Pethidine v Epidural: can you share your pros and cons with me pls?

[loooouise]

Not due til June but have had several horrid labour dreams of late and am starting to feel anxious. (Yes, I'm a first-timer...) Can anybody share their experiences with these types of pain relief please?

Ah, dinny, that's maybe why we had very different experiences - I went into labour around 11 pm (and I knew exactly when the first contraction was, it was very strong and painful, and no mistaking it!) and ds was born at 6.16 pm the next day. I think if labour had been only 4-5 hours I might have coped with the pain without an epidural.

I did have gas & air while waiting for the epidural to be put in. My experience was that it made me feel totally off my head, but didn't remove the pain at all. I felt kind of drunk but in pain at the same time.

Lou031205, I had the same feeling with pethadine. Kind of out of body and as if no one was listening to me?
I also agree with tolerance or feeling to alcohol. I am not really one to enjoy feeling drunk and out of control so didn't enjoy the experience of that drug.

Pethidine is an opioid (like morphine and heroin) it will make you feel like you're on drugs.

If there's one thing I've learnt from mumsnet it's that labour is different for everyone. One woman will say "it honestly can't be that bad if I have done it twice with not a sniff of anything" and another will talk about the pain being "positive". For those of us whose labours were horrific these comments are hard to believe!

I've had an epidural and it was fabulous - I was able to relax and understand what was happening around me and feel in control of myself and the situation.

The only advice you need is don't rule anything out!

I had pethedine with birth #1. It wasn't my choice, it was administered without my consent because I was being too loud!

IMO, pehtedine is little more than a chemical restraint. IME It really is a druggy drug, it is a drug! Even down to a nasty come down (it took me a couple of days to start feeling 'with it' again). It led to respiratory issues for my baby as it was administered so close to her birth ~ I was being loud because I was struggling with transition!

If the time came that I struggled with labour to the extent that I truly needed something more than G & A or support, I would opt for epi over pethedine (I was incapable of moving on pethedine anyway!). As it is, I hope this situation wont arise as since birth #1, I have birthed my children at home, using water, homeopathy, great birth partners and active birth principles.

Crowning... breathe, relax, take your time! Go with what you feel, really concentrate on the sensations that occur and shut out external noise to facilitate this if need be. I've used visualisation with all 3 (#4 due any day) and have suceeded in birthing without so much as a scratch. Thus far . It's meant to burn, it will burn! This does not mean you are tearing, don't be afraid just take it easy.

I have had an epidural and meptid, which I believe is similar to pethidine.

Epidural : pros - for me it did remove the pain immediately and I was able to go to sleep

cons - once I had had it, my natural contractions stopped and I had to have a drip, monitoring and a whole cascade of intervention that followed. Walking is out once you've had an epidural, so I had to deliver on my back, pushing uphill. The baby just wouldn't come out and it was awful.

Meptid - I had it before the epidural. To be honest, I don't remember it being of much help.

My advice to anyone who is going to have a baby for the first time would be don't lie down when you go into labour and don't labour on a bed - I wish someone had told me that! Once you lie down you will not get up again. I know that it is different for everyone but when I went into labour the second time I kept moving, upright and was able to cope with the pain without drugs - it was much, much easier and left me with fewer problems afterwards.

I had pethidine, it did make me a little pukey but I was scared to get an epidural in case I didn't know when to push.

I loved the gas and air and probably took far more than was necessary.

I KNEW when to push, the overwhelming sensation to just took over. I couldn't hear a thing the midwife was shouting to me over my own screaming and ended up with a good few stitches as a result.

I don't know if pethedine is very good for the baby though, you maybe want to read up on that. My ds was pretty blue when he came out, although was only temporary.

Oh and try not to worry too much about the pain, try to think about it as 'pain with a purpose', and think of all the women that do in again and again and again!

