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pain relief
13 Answers
any advice on what pain relief is good during giving birth...
first time mam so freaking out a bit,
not sure i want an epidural as you hear the horror stories of what goes wrong, but not sure of the rest
ive got a pregnancy book which explains some of it but wondered what other mums have used
first time mam so freaking out a bit,
not sure i want an epidural as you hear the horror stories of what goes wrong, but not sure of the rest
ive got a pregnancy book which explains some of it but wondered what other mums have used
Answers
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With my first I had gas and air to start but that made me sick. I ended with an epidural which, although took some time to administer thanks to me not being able to keep still lol, worked well and did its job.
With my second, I was having a home birth using a TENS machine and gas and air. The TENS machine did have some effect but when the contractions really kicked in, it wasnt much as good as I had hoped so went onto the gas and air which, thankfully, didnt make me sick this time. I ended up going into hospital though because I was stuck at 2-3cm. At the hospital they were able to give me pethidine, something they cant give you at home. It helped to relax me as well as give extra pain relief ( I had become glued to the gas and air lol ). An hour after the pethidine, I gave birth having never got past 3cm! lol
A year before my second, my sister had had an epidural that didnt work due to it only working down one side. If I remember rightly, that happened because she moved when they was putting it in. Despite this, I still asked for an epidural when I got to the hospital. The only reason I never had one was because when I first asked, I wasnt dialated enough.
If you can, go to ante natal classes as they will cover everything you need to know about pregnancy, labour and the birth.
With my second, I was having a home birth using a TENS machine and gas and air. The TENS machine did have some effect but when the contractions really kicked in, it wasnt much as good as I had hoped so went onto the gas and air which, thankfully, didnt make me sick this time. I ended up going into hospital though because I was stuck at 2-3cm. At the hospital they were able to give me pethidine, something they cant give you at home. It helped to relax me as well as give extra pain relief ( I had become glued to the gas and air lol ). An hour after the pethidine, I gave birth having never got past 3cm! lol
A year before my second, my sister had had an epidural that didnt work due to it only working down one side. If I remember rightly, that happened because she moved when they was putting it in. Despite this, I still asked for an epidural when I got to the hospital. The only reason I never had one was because when I first asked, I wasnt dialated enough.
If you can, go to ante natal classes as they will cover everything you need to know about pregnancy, labour and the birth.
a good place to start is with breathing exercises. try and keep yourself calm and it does help with the pain. Breath slowly in throught the nose and out through the mouth
Tens machines are good for early stages but they take a bit of time to build up so get them on early.
A bath helps relax the body and the warmth eases muscles.
gas and air is instant, it doesnt stop the pain as such but helps you deal with it. It makes you feel drunk and has no effect on the baby and wears off as soon as you stop inhaling it.
Sorry, i cant help with any more as these are all the i tried. I didnt like the feeling of the gas and air so only had a bit too.
One of the most important things to remember is that things can change, you may decide you dont want and epidural and chenge your mind on the day, and vice versa. Read up as much as you can and make informed decisions. Dont let yourself be pushed into having stuff you dont want and make sure your birthing partner is aware of your wishes too.
Tens machines are good for early stages but they take a bit of time to build up so get them on early.
A bath helps relax the body and the warmth eases muscles.
gas and air is instant, it doesnt stop the pain as such but helps you deal with it. It makes you feel drunk and has no effect on the baby and wears off as soon as you stop inhaling it.
Sorry, i cant help with any more as these are all the i tried. I didnt like the feeling of the gas and air so only had a bit too.
