Please can someone tell me about the pain relief they had during childbirth?

[PicassoWouldBeProud]

I'm days away from my due date with my first and to be frank I'm extremely anxious. Everyone else I know will say things like "oh I bet you can't wait for labour to start now!" And even though I'm excited to meet my baby and not be pregnant any more I'm scared of labour - so so terrified.

My main fears are:

1. Not being able to cope with the pain
2. Asking for an epidural and not getting one for ages/ at all
3. Having a panic attack
4. Sustaining long lasting birth injuries

I would love to hear real experiences from people who have given birth using pethadine/ gas and air/ epidural and what it was actually like. Thank you.

I found it didn't hurt that much for most part. So I laboured in water and walking round the birthing room. When contractions got stronger I tried gas but it made me feel dizzy so I stopped. THEN when I was fully dilated it was very very painful and his giant head got stuck! At that point I begged for an epidural but obs too late. I had a mn episiotomy with ventouse - used anaesthetic. This was quite a traumatic birth but alhough the last bit seemed awful at the time, it was really okay. Stitched up area was seriously painful for a fortnight... by day 13 I suddenly felt great again. 3 months later I'm going to daily exercise classes. I wish k worried less about the birth and more about how to look after the Baby!!

I just had gas and air for both, I didn't need anything else. Both my labour's were about 3 hours though. Just wait and see and stay calm, it'll be fine.

I had an epidural, it was glorious.

I did do 8 hours with no pain relief, 4 hours on gas and air before epidural. I even had a little sleep once I had it.

Paracetamol, gas and air and the birthing pool was fab !
I also did a little bit of hypnobirthing before hand - look up the positive birth company on YouTube , quick easy videos to follow !

I ended up with a spinal Block as baby was stuck so was prepped for a c-section but they wanted to try the dreaded forceps first which worked 😬

Very sore recovery from the episiotomy and about 40 stitches but I was able to go for a walk about 6 days later and be ok , it took me a full 12 weeks to be completely healed from it and only now (10 months on ) am I able to have sex not in pain .

I never wanted a forceps delivery but it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be , still horrible but not terrible !

Oh and tens machine too, I got up to 9cm with just a tens machine and I was absolutely fine , chilling in the birth unit with the midwife watching this morning 😊

I'm just coming out the other side of an induction on my first. Came in Monday afternoon, gave birth Wednesday morning.

I downloaded the positive birth online course and also had the gentle birth app - both helped me feel more prepared and aware about what was to come. The gentle birth app has great mindfulness, meditation and breathing tracks that I used a lot in the run up and to try to rest or reset my mind in labour.

I used the tens machine, birth ball and hypnobirthing breathing for the first 12 hours after induction. Was gutted to find despite contractions (all in my back) I was not dilated at all.

Waters were broken at that stage which was one of the most painful parts - partly traumatic because the doctor was very abrupt. One big tip is to ask the docs and midwifes as many questions as you like - what happens now, what will the pain levels be, what will happen next, how short or long until next potential step. For me knowing when next intervention or option for pain relief would come helped me feel more in control. Only with the water breaking doctor did I lose this and my focus for a bit. Really important to stay in a positive head space. As pp said staying as relaxed as you can will help you manage the pain.

After the waters were broken the tens wasn't cutting it for me anymore, asked for and got pethidine - did nothing for me pain wise just made me feel out of it. But maybe it's different for everyone.

At this stage was 30+ hours since induction started and I was barely 1 cm dilated. But it was enough to get me transferred from induction to labour room. Before I even got there I had requested an epidural. ASAP. If you're not sure request it - you can always change your mind when it arrives. Better have it preordered and cancel. It was a game changer for me - took me from misery to chatty and excited about meeting my baby. Had to be put on drip to get dilated. And once I was it happened very fast. That would have been so tough for me at that stage of exhaustion without the epidural. I could still feel the contractions through it - had gas and air, a top up on the epidural and a boost button but it wasn't until it came time to push that pains were completely forgotten. Got her out in about an hour of pushing - with an episiotomy but no suction - was absolutely thrilled to get her here.

And of course she is totally worth it 🥰

HTH

I found the birthing pool plus gas and air was enough for me. The pool was amazing as I could get into lots of different positions but still feel supported.

Unfortunately my son turned the wrong way and got stuck so I ended up with forceps and an episiotomy plus third degree tear but six weeks down the line it has all healed beautifully with no problems.

Even though I didn’t have the birth I wanted it was still an incredible experience. Please try not to worry.

I just had paracetamol and gas and air. I found this was enough for me. Though there was a point where I asked if I could have anything more and was told it was too late! But it was fine! I’m hoping to just have paracetamol and gas and air again this time!

Sorry also had a second degree tear which just needed a couple of stitches! No biggie. Good luck!

Reading all these has helped me so thank you so much. I'm feeling quite a bit calmer this morning.

I think my plan is now to see how everything goes, leave nothing off limits so I know at each stage there is something else I can ask for if it's getting too much. I'm going to the take the advice of asking for an epidural early so it's prepped as well. I hope I'll have the option of a birthing pool but there is only one I think in the ML unit so will have to see if it's available on the day.

I have a TENS machine ready to go which psychologically helps as I feel like I have something at home which is useful.

