No idea of pain relief

[LouM10]

I am 27wks pregnant with my first, and unsure what pain relief I want. I've heard a lot of the painkillers may leave the baby drowsy when born, which I want to avoid as it may cause breastfeeding problems. I also think I don't want an epidural, as I want to get out of hospital asap. Grrr... I hate not knowing about things

Hey everyone. I've decided for a home birth. I am moving from a small flat into a lovely big house on Fri, so I started thinking about homebirthing. Have discussed it with my midwife and she is all for it. I am actually looking forward to giving birth now. May look into hiring a birthing pool, but yeah, getting excited now

Hi Lou! How far along are you? I'm 10 weeks with my first, and am thinking of having a home water birth. Knew I wanted a water birth early on, but the thinking about home birthing has been pretty recent. Would love to know how you get on!

Ah sorry, just saw that you already stated how far you were in OP. /blush

haha no problem. Will deffo let everyone know how it goes. I just need to try and find a cheapish birthing pool now lol.

I was so worried about going into hosp. and wanted to get home as quickly as poss. but now I know I am going to be at home, I'm no longer pooping myself and getting excited. hehe

Please be open minded, educate yourself but keep an open mind. If you don't it can be hard to deal with the feelings of failure when it doesn't go to plan. I got to 9cm over 24 hours with no pain relief even though I had to lie down for most the time being monitored (induction). After that time though I was simply exhausted, gas and air wouldn't help with that, the contractions were very strong and rapid and I was running out of steam. I had two lots of diamorphine which gave me some brief naps then the next day I had an epidural. It was nothing like I imagined, took the edge of the pain and I could still move legs and feel pressure. I was past the point of being able to do any more. It wore off when I started to push. Ds popped out with a score of 9, very healthy and certainly not sleepy. For me the drugs/ epidural saved me from the csection they kept bringing up as it made me able to cope that bit longer (and gave me the strength to resist a c-section I thought was unneeded!). The drugs were great and we even had a laugh when I was high on gas/ diamorphine when I found everthing funny.

I wanted a home birth, but I don't regret the hospital birth I had to have (and as it turned out I was lucky to have when I developed an infection very quickly).

Just to say hope the home birth goes well for you, but I'd keep your mind open "just in case"

I wanted a water birth but my waters broke early, DD was back to back and didn't want to come out, so I was induced.

Not quite the pain free labour I was hoping for! Ended up with an epidual, BUT I was out in 24 hours, had feeling back so I could push properly, and had a shower 4 hours after birth as could walk.

I really hope your water birth goes well, but if you do need intervention it's not the end of the world.

BTW I would def try for a water birth again next time, lots and lots of luck!

Thanks for your stories. I am hoping everything goes to plan, but I have said to my OH if I feel I can't cope, I'm more than happy to go to hosp. for extra pain relief, and also if there are any complications as I don't want to put my baby or myself at risk.

I know everybody is differnt, but my family have all had a history of relatively 'quick' and and uncomplicated births so I'm hoping I will follow suit.

EEEhhh can't wait for him to come out. And thank you for the well wishes too