Choices for pain relief during labour??

[LittleMG]

Hi everyone, I’m expecting my first baby in November and I’m super scared about the birth and suffer with anxiety and OCD anyway.

I’ve been following a hypnobirthing book and really doing all the activities and I’ve got a course for end of September. However, I’ve looked into additional medicinal forms of pain relief and discussed with my midwife tbh I’m not that keen on any of them! A lot say they cause nausea- one of my biggest fears!

I would be very grateful for some objective views on the pain relief you used and how much you feel it helped. I’d also Love to hear any positive hypnobirthing stories, I think it can really help me but I need to keep my head and not have a panick attack when I’m trying to give birth!!

Xxx

i used a TENS machine for early labour. i thought it wasn’t doing much, but looking back i think it must have - i got to 5cm at home anyway and wasn’t in too much pain. i’ve hired one again for this time round.

i had gas and air and thought it was brilliant, it really helped, it didn’t make me feel sick at all but obviously everybody’s different. i also had a dose of pethidine. although i do think it helped with the pain it made me really itchy (especially my nose for some reason!) and very drowsy, i’m going to try without it this time.

The hospital lent me a TENS machine during my prodromal labour- it was a nice buzzy sensation, but I felt all my contractions in my abdomen so although it was a distraction it didn’t actually help the pain! If you felt the pains in your back I could imagine it being a good help.

Had pethidine once things got going. Made me very sleepy, but I didn’t feel nauseous at all. When dd was born she was very sleepy and wouldn’t latch which killed any attempts at BF, and I’ll always wonder if the pethidine was the reason.

Had remifentanil (not sure on the spelling) once things really got going. You’re given a little clicker which distributes a small amount of painkiller with each contraction. A anaesthetist needs to provide it, so it’s not available on our MLU. Absolutely fantastic- I felt very in control and it dulled the pain without losing the intensity of the contraction or the urge to push and no nausea at all.

The only time I felt sick at all during the entire process was when they gave me the injection for the placenta delivery- I threw the baby at DH and projectile vomited, but felt fine again straight away and had some toast. Absolutely bizarre.

Gas and air did nothing for me... diamorphine was great (I was induced) although it did make me sick.
I've got a bit of a phobia about being sick too -- but tbh it might be the least of your worries if/when it happens.
You may not be able to choose freely. It might be that you have to start small and work up, in which case it isn't worth too much pre-planning. Not all hospitals will let you go from G&A straight to epidural (bit of an extreme example but you get my point).

Epidural was wonderful, no nausea.

Hi OP, I felt exactly the same as you about pain relief, I was terrified it would make me sick.

I refused all pain relief and requested an epidural and they had to get someone senior to come and speak to me and she explained that I wasn't allowing them to treat my pain effectively. When I explained I couldn't cope with feeling sick she was fine and they just gave me an anti sickness injection at the same time as diamorphine and I was fine.

Two pregnancies later I always requested an anti sickness injection and was fine! I also requested an anti sickness inj when I was in post natal ward and they gave it me straight away. I was never sick but one horrible midwife did say to me "you're having a baby you will be sick" but I wasn't. I even had a emcs after I'd eaten and was ok...you've guessed it..I asked for an anti sickness injection!!

Good luck OP x

The TENS machine early on was was ok but could have easily managed without.

Hands down, the best thing for me was the birth pool. It did help a bit with the pain as noticed the difference the few times I got out, but not a lot. However, I had a very long labour and it was brilliant for easing the weight in particular, and for making me feel safe and in control, which made the pain easier to cope with.

I also had gas and air, which didn’t do much for pain relief for me(I know because it ran out!) but was good for focusing on breathing - that was actually one of the most helpful things for me as found if l Dazs pin control of my breathing, I could manage.

Another top tip that really helped me was trying to keep my hands and jaws relaxed through contractions. Hard to do, so a good distraction!

Gah. ‘If I was in control’. Stupid phone

I researched it and decided that I wanted remifentanil but my hospital didn’t offer it, unfortunately.

I couldn’t use the birthing pool either In the end I just had gas and air which took the edge off slightly but didn’t make much difference.

The only thing I definitely wouldn’t have is pethidine because of the side effects for mother and baby.

Probably should have just had an epidural!

Thank you all so much for your replies! I’m hoping for a birthing pool, would never usually have wanted this but I am really trying to be positive, thank you lambdroid, glad it helped you hope I will get some calming effects from it. Daisychops, it’s awful a midwife said this to you, makes me worry I might get an old bag like this - she might see ladies give birth all the time but I’m really scared! Sounds good that you can ask for an anti sickness drug I will look into this as it is a serious worry for me. Thanks you guys you’ve given me a bit of a boost xxxxx

Don’t be worrying about a midwife being a bit of a bag- there were two midwives at DD’s birth and one of them was a bit of a dick to me, but I was so off my tits on painkillers I just didn’t give a shit and it made me more determined to get DD out because she obviously thought I couldn’t do it.

Dinosaurkisses lol

The gas and air was useless (I've had it since for something different and it was useless then too). The pool irritated me and didn't help, which was a shame as I love baths. They then kept telling me it was too late for anything else. It wasn't and it ended up being a further agonising 4 hours.

I'm having a section this time. It's the only way to get decent pain relief.

With DC1&3 I had back to back contractions, literally no breaks between. I was writhing around after hours of constant agony so had the epidural with DC1 in the end as the rest did nothing. DC3 I had gas and air and pethadine. I would have had an epidural had she taken much longer to be born! DC2 wasn’t back to back and I had no pain relief at all.

