Second Baby: Labour and Pain Relief

[sakura06]

I'm hoping someone can please give me some advice.

With my first baby, I had an epidural. I felt like I really needed it and had been given pethidine which was ineffective (as was the TENS machine I tried).

Talking to midwives this time round, they are very insistent that I will not have time to have an epidural (they have even made it sound like I might not have time to get to the hospital, which is very local). I am starting to feel quite anxious about labour as a result.

I was very open-minded before my first, but frankly found the reality quite terrifying (uncontrollable vomiting, not being able to keep water down etc.).

Does anyone have any helpful advice or anecdotes which might help put my mind at ease?

Why is it they feel there won't be enough time for an epidural? Was your last labour very very quick?

I love the way they have a crystal ball . If you had time for pethidine and an epidural last time, you weren't presumably that quick?

I had a fairly rapid labour with paracetamol and a whiff of gas and air (no time for anything else, DD arrived less than an hour after arriving at hospital). I too have been warned that I need to go in early unless I want a home birth!

Having said that, all labours are different, you may sail through, you could need a section...no-one knows yet. Was your vomiting due to the pethidine? It's a common side effect.

No one has any idea how long your labour will be - even your MW! You may have time for an epidural, but you also may not and I think if it terrifies you to this extent you may want to talk it through with a professional to prepare yourself for any eventuality. Labour is unpredictable - that's the nature of it.

I suspect your MW is just preparing you for the fact that many second labours are quick - particularly if you had a straightforward natural delivery first time around. Mine was two hours and 20 mins from first contraction to birth (after a first labour of 16 hours), so you need to be mentally prepared for whatever happens and just go with the flow. It might not be anywhere near as bad this time. Each baby and each labour is different. Good luck!

Thanks for all your responses. My first labour was not very quick. It was 16 hours from first twinges to birth. ChatEnOeuf, I was vomiting before the pethidine - I think it was my body's reaction to the pain! I think you're right about it talking through with the midwives Juneau. They seem to be a bit anti-epidural to be honest, which is worrying me a bit! Hopefully all will be ok. Thanks again!

I can't help on the pain relief front but I vomited through 20+ hours of labour with DS who was a planned home birth but ended up transferring due to the vomiting.

With DD I got something from the GP that I took as soon as I felt the first contraction and I was only sick once. It was 9 hours from first twinge to having her. Labour was very different anyway so I'm not sure that I'd have vomited my way through it but I definitely felt better and more in control knowing that I had something to take as a pre-emptive measure.

My second labour was longer than my first but I too kept getting told that it would be quicker and as a result ended up at the hospital waaaY to soon (I was scared id end up having to give birth on the side of the dual carriageway!). So really nobody knows how long your labour will be. I found my second birth a lot easier though. I think it's all a bit of a shock the first time round that it maybe gets built up in your head over time so you expect the horrendousness the second time which turns out not to be as bad as you thought. If that makes sense?!