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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Original poster

Did you give birth without epidural?

162 replies

SunnySideUp2020 · 05/05/2022 14:10

Please tell me about it!!!!

How was it honestly? How was the labor?

Had my first last year and although I had planned a natural birth, when active labor hit I begged for an epidural. It was a low dose one but I felt like I was dying without.

Expecting the second this October. Am I crazy for considering trying without epidural?

The reason is where I want to give birth they don't do epidural. It's not in the UK. It's a birth house in swizterland where I live. The other option is hospital...

OP posts:
Fizzyfish · 05/05/2022 16:21

Due in a few months, I've been told I can't have an epidural due to being on 80ml clexane but didn't want one anyway. Just planning for gas and air and good old morphine but I've also been told that if I needed a c section it would have to be done under general anaesthetic 🙄 hopefully all goes straightforward then!

Princetopple · 05/05/2022 16:23

Didn't have an epidural for either of mine. Had gas and air and pethidine with my first. The midwives were practically begging me to have pethidine as I wasn't coping well with the pain and exhausted from days of slow labour but I was really frightened of feeling out of control in a situation which already felt out of control (I was a teen mother and didn't have a clue). I did end up having it and it made me sleep between contractions which was helpful.

Had to be induced for my second and found it far more painful. I was begging them for an epidural but there was nobody around to do it. Had pethidine but I ended up giving birth around 7 minutes later anyway so it was a bit of a waste!

For both, once I got to the pushing stage it was fine. I struggled with the contraction pains whilst just lying there waiting to actually give birth but when you can push against it it's not so bad.

Dartsplayer · 05/05/2022 16:25

Gas and air and an injection with my first baby. Just gas and air with my twins and one was back to back. Both labour's went really well and I would give birth over being pregnant any day

Musmerian · 05/05/2022 16:26

Three DC at home - gas and air only. Tough but manageable and in my view better than all the alternatives.

User3568975431146 · 05/05/2022 16:28

I wouldn't ever have an epidural. I had three big babies, one with diamorph, one with two paracetamol and one with nothing. Labour is very over hyped.

Wnikat · 05/05/2022 16:29

I had nothing, just went into a sort of primal state and dealt with it. It was hard work, and not sure I'd have coped if it had done on longer (about 12 hours first time, 5 hours 2nd time of proper pain). But I very much enjoyed the endorphins afterwards!

LollyLol · 05/05/2022 16:29

First baby, epidural. Second baby, DIY
Hypnobirthing and 2 paracetamol; G&A during pushing and stitching up the tear.

It hurt a lot but I was fine and I recovered really well from the birth. After the epidural I did feel awful and I tore badly.

You are not mad to consider it, but don't feel like you should tough it out if it's not your preference.

ScrubUpWellInMySundayBest · 05/05/2022 16:31

I’ve had two births, both inductions on a drip, second one with twins and no epidural. I had gas and air and diamorphine first time, just gas and air second. Both times I was at the point of asking for an epidural but it was too late and time to start pushing both times. For mw the diamorphine was horrible, I would do without that if I was to do that birth again! Gas and air didn’t help the pain but the breathing and something to concentrate on did help to get through contractions. I was lucky to have quick labours though, had they been any longer I definitely would have had an epidural.

StopFeckingFaffing · 05/05/2022 16:33

Yes - both mine born with just gas & air, I wasn't offered an epidural on either occasion

The final push is excruciatingly painful but it's true that your body just takes over and seems to know what to do and it's all over relatively quickly

Hormones make you forget the pain so you willingly do it a second time!

ChateauMargaux · 05/05/2022 16:34

@SunnySideUp2020 I am a birth doula in Switzerland and I have seen women give birth without epidural. (I have also given birth without epidural.).

Happy to chat about birth here if you want more info.. I am in the French speaking part near Geneva.

If you speak French or can translate using a photo app.. this piece of research is pretty informative.. lagrangerouge.ch/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Etude_Borel-1.pdf. It compares 386 births at a birth centre to 788 births in a hospital. At the birth centre, 15.5% transfer to hospital and 2.7% do so because they wish to have an epidural.

The Yorkshire Midwives on Call on BBC iPlayer at the moment is a good thing to watch.. it shows some beautiful at home births though the proportion of births that transfer on the show seems much higher than the statistics in the Swiss research above.

I have attended a birth house birth and it is by far the most beautiful birth I have been at. It was exactly as the mother wished.. totally hands off... but completely supported. She laboured in water, listened to her hypnobirthing tracks, decided she needed a change in energy so got out of the bath... gave birth on all fours and the only person who touched her baby was her.. until she was ready to birth the placenta and she needed to move a little so her husband held him.