One of the most important things to remember is that things can change, you may decide you dont want and epidural and chenge your mind on the day, and vice versa. Read up as much as you can and make informed decisions. Dont let yourself be pushed into having stuff you dont want and make sure your birthing partner is aware of your wishes too.
hi i had an epidural with my daughter and it slowed my labour down so much it took 20 hours before she was born, it was good as i felt no pain other than when she wsa actually being delivered but you end up feeling so groggy and tired after that you cant really enjoy seeing your new baby as much as you mwant to as you feel so doped up, (personal experience!) i didnt have anything but gas and air with my son and although it hurt like hell, im not going to lie about the pain, seriously it hurts!!, it was such a fullfilling feeling being so alert after he was born and the sense of pride having known youve pushed out this gorgeous baby all by yourself is something that stays with you for life and the bond you will have there are no words to describe, my son was 10lb 10 ozs at birth and i would do it all again tomorrow to experience the feeling you have when you see your baby come out and know youve done this, saying that pain relief is nothing to be sniffed at, i only had a natural birth the second time as i was already 7cms when i woke during the night so didnt have time for epidural etc but glad now it was natural, best bet try as long as you can without and if you really cant cope take whatever they suggest for you when your there, good luck and enjoy!!!!
I had epidural the first time round, and it was awful during and afterwards, i felt robbed of the experience.. At the time i screamed for one, as i did with my second baby.
Was told second time round i couldnt have one, i ended up knowing i had to do this, giving birth on all fours with no pain relief at all!!
I am so proud i did it with nothing at all, and just followed what my body told me to do, it worked wonders.
It hurts like hell!!!! But just go with the flow, follow your instincts, swear, cry, scream, get yourself in any position that feels right and your body will do the rest. Trust your body, and believe me it will do what it is made to do.
Enjoy the experience!!!! good luck xx
Was told second time round i couldnt have one, i ended up knowing i had to do this, giving birth on all fours with no pain relief at all!!
I am so proud i did it with nothing at all, and just followed what my body told me to do, it worked wonders.
It hurts like hell!!!! But just go with the flow, follow your instincts, swear, cry, scream, get yourself in any position that feels right and your body will do the rest. Trust your body, and believe me it will do what it is made to do.
Enjoy the experience!!!! good luck xx
Ive had 3 children,over 16 years, there is a 10 year gap between my 1st child and my next one, and there is a very good reason for this,
You see I listened to all those horror stories about epidurals and decided to go for gas and air, I spent 38.5 hours in labour and was in complete agony, the gas and air was completely useless as was the pethdine. all the both of them did was make me sick.
They say you forget the pain, I remember every agonizing minute. I did want more children till then, I swore I would never go though that again.
Fast forward 10 years, found my self accidently pregnant, and spent the whole time worrying, crying and scared ******** that I wouldn't for some reason be able to get the epidural that I wanted.I even begged my doctor for a c-section thank god I got the epidural
I had a mobile epidural, Where you can feel sensation but no pain, It was fantastic, so good infact I had another child a few years later. But this time the hospital wasn't able to do a mobile, so I had to have a full block, which is strangely different. Yes, it did slow down my labour but boy was I glad of it as my son was 10lb 2oz.
personally I could not fault the epidural, I never had headaches or backache,and yes you have tiredness, but you are entitled to be tired you've just given birth to a baby.
which ever way you chose you can always change your mind when you get to the hospital if you think the pain is too strong, as long as your not to far gone.
You see I listened to all those horror stories about epidurals and decided to go for gas and air, I spent 38.5 hours in labour and was in complete agony, the gas and air was completely useless as was the pethdine. all the both of them did was make me sick.
They say you forget the pain, I remember every agonizing minute. I did want more children till then, I swore I would never go though that again.
Fast forward 10 years, found my self accidently pregnant, and spent the whole time worrying, crying and scared ******** that I wouldn't for some reason be able to get the epidural that I wanted.I even begged my doctor for a c-section thank god I got the epidural
I had a mobile epidural, Where you can feel sensation but no pain, It was fantastic, so good infact I had another child a few years later. But this time the hospital wasn't able to do a mobile, so I had to have a full block, which is strangely different. Yes, it did slow down my labour but boy was I glad of it as my son was 10lb 2oz.
personally I could not fault the epidural, I never had headaches or backache,and yes you have tiredness, but you are entitled to be tired you've just given birth to a baby.
which ever way you chose you can always change your mind when you get to the hospital if you think the pain is too strong, as long as your not to far gone.
