Your birth experiences

Hi everyone smile

I am due in little less then 2 weeks time & I am interested in hearing some ladies birth experiences with certain pain relief. It is my first baby and I am wanting to try to get through the labour with the help of gas as pethidine and the epidural don't appeal to me.

Can anybody share their experiences with the pain reliefs? I know that it doesn't always go according to plan and I could end up having to use the alternative pain relief options but I am interested to hear how people managed!

Look forward to hearing your stories xx

I used TENS mechine with my first. Hard to know if it helped with the pain or not, but was a great distraction with dials and buttons to push smile
And took rescue remedy.
I was always open to any drugs if i needed them. But in the end I didnt have the option as ended up having an unplanned homebirth, but coped ok with these 2 options smile

All the best for your upcoming birth! smile

With my first I had pethadine believing it would take the pain away as nobody told me otherwise. It didn't take away the pain at all - it just made me high so that I fell asleep between contractions. It made time go faster that's for sure, however it certainly didn't do what I thought it would do. Apparently the only pain relief that will take the pain away is an epidural.

I also tried the gas, it was a good distraction having to suck the mouthpiece but again, it didn't take the pain away. I gave it ax good half an hour before ditching it as my midwife aunt always told me that women would have one suck and throw it away before giving it a chance to work. On the last suck of it my head started to spin and the whole room was going around, and then the contraction came on and I just felt totally out of control. I thought I was going to fall off the bed - and when you've got pain, fear, & you feel out of control its a horrible feeling!

My second birth was drug free and was a fantastic experience.

I tried the gas when I was in labour and it was a complete waste of time. I tried it for about 20 mins and it made me feel sick and all tingly and didnt do anything for the pain at all. All it did do was give me something to focus on. I found a warm shower and a heat pack helped a little bit but nothing takes the pain away that is for sure.

grin hi with my first he was early my water broke the day before and other than leaking ALOT of fluid everywhere i didnt start getting pains til the next day once everything started happening it started going quick i had pethadine and gas with him, it didnt take the pain away but it did relax me a little, the gas did make me feel a bit dizzy and sick but it helped. but with my girl she was late i didnt have hardly any fluid in there with her so i was induced things happened pretty quick and all i had was gas i didnt have time to think about anything else. im told that i had two pretty easy births even though at the time it didnt feel easy lol it all comes down to the day and what feels right for you at the time...
good luck with the birth of your bub im sure it will be a great time for all:D

My first son birth was very hard on me. I went into labour on my due date, i was on the gas off and on, walk around the hospital alot. They gave me something to help me sleep.
My water broke about 4:30 in the morning then i spent most of the day in the shower and on the gas but nothing was helping.
So they gave me a shot of pethadine to help but i threw up. Then i was told i could push and that it easier on the toilet but nothing. I almost killed the midwive cause she answered her phone twice.

Then after 90 minutes of pushing the doctor came in, i yelled at him he check me over and said c-section. I don't remember much about the night cause i was so over tired. Hubby slept in the room. I was told the next morning i was in labour for 38 and a half hours then 90 minutes of pushing
I went home 3 days later.

Next son was c-section so that was drama free.

I had everything at my DD's birth. I had gas for the first few hours but after a while I was exactly the same as Chalys - it made my head spin and I felt totally out of control and scared. I was only 3cm dilated after about five hours of full-on contractions (I was induced) so they tried pethidine, which did absolutely nothing. As I was so little progressed and was barely handling the contractions (which were very close together by that stage) I called for the epidural. After I had that everything progressed extremely quickly and I had my DD about an hour and a half later. I swore black and blue before the birth that I didn't want an epidural but I guess it's a woman's perogative to change her mind when she's in labour!

All the best with your birth!

I was in labour for 2 and a half days. I remember during my pregnancy i was certain that i wouldnt get pain relief. I ended up asking for gas right towards the end. And honestly i thought it was great! Then the contractions got alot more painful So my midwife gave me something called Remifentinol. (Not sure if i spelt that right) And i found that absolutely pathetic. Didnt change the pain, Not even a little bit. She made the dosage higher and it still did nothing. Then i ended up having to get a ceaserian cause bubbas heart rate was to low. They had to give me a epidural for that. At that point i didnt even care. But everything just dissapeared after that. smile

i must be the odd one out lol i LOVED the gas! cool

thats all i really used for all 3 of my births plus alternating cool cloths with heat packs when i felt i needed them and a warm bath was great at the start too. i only used the gas when my contractions began to come on top of each other and it really helped with the deep breathing and took a bit of the edge off, id stop using it just as each contraction reached the peak and 'breathed the gas out' as the contraction passed. i never felt out of control...but i did deliberately keep sucking on it between contractions at one stage because i thought everyone sounded funny lol. and the rattleing/ whistling sound of the gas thing gave me a really good thing to focus on too.

i think ill go drug free if i can the next birth tho.

I went in wanting to have a drug free birth, was open to trying gas. I tried gas and absolutely hated it. So my only pain relief was being under the shower for 6 hours smile smile I'd say try to go drug free until you absolutely cannot cope, it's an amazing experience I'm so glad I did it drug free, would have hated being high or not feeling my baby come out. In the end, just do whatever makes it easier for you. You and your baby's health and happiness are all that matters.

Thought I might add - it's not pain relief but the best thing I had with my drug free birth was my ipod. Dh had put together a list of chill out music (lots of Adele!) - I just zoned in on it and because I had the earpieces it just filled my entire head space. Loved it!

That and a hot shower. The shower did actually help with the pain.

I had pethidine about 8 hours into my labor as I was only 2cm dilated and the midwives kept pressuring me to have something. I loved it. It made me feel high and out of it and I slept on and off. I felt the contractions but I wasn't in pain at all. It only lasted an hour or 2 though which sucked. I then had an epi 15 hours in as I was on pitocin sp? and couldn't get out of bed so it made my pain unbearable. The Epi made me doze in and out which was great after so many hours of pain. If I had a shorter labour and was not induced I think I could have managed without the drugs. Both my drug choices I didn't have any problems with though. Good luck smile