I want this kind of birth for everyone and fight hard to create that sort of space for the women who want similar but in a hospital setting. It is not the same.

I wish you a beautiful birth.

steppemum · 05/05/2022 16:42

baby 1 - gas and air, tens machine and in the end epidural.
long bloody painful horrendous birth, 2 hours pushing (also he was 2 +2 weeks late and had a HUGE head. seriously 10+ lbs and his head was ready for 6-12 months hats.)

baby 2 - induced at 38 weeks, 8lbs, so not small. 2 hour labour, very smooth, no pain relief, was hard but actually fine.

baby 3 - induced (broke my waters) 3 hours labour, 42 weeks, 10lbs 7oz, and similar to baby 2, very smooth, no pain relief. was harder than baby 2 (she was bigger) but it was very doable and fine.

Sh05 · 05/05/2022 16:49

No epidural here for any of my 5. I used gas and air with 3 of them but with second and fourth it just made me really sick so had to do without.
Fourth baby was tiny and labour super fast so I didn't really miss the gas and air and baby number two was a long but calmer experience than my first.
I'm not going to tell you it wasn't painful but I was just so against N epidural because of the risk of headaches later on. I already suffer migraines and was not willing to risk more headaches.

Feeellostindirection · 05/05/2022 17:00

I had just gas and air for both my natural births, hurts like hell but obviously wasn't bad enough first time to stop me doing it again. I think a lot comes down to levels of pain tolerance etc, you know what you can handle better than anyone.

Geezabreak82 · 05/05/2022 17:00

I had both my babies without an epidural. I just used gas and air and a birthing pool, and didn't feel the pain at all unmanageable even though I wouldn't have said I have a high pain threshold. I realise that I am really lucky, but I honestly think that fear plays a big part in how we experience labour pain and the more relaxed you are in your surroundings and the more you trust your body to get through the labour the less likely you are to need more serious painkillers during a straight forward birth. You know your body can do it because you've already had one baby so on that basis I would go for the birthing house if that's where you think you'll be most comfortable.

Geezabreak82 · 05/05/2022 17:01

PS - both my babies were huge! Maybe gravity helped 😂

roarfeckingroarr · 05/05/2022 17:02

dementedpixie · 05/05/2022 14:13

I've had 2 children with no epidurals. I had gas and air and diamorphine injections instead

Me too.

I'm glad I didn't have one, I think I emerged unscathed because I could get up and walk and give birth upright, forward and open.

mathanxiety · 05/05/2022 17:07

I had my first with an epidural and then four without. The first without was rough because I was induced and had a pitocin drip. Three subsequent were fine.

mathanxiety · 05/05/2022 17:11

What facilities are in place in the birth house if you have an emergency of any kind, OP?

Can you be taken quickly to the hospital?

Do you have any objection to a hospital birth?

olderthanyouthink · 05/05/2022 17:18

I have twice, I'm massively scared of needles so it's not something I wanted. With DC1 I told my DP that I needed an epidural when we went back to the hospital (was sent home) because I couldn't handle any worse, baby popped out less than 20 mins later, not even gas and air and only barley had paracetamol. With DC2 it hurt more, or maybe just for longer but I was still "happy" with my choice not to have an epidural, I had gas and air that time even though I wasn't sure I'd use it. Both births were water births and had TENs up to getting in the water.

toomuchlaundry · 05/05/2022 17:23

No epidurals here. Also managed a manual removal of retained placenta with only gas and air (although I wouldn’t recommend that!)

anewername · 05/05/2022 17:24

Yes and it was horrendous

2nd time I had the epidural. And I totally recommend it.

Isonthecase · 05/05/2022 17:29

I had an epidural for one birth as it was longer and I was on the drip so hurt like hell. The other one was a breeze and I was fine with gas and air and even then only needed it for the pushing and stitches. I'd say it depends entirely on your labour - I didn't do anything different and the births were vastly different despite being almost exactly the same size.

ProseccoStorm · 05/05/2022 17:37

No epidural here; can't say it was fun, it was agony. Somehow I didn't get round to asking for more pain relief. Once I was pushing I didn't feel any pain at all, pushing just consumed me

jellybeansandthings · 05/05/2022 17:37

Yes, twice. I live abroad and it just isn't used in my local hospital.
What can I say. Birthing wasn't fun, that's for sure😆 but personally, I was anxious about the birth going ok, as in baby and myself safe and well medically speaking, and less so about the pain because I expected it to be painful, and it was, but it didn't make me scared if you see what I mean.
My second was a water birth.

jellybeansandthings · 05/05/2022 17:39

Oh and yes, pain lessoned greatly by the time to push arrived.