To Ease The Pain of Labour!

[StarStar]

There seems to be quite a few of us geeks with a bun in the oven at the moment, I was just wondering what kind of pain relief peeps are considering?
I've started some threads before on pregnancy issues and I have to be honest and say the advice that you girls have given me through your experience has really helped me. :hug:

So I was just wondering what people found to be to the best kind of pain relief to go for?

I like the idea of an epidural but I dont like the idea that it can prolong labour.

Has anyone used a tens machine?

or is simple old gas the best to go for?

 

[grafxgal]

yep,

Don't get pregnant in the first place, no labour pains then:lol: :lol: :lol: .

Sorry in a funny mood today:smack: ignore me.

My first pregnancy I had an epidural, not nice, didn't work properly, only numbed one side. 36hours 45 mins labour.
Second only had pethedin(sp?) shots, sleep thru the labour once I got to the hospital, until about an hour before delivery. 10 hours 15mins labour. But mum had made me drink caster oil or cod liver oil, with vodka and orange juice at lunchtime Sat and I was in labour by 1am that night and was delivering her at 10.15 on sunday morning
Third had gas. 5 hours 25 mins labour. Was induced, not nice!

 

[dee]

with james i was induced, and started off with tens which was ok at 1st , but my pains were all in my back so i just could not get comfy, then i had pethidine which was ok apart from the fact i threw up about 100 times !!(not kidding ) even though they give you an anti sickness drug with it, it did nt work, after that i had my c section so had a spinal block so cant give you any more advice !! but if i were in labour i would deffo go for an epidural :green:

 

[tinkywinky]

Have one little boy, was 12 days late with him, so was induced. They didnt offer me pain relief other than 2 paracetomols, then realised I was 5 cm dilated so got the person down to do the epidural. I must admit for me although it didn't work properly on 1 side, it was great. It made some of the pain go so I was more relaxed. I remember laughing through most of it towards the end.

In the end my little one had to be helped with ventouse then forceps so it is a good job I had epidural really.

My advice is don't suffer in silence when there are plenty of things to help these days. A water birth is supposed to be fantastic and can help with the pain.

hth's

 

[bloomingnails]

Hi

I just had gas and air, like being drunk without the hangover! Also used the birthing pool, which was fab. Next time I will do the same again. Labour was 9 hours, so not to bad!

Good luck and choose whats right for you.

 

[louge]

It was free so I asked for everything! No I wasnt that greedy. Kara was 9 days late! I started off with a tens machine which was very good til the real pain started to kick in. I then went onto gas and air but didnt use much as I was aware that it could make you sick (leave it for your partner, they will need it more than you). Finallly I had a mobile epidural which meant I was still able to feel my legs and move around. It was one that you could top up yourself so by the end of a 56hour labour I had had three!!!

 

[pinkmummy]

Never wanted an epidural, no one's sticking needles in my spine!

Had pethadine with no1 & my mum was in charge of administering gas & air. I think she overdosed me, I was so high! (4.5hrs)
Nothing with no 2 as she was so quick (25mins).
Induced with no 3 (4.5hrs) Just gas & air.

I took rasperry leaf tablets during the last 2 months of pregnancy. They are a uterine tonic. Swear by them for a quick labour. Contractions WILL BE STRONG, but very effective. I went from 5cm's to fully dialated in 4mins with no 3. The midwife was amazed. Remember, it's not like breaking your arm, pain with nothing at the end, you'll get a beautiful pressie. If it was so bad, people like me would have stayed with one child only, I'm scared of the dentist and would rather give birth than have a filling!