Pethadine made me feel lethargic, gas&air just makes you feel drunk. The epidural was amazing, it made me feel human again .

I was induced and barely had a break between extremely painful contractions. I had diamorphine which took the edge off!

Please no stories about writhing in agony and poor care I really need to stay positive. Thank you for replies xxx

I have an extreme phobia of vomiting, to the point i've been to counselling on/off since i was 8, suffered depression and anxiety about it for years.

I was terrified of labour, i managed to get through with no morning sickness, the end of my pregnancy was ruined by my fear..

I refused gas and air the full way through, had an anti sickness tablet and kept harassing the midwife to remember when my next one was due. I caved and had an epidural, which didn't work in the slightest. Had a second epidural, extra strength one. Also didn't work, there was one point where i thought i might vomit, but i sipped water through it. Although at that point i remember thinking that i didn't actually care, i just wanted my baby out and in my arms.

Although i wasn't sick i think it's important to realise that you can't help these things, if i has been sick i'd of forgotten about it the second my daughter was in my arms and it actually helped with my phobia quite a bit. I couldn't of cared less. it'll happen or it won't and you honestly will not care in the moment! Hope everything goes well for you

I had a long early labour, with contractions coming between every 30 minutes at times and ramping up to every five minutes or so at others. I managed 3 days of that, I had a tens machine, paracetamol and so many warm baths, the warm water really does help. When I rocked up at the midwife unit I had pethadine, which had no dodgy side effects, I did sleep for two hours afterwards but to be fair I had slept in 20 minute intervals only for the previous 3 days, it was amazing stuff, I had two of those, which was enough for me to sleep a bit, get transferred to the consultant unit, and get a catheter put in and my waters broken, with no major trauma.

Gas and air didn't make me feel sick, it wore off as fast as it worked and I had absolutely no side effects apart from a propensity to tell silly jokes and giggle a bit. The epidural was absolutely amazing. After 3 days of virtually no sleep, I slept through about eight of my eleven hours of active labour, which left me with enough energy to get through the tough bit. The only side effect from the epidural was that for a few days afterwards one of my legs was numb, but that wore off over time. I was very lucky I think, but had all good experiences with the pain relief I had, even though in my birth plan I'd said I wanted a water birth and just gas and air!

I used a TENS machine and hypnobirthing techniques during my birth. I desperately wanted to birth in the pool, but I was induced so couldn't go into the water due to the drip and monitor.

TENS machine was a godsend. Honestly. I found it helped so much. They have a boost function that you turn on during a contraction and it was brilliant. It doesn't take the pain away but it dulls it and also acts as a distraction.

I'd also think about whether you want it keep active in labour. This can aid how you cope with pain hugely. I was limited by all the wires unfortunately, but managed to sit on my birthing ball and also found that hugely helpful for dealing with contractions and I also think it helped my labour progress (it creates an ideal position to get baby pressing down on the cervix).

Good luck OP.

First labour I used a TENS machine. My mum actually controlled it when the contractions came and although I couldn't feel any difference at all, she said I seemed to struggle less when it was used. Gave up on it by the time I was at 3cm and was given various types of pain relief injections (can't remember what I'm afraid). Once on delivery suite I was given gas and air which immediately made me sick so I gave up on that and I eventually had an epidural. It took every single bit of pain away and after 20 hours labouring it was a godsend. However it did slow labour down and took a further 5 hours before I gave birth.

Second labour I used gas and air, again it made me vomit. This labour was much faster so I asked for an epidural straight away. Epidural didn't work at all. I cannot explain the utter panic and devastation that I felt when I realised it wasn't going to work. In the end I laboured with nothing and it was over in 4 hours. I literally used DH's hands for pain relief and just kept squeezing them - he wasn't allowed to move at all - poor DH lol. Swings and roundabouts.

I'm really interested to hear about the anti sickness injection. This has never been offered to me and I didn't even know such a thing existed. I've just written my birth plan for my third and said that gas and air makes me sick so I'm going to put a note in asking for the injection before trying gas and air. The effect of gas and air was great and made me feel a bit drunk so I didn't feel the pain so much but I couldn't manage the vomiting from it, so perhaps this might help.

OP, I'm sure your course will help, I did pregnancy yoga and found that helped a lot during the birth.

I found that any pregnancy sickness wasn't like stomach bug sickness / nausea, it's just different and easier to cope with get over....and this is from the person who lives in fear of noro virus!

I just had gas and air on both of mine as I too am scared of feeling and being sick. I felt that it helped take the edge of the contractions and the pain when they were crowning.

Hypnobirthing is great. I also recommend the book 'Birth Skills' by juju sundin - it's a very different approach (she uses the word 'pain' a lot!) but I like that she gives you loads of tools to choose from, hypnobirthing is fab but once you start to get intense contractions I found I needed something more active to keep my mind off it.

I've had one with gas and air, one with epidural, two with no drugs, one of which was in the birthing pool and one out. Birthing pool is amazing if you can get it! Personally I don't get on with g&a - not nausea but the light headedness - but it's great if you can as I do think for a first it's good to have a decent and safe pain relief option. Epidural wasn't be my first choice as I like to go home asap but with a posterior baby and induction I needed the extra help, and it was a lot easier! No nausea with any of them. Good luck...

I was lucky to have two easy labours, so just had G&A. I absolutely loved it! No nausea either.