Meptid - is this still used? And previous birth experiences And 3rd time round how was it?

[missmama]

Hi all
I am 30wks pg with DC3 so the midwives think I am an old hand at this but my boys are 8 and 10 1/2. So I would like to think that things have moved on a bit from then.

For my first delivery I was admitted for obs after about 12 hours from the start of labour and stayed overnight on the ward until things really kicked off the next day. I had a Meptid injection in my thigh and then gas and air until it was over. He was born just after 8pm with the help of ventouse and epipitiostomy (eek sp) as he was having difficulty and I am still not sure but I believe he was back to back.

With my second it was all much more straight forward, I woke up with labour pains in the early hours of the morning and waited until late afternoon to go in, but they sent me home as they stopped when I got there, they were even worse when I got home so I went back again, they stopped again so they sent me home again. So I was worried I was wasting their time . I finally went back in again just before 11pm and the midwives eventually said I could stay but they had no staff and did not expect him to be born for many hours yet and that I would have been more comfortable at home, that I was to try to sleep through the night ready for the following afternoon. DS2 was born at ten to midnight that night, there was only time for gas and air that time and I had no interventions.

OM word I didnt mean to go on so much

But is Meptid still used? I never liked the sound of pethadine but people talk about it all the time so obviously that is.

Has the midwife situation changed much in 8 years? As I believe that them being short staffed was the reason I was sent home so many times with my second and would have been sent home the last time but I absolutly refused to go.

Oh and 3rd births. How do they compare to the first two, does your pain threshold change as you get older? Is it different because you are older and wiser?

Thanks for getting this far
I have modified the thread title every time I have thought of something else, so I think it covers everything.

my sister had meptid 3 years ago so thats slightly more recent! I had pethadine I think they treat them as the same type of drug and you only get offered whichever that particular hosp has on hand. I hate being sent home. I have had (2) very long labours which are as painfull at the beginning as the end but they still say oh you are not in labour because you are not 4 cm dilated
I dont get past 3 till I am about to pop then it all goes quickly! sorry to go on just liked your idea of refusing to go home.
Think I will do this 20 hours in to my next (hopefull) labour
Hoping to help

missmama: i had meptd and it was the most useless pain relief i have ever tried!!!

As soon as i had it i looked at the mw and said 'when can i have something else' and she looked at bit crestfallen and said, ooh, about x hours!!!

everyone will be different but i'm afarid it had no impact on my pain as far as as a useful pain relief goes

Meptid still available. I had it 2 yr ago and may have it again (33/40 now); i don't think it's a great painkiller, but it was fab for making me not give a s* about the pain!
It's more expensive than pethidine, so your unit may not stock it (or not give it unless you ask)

I had meptid 6 months ago. It helped for about an hour but once I was ready to push it made little difference.

ooh I'm pg with DC3 (39+1 eeeeeeek) and have been told that my hospital give meptid. Never had it so am v interested in replies.

I won't have pethidine and hate G&A and would like to avoid an epidural, so I was clinging onto meptid being a wonderful solution! My MW said its a bit like having 3 gin and tonics

Meptid v similar to pethidine except said not to cross the placenta as significantly. I had it in early stages, which is when I needed it, not sure it would have helped later.

Both Meptid and Pethidine are opiates and so I'd expect them to operate similarly. I know Meptid is now used exclusivly in my area as its thought not to cross the placenta.

Yes Meptid is still used, I had two shots of it 6 weeks ago. I found the first shot to be good, it spaced me out a lot but it made the contractions bearable and I dozed a bit which was nice as I'd been having contractions for 17hr and had been up all night on top of a long day. I had a second shot 7hrs later and it worked but not anywhere near as well as the first shot, but then my contractions were far far worse by then. Don't be fooled in to thinking that Meptid will make you stop feeling the contractions though, it doesn't, but it does take a considerable edge off them for a while. You can only have two shots though, and they have to be 6hrs apart I think.

I know that some people can find they feel sick on Meptid, but they also give you an anti-sickness something or other, it might have been a pill or it could've been an injection, I can't actually remember most of my labour! Either way, I didn't feel sick at all.

Oh, I should add that my first jab I wasn't actually in 'labour' according to the midwife, but she can stick it up her backside because I had been having bloody painful contractions for 17hrs and as far as I'm concerned that is labour!

My second shot I was definitely in labour, I took an epidural in the end. There would've been no way on this earth that I would've got through it on just Meptid, but then some people manage on just G&A and that didn't even touch the pain, and neither did the TENS or the water bath!