Good luck girls, and remember when told to push, the quicker you can get it out, the quicker it will be over! (I was afraid to push first time for fear of pain, this is what the midwife told me, it reappeared in my brain each time.):hug: :hug: :hug:

 

[bubbabinks]

I just had gas & air with both of mine.
I laughed throughout the 1st labour because the gas & air make you feel very drunk. I remember the midwife telling my other half that the effects are only supposed to last about 30 seconds and that she'd never seen anyone react to it like this. I was laughing so much I nearly fell off the bed, especially when they were trying to get me to make grunting noises with each contraction!
One thing I would say is trust your midwife she's been doing it for a long time and knows whats she's doing . Only push when she tells you and it should go smoothly. By the way the pain pretty much stops straight after you deliver the afterbirth, so it's not forever, although it feels like it.
Make sure you do yourself a good birthing plan, as the midwifes will be going from this on the day as you might not be able to communicate to well and nothing is set in stone, so play it by ear.

 

[becki x]

My advise is to wait and see,i was in labour six hours and all i had for pain releife was two co codomol.

I felt fantastic afterwards (i was even having a can of pop and a bag of minstrels as they removed the placenta)

I was surprised at how high my pain threshold was,and the midwife was there to give me whatever pain releife i required,if i were you i would put yourself in their hands,and dont worry.

All the best

 

[kelly01]

I agree with Pinkmummy, I too swore by raspberry leaf tablets, (better than the tea) got them from Holland & Barrett. Contractions were def stronger but I too had 2 short labours one 5 hours and one 3 hours! yes I would rather give birth than go to the dentist too!!!

I would also recommend a tens machine, put it on as soon as you start feeling contractions and gradually turn the intensity up, mine had a push button for an extra bit of relief, apart from really working it also takes your mind off of the pains as pushing the button gives you something to do!

So I just had the birthing pool,tens machine (not in the pool obviously!) and good old gas and air first time round. Had my second at home with just gas and air and tens machine and 3 fantastic midwives.

Good luck to all preggie geeks, best bit of advice, 'just go with the flow'! oh and don't drink too much water (gas and air makes you really thirsty) as what goes in has to come out, if you get my drift!!

K x

 

[sprklngsaphire]

HI,
well my husband is a nurse here in the u.s.a. and over here they preech natural childbirth practically before you even become pregnant lol. with my son i was induced due to going over my due date which is not fun but necessary sometimes. i tried my best to go natural but after the 18th hour mark i told my mom and hubby i cant do this anymore . and the hospital nurse gave me something called nubain (sounds like new-bane) anyways, it really took the pain away though i would say it is very short lived probably about an hours worth of relief. to make a long story shorter i ended up with the back labor pains and to me the back labor is worse then the stomach contractions!!! and the only thing to help that besides the pain medication was for my hubby to literally press his hands on the small of my back and he did this constantly thank goodness.really was there for me. needless to say after 23 hours into my labor i ended up with having to have a c-section because my son just couldnt come down through the birth canal ( his head and shoulders were to big) so they gave me an epidural to numb me before surgery so they could do the c-section and i have to say whatttttt a diffffffference!! i swore to myself and everyone around that if i ever had to do that again i would start off with the epideral!!! verses going through all of that lol. and it numbed me completley. i didnot have any bad side effects and both sides were numbed well. only a small percentage experince the one sided numbness thing but it can happen, so have to way the odds. i think if you dont want to try natural the epideral is the way to go.and dont be to worried about the needle they use to inject the medicine ( i was scared when i saw it cause its so big) they do it during a contraction and you only feel a pinch with a cool to cold sensation before everything goes numb. hope this helps.

 

[pinkmummy]

Ooh yes, I remember back labour pains. Had that with no 3. I was kneeling up on the bed, midwife made hubby rub the small of my back quite hard in circular motions, he got cramp in his hand. I seem to rember the midwife telling me off for almost biting the back rest of the bed during contractions, but it's all worth it in the end, look at what you get.:hug: :Love: :hug:

 