I'm slightly kicking myself for not doing Hypnobirthing now. My work is in shifts and physically attending cigars just wasn't possible and I toyed with the idea of doing online ones but a friend of mine who stuck to it ended up needed loads of intervention (completely unrelated of course) so I just kind of thought it probably doesn't help. Now I'm thinking I should have done some!

It's really never too late to try the hypnobirthing- I thoroughly recommend the online course from positive birth - the segments are short snippets so just dip in where you want. I found the what your muscles are doing, and the breathing instructions almost useful. You would get through most of it today if you have some time?

*most useful

I didn’t do a course either OP but just read a hypnobirthing book (Effective Birth Preparation by Maggie Howell) and it really did help.

No pain relief until about the 78th hour (out of 80). Had one injection of diamorphine. Mainly because I was getting exhausted rather than pain related.

I tried Gas & Air with my first, but it made me feel like I was horrendously drunk and made me vomit. I carried on without it and honestly it wasn’t as bad as I expected.
With the second I had a homebirth, I didn’t have any pain relief - I didn’t want to spew again so chose to avoid the Gas & Air, and that’s pretty much your only option with home births.
I’ve had pethidine and other hardcore painkillers before for a nasty ankle break, and was dosed up to the gills with everything and anything after my accident in the Army - I felt like my body wasn’t mine. Kind of like I was conscious and aware but had no control over my limbs and couldn’t speak properly. I decided I’d never want to lose control like that when I’m doing such an important job as giving birth.

Gas and air also made me vomit - apparently this is quite common! So be prepared to try something else if it doesn’t go to plan. I had an epidural and it was the best decision I ever made. No birth injuries except a few stitches.
Good luck! You will be so busy concentrating on the job you have to do you won’t panic. You’ll be great.

I did hypno birthing course and don't feel it helped but everyone's different. Tbh the course info was literally in the book- so just read that instead!

No pain relief for the first day at home. Epidural at about 3am and baby came at 10.41am, it was great. Epidural came at the perfect time just as contractions were ramping up, but gas and air also helped while I was waiting, made me feel light headed and nauseous though so couldn’t of used it the whole time.

I have had two epidurals and they were a dream and made my labour's enjoyable from the point of having them, I'll be having another as soon as possible with this baby if circumstances allow of course. I had no time with one of my babies and just had gas and air, it was very quick just a couple of hours but not enjoyable experience and I couldn't stop shaking afterwards, I must also point out it was during the early hours and I was exhausted too. Recovery was much easier after epidural, my husband helped me shower around 30 mins after delivery as it wore off very quickly. I've always avoided pethidine as my friend warned me it doesn't take the pain away it just makes you drowsy/more relaxed. My husband swears by the epidural too 😂, he found it really stressful when I went without, seeing me in a lot of pain and he too found the epidural made the whole experience incredible, the most enjoyable birth we had was when they gave me an epidural from the start. X

Best advice I can give is to be very assertive about what you want, when you want it. With my first I was left to labour with just my OH for 3 hours. I was begging them for pethidine which my OH asked for on my behalf multiple times. They kept putting it off saying "we'll sort it in a minute". Basically they didn't think I was far gone enough to need it and how would I know being a first time mom. When the midwife finally came and checked me I was too far gone to have the pethidine or an epidural so I had to endure my labour with 30 mins of gas and air which they took away from me when I was ready to push.

It was horrible because I wanted pain relief but was denied it. I wish I'd have just told them straight "get me the fucking meds". I won't be making the same mistake with DD who's due date is imminent!

I had all the pain relief they offered with all 3 labours. Gas and air, morphine and an epidural. Slept right through the last Labour, thanks to the epidural and woke 1 hour before having to push.

For that reason, I'm considering not having the epidural this time. It'll be my last experience of labour and although it sounds crazy, I don't want to miss any of it despite the pain.

I never had any tears or injuries afterwards despite the first 2 babies being bigger. Not everyone suffers terrible injuries so don't automatically think it will happen.

Congratulations OP and good luck, you will be super fine... and it's all worth it!! 😊

I read hypnobirthing, planned water birth and had all the essential oils and relaxing music and whatnot with DC2. Well, when I was in early labour, I went into my own swimming pool, as water was supposed to be soooo amazing for pain relief. Did fuck all. So that plan was scrapped.

Got to the hospital and tried all the hypnobirthing stuff. Did fuck all. (Great if it helps someone, but don't kick yourself that you missed out on something vital).

Luckily I gave birth abroad, where nobody tried to talk me out of anything. When they saw that was in pain, MW asked if I would like an epidural. I said yes please, and a lovely aenesthesist appeared in about 2 seconds.

It was BLISS. I went from sweating and panting and chewing the pillow to happily reading and chatting. Could see my contractions on the monitor, but was in no pain. As I had the walking epidural, my legs were not affected at all - I could walk around and even gave birth standing up. No issues, no lasting injuries.

I'm done with kids, but if I had another, I would 100% go for the same.

One word.Epidural

There is still time to do hypno birthing online! One of my friends did it quite last minute and had the calmest birth she'd had so far. She told me it took away the fear which made her panic In Other labours, getting stressed which slowed everything down from progressing.

Worth a try!