Gas and air during labour

[Melly1801]

Hello ladies,

I’ve quite recently given birth, the birth was quite traumatic for a number of reasons so I’m going to get in touch with my hospital re birth afterthoughts so I can talk through it all.

My midwife basically pushed for me to have just gas and air as she said I was coping fine, which wasn’t an issue for me but I did ask if the pushing phase would be more painful as I didn’t think I could cope with just that if it would be. She said no that was the easy part (spoiler: it wasn’t!), so I agreed.

When it got to the pushing part, she told me I couldn’t have the gas and air because I needed to concentrate on my breathing to push. So I ended up pushing for three hours with no pain relief until they finally came in to scan and found baby was head up. Has anyone else ever experienced this with the gas and air?

I didn’t think much of it until I told someone who also had gas and air as their pain relief at the same hospital, and they said they had it during pushing too.

Melly1801:

And after pushing for three hours when they finally scanned and saw he was head up I had to go to theatre for a spinal block, forceps and episiotomy but at this point I was in so much pain I wanted just wanted anything to get rid of it. Was a thoroughly unpleasant experience all round, and not sure I would ever do it again because of it!
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I'm not surprised. You shouldn't have had to go on pushing for so long. Thank goodness you and your baby came through it all right but I think it is scandalous.

I only had it for pushing. I was being a bit polite and waiting to be offered it then when it hadn't been offered and I had to push request it and they happily got it out.

I was completely off my tits, it was brilliant. I refused to push at times because I was enjoying it too much and they still didn't take it off me. Technically was in 2nd stage for 45mins although midwife said it only took 3 minutes once I was persuaded to start actively pushing.

This was in a birth centre, I wonder if they have different attitude compared to labour ward.

I don’t understand why they couldn’t let you at least try with the gas and air during the pushing stage and see how you did rather than just taking it away from the start!

I didn’t have gas and air (it makes me ill) but I did find the pushing stage less painful than the contractions when there was no gap between them. So I guess what your midwife said wasn’t completely untrue but everyone’s birth is so different, she should have explained that it is for some people and isn’t for others.

My gas and air was taken off me with dc1. I was like a drunken lush and not concentrating on what I was being told so it was for the best!
Dc2 came too quickly to have any pain relief!

I kept it with all 3 and will be this time. I love the stuff! I was away with len goodman when I had dd3 😂 Amazing stuff.

I do believe some women can get too high on it though which could mess pushing up.

Really surprised by the split here. It was taken away from me while pushing too. I was told to stop using it as I'd push better without it.

Apparently there is a nack to using it properly. You breath it in at a certain point in the contraction then stop briefly while you push, then going back to it before pushing again.

But that doesn't appear to be something they think to tell you pre labour, or have the resources to guide you on during labour.
Although I'm not sure how much I would have been able to take it in had they tried to tell me that on labour. I think I would have literally needed someone handing it back and forth to me.

I think it depends how your body is reacting to the gas and air... for some, it can make you drowsy/less responsive, which I guess isn't overly useful if you need to focus on pushing. But you should always feel listened to and advocated for by your medical team, so it is worth discussing it.
Pushing for 3 hours sounds exhausting. I'd be more concerned that they didn't know baby was head up until then - and that you were allowed to push for so long without anything changing!

@worrybutterfly i was guided to use it like that in my most recent birth!

@THATbasicSNOWFLAKE

Wanting guidance like that is why I would like a doula/birthing support in this labor. To help me focus on what I'm doing while the midwife focuses on the baby.

But my trust still has a strict one support person restriction. So I can't have one unless I tell my husband he can't be at the birth.

I think I had the benefit of having used it for a previous broken bone so I knew how to use it therefore there wouldn't have been any issue with it impacting on pushing. Regardless, it isn't ok to take it away, the midwife should prep you for how to use it.

I was told I’d stop the gas and air when it came to pushing as it’d make it harder(to be fair to the midwife I’d also had an epidural). I didn’t hand it over though and no move was made to force me. I’m really sorry you were let down and had a painful experience.

I was advised not to use the G&A during the pushing phase but I wasn't able to actually let go of the thing so just held onto it! Didn't take a toke though.

I wondered if it might be so that you can pay attention to the midwife's instructions to know when to push and when not to, to reduce the chance of tearing or something like that?

Lots of mums push successfully with gas and air so this shouldn't have happened to you. Sounds like there was no reason. They could have just said you need to slow down and take a pause in between etc if you needed help.

I didn't need any instructions, I just went with my body and the G&A helped me to do that and actually avoid pushing until the final moment when I needed to. So I would have been in a much more panicked state, pushing like a mad woman and more like to tear out of desperation to make the pain end if they had taken it away from me!

Based on lots of replies here it sounds like lots of women have been subjected to the cascade of interventions as well as refusal!

I didn’t use it during pushing but before. I think either it was taken away or it was clear it wasn’t working for the pushing part as breathing changes and it doesn’t make it as easy to use.

I only pushed for twenty minutes though, so manageable. I think on your case it clearly was wrong to expect you to push for three hours without relief.

Yes I had it taken off me. Need forceps in the end. But I was totally out of it on gas and air and wasn't concentrating on what I was doing.

I need to add that with my second I had gas and air during the whole pushing part.

I've had 3 babies, the last two only with gas and air, and I used it throughout. I think I would have hit anyone who tried to take it off me 😂 there was never any suggestion that I shouldn't use it while pushing, although I did push numbers 2 and 3 out pretty quickly.

Hi ladies, I’m getting alittle nervous about pain relief in labour.
I’m wanting to be in control, know what Im saying and doing. Does gas and air make you feel like you are out of control and talk nonsense?

It didn't for me, at all.

I can’t remember if it was taken away from me or not. But for me the pushing stage was easier than the previous bits and I was relieved to be able to push, so I may naturally not have used it?