[*JOANNE*]

i had an epidural with my first....ended up with a vontouse delivery and stitches..it took ages for the feeling to come back especially in my legs and the labour was long had tried the tens machine before and didnt notice any difference.
with my second i had gas and air and a swore the clock in the room was going backwards and was panicking thinking if time was going backwards i would have to go through labour again....lol i then had pethadine just before ash was born so dont really know if it worked or not.
with my third i had a home birth and tried nothing...just concentrated on walking around in tiny circles to concentrate on what i was doing i then gave birth bent over the couch on my knees and i used my knees to bang each one on the floor again to concentrate on something other than the pain and that worked.....you need to do something that will take your mind off the pain like humming or swaying or even stamping your feet...i know it sounds silly but disraction really does help.
it does hurt no two ways about it but when you get to the point where you have had enough....its all over and you do honestly forget.
i had rasberry leaf tablets with my 2nd and 3rd and only had 4 hours labour and quick ones at that....i believe they truly work...wish i had had them with my first, very strong contractions but ones that really speed delivery along

 

[nailsbydesign]

I had pethadine and gas and air with my first as he was what they called a POP delivery which meant he came out lying on his back so I got a face presentation, much bigger than the top of the head I can tell you!!! He was 16 days late, I was induced and labour lasted 3.5 hours. The second I had nothing and it was a back labour and again I was induced, although not overdue by my dates, labour lasted 1/2 an hour (yes I know I am lucky). The third I had gas and air and labour again lasted 1/2 an hour and again although my water broke, they had to re break them in another place, again I was 16 days overdue. They were all big babies too, 8lb 1oz, 8lb 15oz and 9lb 3oz in that order so I decided to give up after no 3!!!! I have to add though, that I have been told that I have a high pain threshold so that does make a huge difference. You and your midwife have to decide what you think is best for you, best of luck whatever you decide.

 

[cutiecuticles]

Hi!

With my now 2 year old little boy cobey i had to be induced, i had tens - didnt work for me, baths - didnt work for me, gas and air was nice feeling took bit of edge off but ended up with epidural though said in birth plan never ever epidural!! Lol! AN i have to say although at first it didnt take on the left side of my body after a top up it was amazing, i think all in all i had 4 top ups! It was heaven i even pretended i didn tfeel the contractions, they were just like tightenings! Lazy me didnt want to push! I was sat watching eastenders! It was so nice to have some relief i know it isnt for everyone but i think you just have to keep your options open and be aware to accept anything!!
My labour lasted 11 hours, not too bad! Just hoep next one is nice and easy!!
Good Luck!! xx

 

[cantrelax]

I had a water birth which seemed to work for my pain quite nicely. You are not in the water the entire time, you can get in and out as the mood takes you. The water is kept at bodt temp so its quite soothing. I was in a labour for 16.5 hours and was getting so tired. The water was great as it seeded to just hold me up, I just floated. I didn't have any other form of pain relief.

All the bestxx

 

[ValencianNails]

pethidine and gas + air with my first, forceps delivery and 8 hour labour.
gas + air with my second and just under 3 hours labour.
no problems (fortunately) apart from 30 odd stitches with both of them lol.
i liked gas + air because it meant i was in control and could use it when it was needed.

 

[Becky120881]

I didn't have any pain releif at all, but concentrated on breathing properly and that worked fine for me, but I think the longer you can stick it out without any pain relief the more your own body's pain relief will work.

But I have to say I wouldn't say that labour was extremely painfull, just very uncomfortable, thats just me though and everyone has there own pain threshold and every birth is different, so if I ever have another and I can't cope I would definitely go for as much pain relief as poss.

 

[pinkshell_nails]

I had pethadine and gas and air both times, and i had good labours, so to speak! I think its very personal, as what is good for one is not necessary good for another person. hth. xx

 

[Vetty]

With my first I tried gas + air but didn't get much relief from it, so the midwife decided to give me Pethidine which I hated..... It made me go to sleep between contractions but still feel the pain when another contraction came..... The actual delivery was then assisted resulting in ventouse and then forceps with no pain relief..... ouch! 11 hour labour from start to finish....

With my second the gas + air was marvellous - I don't know whether I just believed it more, but combined with concentrating on my breathing it really helped. In the end my daughter was born naturally iwth just gas + air after a 3 hour labour....

The previous advice is good - don't be too closed minded on what pain relief you want. My best friend didn't want an epidural, but ended up having one and then was cracking jokes to the midwife!!!!

Good luck to all expecting geeks!