Hi, before I had my baby I decided that although I wasn't against epidurals I wouldn't have one unless I "had" to as my mum has serious back problems now that have been linked with her epidural with me. However, due to the length of my labour I gave in and had an epidural through shere exhaustion, but it didn't work - baby had gotten stuck, hence the non-progression of labour, and was preventing the epidural from having any effect. BY the end of my labour I had had the tens machine, gas and air, pethidine, two epidurals and five top ups and then delivered in theatre under local anaesthetic! I didn't feel my little girl come out, I didn't even know they delivered her until they passed her over the top of me! I would say to read up on everything (as you are doing!) and go in with an open mind, if you feel you don't need drugs, then don't have them but don't be embarassed to ask for them, it's nothing to be ashamed of. In my experience, epidural was fine in that it was administered correctly and I have had no problems since, but because of my personal situation it didn't have any effect and I ended up having the gas and air removed from my possession as I began just breathing with it normally as opposed to just through the contractions! lol
Good luck xx
Good luck xx
Forgot to mention but was reminded in another post.... the only thing that would make me reconsider an epidural in future is the fact that they have to fit a catheter because you, by rights, shouldn't be able to feel when you wee. In my case though, I still couldn't feel anything three days later (think this might be due to anaesthetic though) and still had a catheter fitted so was kept in and all I wanted to do was go home with my baby!
hi, i had the gas and air pethadine and the epidurala and none of them worked for me. i was in labour for 36 hours and nothing was working. the pethadine made me vomit really bad, the gas and air just mase me feel really weired although is a nice sensation. and the epidural ad no effect. i had the epidural after 34 hours of labour because i was so dead against having one. they then decided after 36 hours that baby was getting distressed so need a emergency c section, which i was also dead against. they topped up my epidural 3 times and still i wasnt numb, they then sprayed something all over me to numb my body, they thought that had worked , but when they made the first cut into my stomach they realised it didnt work as i felt the knife go through me. i then ended up been put to sleep. it was horrible. my second was a planned section so was over in ten minutes with no pain.
im not telling you this to scare you, i just think that if i had another one i would tr my best to go without pain relief as you dont know what effect they will have over your body. i wanted mine over with and didnt tell them how much pain i was in cause i didnt want to wait for the pain relief to kick in. if you are in pain and dont feel numb when you should be, dont be afraid to speak up.
im not telling you this to scare you, i just think that if i had another one i would tr my best to go without pain relief as you dont know what effect they will have over your body. i wanted mine over with and didnt tell them how much pain i was in cause i didnt want to wait for the pain relief to kick in. if you are in pain and dont feel numb when you should be, dont be afraid to speak up.
I had the same experience as ER in theatre too, when they did the local anaesthetic I could still feel what they were doing (before they began trying to get baby out), so I told them and although it took 40mins longer than anticipated for the numbness to be sufficient, it was worth it because I didn't feel it and they had to be fairly brutal with the forceps and I had an episiotomy too.
I'm sure every woman is different and it depends on so many factors. some women don't want to feel anything during childbirth. myself, i wanted to feel it despite the pain. I had a 70 hour labour and the first 65 hours all i got was a shot of pethadine on the 3rd night to let me get some sleep. when i was in proper labour i took another shot of pethadine and had gas and air which i sucked on like my life depended on it. i have to say, i was pretty out of it, but also the gas and air made me feel pretty p**sed so i was laughing with my husband and mum despite being in pain. i didn't have anything once i got to the pushing stage though so was totally lucid. if i had to do it all again i wouldn't change a thing. i really didn't fancy an epidural because it can increase your chances of needing help with the birth i.e. forceps and i didn't want to take that risk. also, as i said, i didn't want to be numb becuase although childbirth hurts, it's one of the most amazing experiences ever, and i don't think it would be as enjoyable (if that's the right word) if you can't feel anything..... I'm sure you'll make the right choice at the time - just keep an open mind and listen to your body. good luck with the birth
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