Experiences of Pethidine

[Sam29]

Hi, am due in 3 and a half weeks and have my fingers crossed for a water birth using gas and air to see me through.
However, need to have a Plan B just in case something hiccups and I can't have a water birth. Do not want to be bed bound so epidural not an option so am thinking of pethidine if I end up having to be on dry land! I know it can make the baby sleepy which concerns me as I want to get baby to breast asap but has anyone had any good / bad experiences of pethidine or tips on having it and having a relatively awake baby!

Lil, no it's pethidine they're phasing out. I think there'd be a riot if they ceased to offer epidurals. The pethidine is being replaced by a similar drug which is considered less likely to make the baby drowsy.

oh gawd, I meant pethidine...wonder what it is being replaced with. You think finally they have a pain killer with no side effects - at last!!!

I think the new drug is called Meptid (meptazinol) it not addictive like pethidine and apparently doesn't have the same side effects on the baby as pethidine. I think it was available at our hospital but not sure what general availability is like

That's the one, KeepingMum, thanks! I suspect it is also more expensive which might be why it is not generally used in preference to Pethidine.

I just wanted to say that nobody on this thread that I can see has criticised anyone else's decision to have pain relief / caesar whatever only that they have said that they were very happy with their own choice not to do so. So I don't get the marathon bit Aloha as I can't see anyone here at all making disparaging comments about those who go for caesars. I can however see quite a few snide remarks at people who simply made the remark that they were happy with natural childbirth. Quite frankly, I'm really suprised to see this on Mumsnet. Surely if it is OK to be very glad to have had a caesar it is ok to be very glad not to have had one? After all, we all have different fears in life.

croppy, I wasn't 'glad' to have had a caesarean section, I was glad to have had a live, healthy baby

Well of course that's what we are all glad about but Aloha has specifically said she would prefer a caesar which seems reasonable to me. Do you object Bundle to people talking positively about their birth experiences? I am genuinely puzzled by this?

ks, I presume your doubt is that anyone has listened to VW CDs in labour, not at all...poor old Vaughan Williams!

I would love to hear about positive birth experiences... by any method. I get a real tingle of excitement/terror as to what might happen to me in a few weeks. Reading these posts is bad for me really but I just can't keep off 'em.

no, of course I don't object to people talking positively about their birth experiences. but many women do not have a choice about mode of delivery ie when safety takes precedence over their wants/desires and a baby "needs" to be delivered quickly, like mine. And although I can't boast that I'm "glad" I had an emergency caesarean, it doesn't mean that the overall result wasn't a good one.
I've met women who've spoken very positively about their birth experiences and obviously felt 'sorry' about the way mine went - and yes, they looked down a little on births where there was a lot of intervention as some sort of lesser experience - that's like water off a duck's back to me, but for other more sensitive creatures it might make them feel as if they've 'failed' in some way and I don't think they should be made to feel that way. I'm not saying that has happened here, it's just an observation from my own experiences.

Lol about the lovely Vaughan ks, I always snigger when I come across my plant sprayer that I dutifully packed in my hospital bag after reading it would help for dp to spray me with it during labour. Must say I was glad that I didn't have to rely on it when I ended up having a c section

I am really sorry you have had that experience Bundle. That view (that a C/S is something of a failure) isn't something I can relate to as of course beside the safe delivery of a baby, everything else pales into insignificance. I guess my concern is that I just want people looking at Mumsnet to see that natural childbirth IS the right choice for some people and something that they are happy they did.

I used to think I had 'failed' for having a emerg c/s but had a great result i.e. healthy baby.

This time, it's not really the 'achievement' thing at all, as I'm much wiser and less focused on the experience etc. (mad cackling laughter..)

What I do know is the blooming hassle of abdominal surgery and possiblility of adhesions, poor wound repair etc upon repeating them.

Sorry, but this is not at all relevant to pethidine, which is what the thread is about..I'll bow out just found another favourite thread.

couldn't agree with you more, and those same people visiting Mumsnet should also know that intervention of any kind isn't a failure - whether it was part of the gameplan or not.
I'm not building myself up for anything this time - either a VBAC or another c-section, just 'arming' myself with enough knowledge that I could cope with either.

sorryks - I meant when you said 'I somehow doubt anyone has', did you mean, you doubted whether anyone listened to VW CDs in labour, or whether anyone listened to VW at all. Now I come to spell it out, it seems a rather minor point...I do quite like VW, but possibly not in labour.

Our midwife in ante-natal classes said to take a good book and a jigsaw, as it coule be quite boring....yeah, right!

Croppy, I wasn't talking about this thread particularly, but I hardly think it is controversial to say that you don't often hear good things about c-sections or epidurals, quite the contrary. The birth 'gurus' including Kitzinger and Odent etc etc definitely do more than imply that a birth without either is definitely a 'superior' event, yet that is far from always true, as some of the experiences on this thread shows. My point was that creating a baby is an incredibly experience. Birth IMO is only/primarily the way you get to 'meet' your baby and start being a mother/father. But by focussing on birth so much I think it is possible to lose sight of this. Women do feel 'failures' for having sections or epidurals and I personally believe that a lot of this is due to an overemphasis on birth itself and the growth of a 'natural birth' culture, which may have had important work to do in changing the way women used to be treated in hospital , but has also, IMO, had a negative influence in the way it encourages the denigration of other types of births. I refer to the very widespread sneering and condemnation of, say, Posh, for having two c-s, compared to the sanctification of, say, Kate Winslet for having a vaginal delivery. Yet I certainly see no evidence that divorced, smoking, ever-travelling Kate Winslet is a better mother than the clearly devoted Posh. I am not specificially critisising Kate Winslet here, she's probably a very loving and involved mother, but let's face it, poor old Posh gets so much flak for having sections, yet she seems to me to be providing a rather more stable home life for her kids. There is MUCH more to motherhood and making a baby than giving birth. I think it is terribly sad that so many women feel that the way they give birth makes them a failure as a woman or as a mother.

My point is simply that I was very surprised to see that people on this thread who simply commented that they were very pleased with the outcome of their natural births were immediately labelled "smug" and "superior" for having said so.

no need to label, susanmt did it herself:

"I think we should be allowed to be smug about the things we managed the way we wanted. "

But Bell2 didn't label herself and made no remark about anyone else and yet she got the treatment. Sorry, but given Susanmt's medical history which she clearly laid out, I do think she was entitled to feel smug about avoiding an epidural. I can imagine that in her circumstances, the thought of one would have been terrifying.

BTW, please don't think I'm attacking single mums - my mum was one!

croppy, I think we're basically saying the same thing, but the word "smug" hasn't helped this discussion at all and perpetuates this "myth" that intervention is 2nd best, something to feel ashamed of.

KS and musica, I DID listen to VW during labour ... hmmm, maybe that's why I needed the epidural, ventouse etc