weren't for my terror of needles.

I had no pain relief until I was 7cm dilated, then I had gas and air, which was great, didn't make me feel nauseous and I didn't care at that point whether it made my mouth dry, with contractions every 10 seconds, that was the least of my worries. I gave birth 1.5 hours later, so most of it was without pain relief, the reason why is a long and different story.....

After all that, I had to have an epidural AFTER the birth, to be taken thearte and stitched up...

Yes both previous times - although never intended to give birth pain relief free particularly.
First birth was 7 hours or so and I was in a birthing centre with a very experienced midwife - and spent some time in the pool but gave birth on all fours on dry land.
Second birth was 2 1/2 hours, got to hospital with 1/2 hour to go so there wasn't any time for pain relief even if I'd wanted it really!

My first birth was a great experience and second birth was still good if a little intense and hard to cope with at the end (due to non stop contractions).

I have never been afraid of giving birth in the way that some women are. I have no idea why as am actually quite an anxious person normally. Good luck whatever you decide!