Pethidine can make your baby very drowsy - my sister's LO because of it. It isn't even on offer at St Thomas's because the cons so outweigh the pros.

pethidine isn't a kind of pain relief, it's a sedative. studies show that it "works" only about 1/3 of women anyway.

epidural can be very effective but has its downsides too (slowing down labour, decreasing bp) and shouldn't be chosen lightly

I had gas and air and pethidine with DD, didn't slow anything down, 8 hours start to finish. I vomited before I had any pain relief at all but I think this is just your body's way of emptying you out, preparing you for what's ahead. The contractions weren't as bad as I expected but I had a lot of lower back pain. DH and I told the midwife I wanted an epidural but she told me that the anaesthetist was in emergency surgery and then disappeared for 10 mins...very clever trick as by the time she came back I had calmed down a bit and said I would try the pethidine instead. I just felt really sleepy and slept in between contractions until I felt the need to push. I don't know if I will have it again with this one (pregnant with DC2) though as she was so dopey and didn't feed for ages. The gas and air helped and took the edge off the contractions, just felt a bit high for a few seconds. Also, it was my mum who told me that most women poo during labour, just something to be aware of! Remember that the midwives and doctors have seen everything before so nothing will be a big deal! The best advice I was given was just to trust your body and listen to it, it knows what it's doing. And watch out for any tricksy midwife tricks! (Even if they work a treat!)

p.s. defo do the perineal massage, only had a tiny tear, but DD was born at 38 weeks so I'm convinced if I'd had another 2 weeks to do it I wouldn't have torn at all.

I was induced with DD and the only thing on my birth plan was NO PETHIDINE PLEASE! I had heard stories about dropping off to sleep and making the baby drowsy - I think you're only supposed to have it if you've still got a way to go, before 6cm or something..... but obviously that isn't always easy to predict.

I did have an epidural which they struggled putting in as I had very bad water retention and they coudn't find the right spot! But the pain was worth it, and it certainly didn't hurt putting in.

I did end up having a c-section, so I'm glad I had the epidural as went straight into theatre - if I hadn't have had one I would have been given a GA.

HTH x

I remember with dd the mw offered me pethidine as I felt I couldn't cope (think I was prob in transition!) and I said no - so glad I did, reading these posts

not sure why I said no - think I remembered my mum saying she was totally out of it when I was born

re perineal massage - I've never done it (meant to but dd was a surprise early bird and then was so massive couldn't reach with ds!) - I didn't tear either time

worth doing though, can't hurt, can it?

I think religiously doing pelvic floor exercises when pg may help with delivery (oops, have been rubbish at them this pg!)

I would look at meptid long before looking at pethadine as it doesn't cross the placenta. It does make you spaced out but certainly helped me.

I had an epidural, it was brilliant and had no effects on length of labour or on baby, i had no back problems, I did have a 2nd degree tear but I expect that would've happened anyway. I did throw up straight after birth but I was throwing up before I even got to hosp so I don't believe any of the drugs I had caused it. I did end up in hosp for 3 days with an over stretched bladder though because the mw didn't drain it early enough (you can't feel if you need to wee or not with an epidural) but it was relatively easily rectified.

Part way through the epidural it only worked down one side but that was rectified by a mw that knew what she was doing (the previous mw was useless on so many levels!!). I could feel enough to know when to push, although if you can't the mw will tell you when. I loved my epidural!

I felt horribly odd afterwards as if I couldn't breathe and I was light headed but i'd been up for 2 days and hadn't eaten for 36h! I had a 6h sleep, ate 2 packs of fruit pastels and felt instantly better!

