birth: what are the options without gas & air?

[magnificatAnimaMea]

Gas & air (nitrous oxide), even in the smallest doses, makes me vomit uncontrollably. So the lack of it is one of relatively few things that kind of needs to go into birth planning.

However, am I right that that doesn't leave any options other than
(1) nothing
(2) epidural
(3) full anaesthesia

?

Definitely try for a water birth! There are definitely other drugs that are possible in labour- trys desperately to think back to nct classes 2+ years ago...Pethidine for example. Gives up and googles... www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/pain-relief-labour.aspx

You can have pethidine, makes you sleepy tho

thanks. Will talk it through with the midwife, just interested in options at the moment.

Water birth, paracetamol, TENS.

What inthesandpit said ^^

Tens then water, like you I took one toke on gas and air and was like err no, but I am also nervous of needles and having researched I was also not keen on stuff passing through to baby which kind of ruled out pethedine.

I got lucky, twice 😀

Just remember every person is different and every birth is different, and people seem better at sharing the scary stuff than the happy stuff! I went in with a pragmatic view but well educated on the options and impacts of the various drugs etc. So I felt well prepared, and my DH was also well informed (drilled by me) on what I was willing and not willing to happen.

Good luck 💐

TENS
Waterbirth if you can
Morphine
Co codamol
Practice your breathing. Sounds trite but it made a big difference to me.

I used pethidine but it crosses the placenta and my DD had it in her system when she was born. She stopped breathing a few times during her first week. Never again.

Hypnobirth . Google it. I know some women that swear by it

I had dia morphine for a bit of my 52 hour labour with dd. It was great, I got a proper rest for a while.

A lot of people have the bath. It is brilliant for pain relief.

TENS is always worth a try though I hated it - perhaps cos my first was back to back so it was adding sensation to an already painful area!

I'd pick epidural over pethidine tbh.

The gas and air did nothing for me, gave up on it after about 5 contractions. I just had paracetamol.