Like a few have said - everybody's labour is soooo different, you can't know for certain which pain relief will be right for you until your in the middle of it - just be open minded to all pain relief on offer and with a bit of luck you might be one of the lucky one's that just feels like really bad period pains and copes with just a bit of gas and air - or you might be like me who feels all labour pains in my back and legs which is pretty painful and when I asked for an epidural the aneathetist told me it would be useless cos they only numb the pain in your front! Pethadine was my life saver and I'm definately having it again with this dc2 - felt like I'd downed a bottle of vodka and was asleep within 10mins giving me well needed relief from the previous 24hours of contractions - it didn't make me sick and I had a sleepy baby but she went straight on the breast and fed like a dream - unfortunatley you won't know till you've had pethadine what effect it will have on you - my mum had it and relaxed her so much my brother was born 20mins after she had it - great!
Good luck tho - and don't worry - it's the most painful experience of your life but its also the most rewarding and amazing! Mine was very painful and traumatic but I can't WAIT to do it again!! x x

Just read another post saying about a good birthing partner - and do you know what that's spot on! I only had my dh there with me, who was great but also going through labour for the 1st time, and my midwife was a newly qualified youngster who was just getting annoyed at me for shouting and she didn't spend a lot of time in the room with me - so needless to say I completely lost it! I was scared s*less and my composure went! You NEED a strong motherly figure with you, speaking to you very firmly and keeping your head about you, cos once its gone its gone!!

I don;t have experience of a pethidine, but before I had my first my birth plan read - just gas and air/tens, next step if needed pethidine, epidural only if I really had to. During labour I already felt sick because of the pain and my understanding of pethidine was that it makes you feel like you are drunk - I knew at the time that it was the last thing I wanted so opted for an epidural which for me at the time was the best thing in the world! I would say find out as much as possible about all pain relief and go in with an open mind as like many have said all labours are different as are peoples reactions to the pain relief!

i had pethidine and it didn't do a damn thing, the MW might as well have injected me with water.

ds got stuck and had an emergency CS with a spinal anethestic(sp?) im not sure how different it to an epidural but it was heaven!!

I went in with an open mind, had G&A when pain got close to unbearable and then pethidine when that got hard, for me it was great. It doesn't actually stop the pain, it makes you a bit out of it so you are more able to cope. I had it about 2 hours before transition I think and so it was starting to wear of when I hit transition. It was a good experience, normal labour lasted about 12 hours, dd was fine and no real problems with bfing. Crowning does sting, but you know when you get there you are nearly done and it is over very quickly after that. And the feeling of your baby slipping out is amazing truly wonderful, I would do labour again tomorrow, I was on a high for days afterwards, I'll look forward to it next time. I had a lousy pg though and I think that really helped my labour, I knew with every contraction I was closer to not being pregnant any more.

epidural here with each of my children and they both worked wonderfully well.

i have a low pain threshold (well for that sort of pain) and the relief was immense for me. got off the bed, sat in chair with feet in lavendar bath and get back on bed when fully dilated.

didn't want to have pethidine because i think theres a window when its effective, and i didn't want to be 'too late' and it pass over to the baby or be unable to have any at all....i found g&a really irritating..it kept coming apart and having to hold the bloody thing was really annoying and innefective for me...feel a bit apprehinsive too as i'm 7wks away from third baby

wideratthehips - snap! I am 7 weeks away from 3rd baby (and nervous!)....so are you due beginning of March?

dinny....i'm actually due 15th but baby is about two weeks ahead in size and ds2 was 10lbs 8oz so i'm hoping to be induced early...(am i kidding myself that its 7wks???)

i feel nervous because......not sure,i know that its going to be hard work?!

I had 2 epidurals and they were beautiful!
Went from OUCH to sitting there chatting within minutes.
Both times I persuaded the MW to top me up just before I started pushing (was freaked out at the thought of feeling the 'crowning') and I didnt feel a thing! Could still feel the 'tightening' feeling of each contraction though so no trouble pushing at all.

I wouldnt have had it any other way!

i too could feel the tightening and was able to use each contraction to get baby out

I have only read the OP but I just wanted to say, I was given Pethadine (I didn't even want it! ) and hated it. It made me drosey but couldn't sleep through the pain, and on top of the tiredness, it made me feel (and act) drunk. It was horrible and never again, wil be the first thing I put on my birth plan. It did take the edge off the pain for a bit, but the negative sides were not worth it.