pain relief/management during childbirth?

ailuro2

psychologically the TENS helps, I got used to it, and when I took it off to have a bath the pain got worse.

In the end I had a spinal block as they took me into theatre for a forceps delivery with possible C section if she didn't come out with the old salad servers.

Wasn't amused when I was handed a bedpan to have a pee- since they informed me I wouldn't be able to walk.:eek:

Needs must and you can never plan what's going to happen.

The midwife told me that once I'd had the spinal block (like a one-off epidural)my internal muscles relaxed,my dd could turn to the correct angle and the forceps were hardly needed.So no C section.

Julysea

Gas and air made me sick in my first labour so i wouldn't have it again, and was fine (well, as much as you ever are in labour! ) during my second with just a TENS machine.

Crispy_Ambulance

When you are pregnant, book NCT antenatal classes and you will learn about all the options available and the pros and cons of each.

Basically - the greater level of pain relief, the more downsides there are, for both mother and baby. Pethidine and Epidurals inhibit the body's natural pain relieving hormones (endorphins) so when they wear off, the pain will feel greater. Plus, one intervention in labour very often leads to another. Epidurals slow labour down and mean that a forceps or ventouse birth is twice as likely. Epidurals can offer total pain relief - but at a cost.

There is a pain cycle - when you feel pain, you are fearful. The fear creates tension and the tension increases the sensation of pain. The increased pain creates more fear and so it goes on.

NCT classes will also teach about self help methods of pain management and relaxation etc. There is much more to coping with labour than pharmacological pain relief. The position the woman is in, having one to one support, having an atmosphere she can relax in etc. can all have a very positive effect.

Thriftylady

pavlovs_dog wrote:

i think the only thing i hate the idea of more than an epidural is a caesarian :eek:


pavlovs_scaredy cat

I felt this way too, but in the event I had both !! I was terrified of having the epidural but had been in labour for so long without progressing, and I was so exhausted (mentally and physically) that I ended up asking for it. I know many people have horror stories, but I found it was fine. And although people talk of feeling out of control and not being able to feel their contractions, it didn't leave me completely numb, it just made the sensations really dull. So don't panic, for every horror story, there is a good one to even things out. The spinal block if you need the caesarian really does leave you numb though.......

although this makes me sound like some kind of pain loving weirdo, if they could have told me at the start of my labour that twenty six hours later I would still be nowhere near delivering my baby and I could just cut all that out and have the caesarian immediately, I still wouldn't do it. Its not that being in pain was enjoyable, but labour was part of the whole childbirth experience.....

*Sparkle*_3

I had pethedine and gas and air for the birth of my first daughter,( i was only 17 years old) i felt as though the gas and air was drying out my mouth too much and i felt like i couldnt catch my breath so i was very wary of the gas and air the second time around, but once i tried it again i couldnt let it go!
The second time i had the same again(aged 22), dont worry about the pooing during labour, your body will prob make you go before you give birth, or just make sure you try well before.
The pethedine makes you feel very "out of it" which can be fun.

Rachie_B

*Sparkle* wrote:

I had pethedine and gas and air for the birth of my first daughter,( i was only 17 years old) i felt as though the gas and air was drying out my mouth too much and i felt like i couldnt catch my breath so i was very wary of the gas and air the second time around, but once i tried it again i couldnt let it go!
The second time i had the same again(aged 22), dont worry about the pooing during labour, your body will prob make you go before you give birth, or just make sure you try well before.
The pethedine makes you feel very "out of it" which can be fun.

same here,i really couldnt get on with gas and air first time round,but 2nd time it was the best thing ever lol ,in the end hubby disconnected the mouth piece from the gas bottle and i didnt even realise / know :rotfl:

i was 17 when i had my first too and 23 on my second

Lillibet_2

OK, a run down from my (1) experience :

Pethedine : Personally horrifed at the thought of it making me feel high/out of control & flatly refused it.

Tens : Supposedly great early on, I had it & couldn't get the damn levels set right to have any effect but that's probably 'cos my contractions were 3 minutes apart all the way through (meaning I had 399 contractions in total:eek::eek::eek::eek:) so I didn't get a chance to adjust it properly early on when you are supposed to have long enough between the contractions to sort it out:rolleyes:

Gas & Air : Made me horrifically sick (I mean bright green vomit!:p), didn't really work as pain relif as my contractions were so fast & furious (it takes a few seconds to get into your system each time) but at least it gave me something else to focus on:rolleyes:.

Warm baths : Well warm didn't help but piping hot baths were excellent early on:T, I was worried they were too hot to be safe so stopped them, I learned afterwards from a fairly sensible midiwfe that they were fine.

Epidural : Heaven, utter heaven. mind you, by then I'd been in labour for 13 hours (260 contractions mostly without pain relief:eek:) & was 8 CM dilated but I went from being a vomiting writhing heap to a perky normal person drinking diet coke & chatting away to the midwife within about 15 minutes. The worst part was the anti-septic wash on my back before the anasethic (before the actual epidural), I swear they kept the antiseptic in the freezer! I never even felt the anasethic or epidural needles going in. The down sides are that it does slow down labour (but then so does a baby with a 38 cm head), you can't walk (believe me, I was going no where before I had it anyway) & you have to have a catheter but I couldn't pee for all the contractions anyway so it was quite a relief! I didn't acually "feel" the birth which I'm not sure is a good or bad thing, (but I wouldn't have anyway due to complications resulting in needing a spinal block) but I was totally compus-mentas (sp?) throughout meaning I understood about the complications & what they were going to do etc, & I was able to make my own reasoned choices/decisions where possible rather than depend on my panicing hubby, & I can remember every painless second of the actual birth even if I couldn't feel it. And it was a very happy outcome for all concerned:D

Mrs_pbradley936

This is such an individual thing. Some women have an easy time of it and others have a different pain threshold and/or complications. I have never had any form of pain relief not because I am a masochist but because by the time I thought I might like some it was all over and done with. I will try and describe my experience but they may be different to those of other women. When the contractions start they are about 20 minutes apart so you can gather your strength and make ready for the next one. The interval between contractions gets less and less until as the last one dies the next one is arriving without a break. It is not some much that it is painful as that they is no respite. But by that time it is almost over. I have just described normal delivery to a woman with baby Apgars of 10 out of 10

Janepig

Before I had DD I was determined I would cope without anything. My biggest fear was epidural/caesarean. I was more frightened of dr's intervening than my own pain. One contraction in and I wanted everything. Which is what I got. Starting with gas and air (yuk) moving on to pethedine which knocked me out and made me feel tipsy for days with the after effects (I'm quite small so it had a big effect) followed by an epidural when they said they were going to give me syntocinon to speed up my contractions (ie, make them more painful) followed by a good old caesarean when all that failed to make DD materialise. So what I'd feared most turned out to be absolutely fine.

With DS I struggled to get the Dr's to agree to another caesarean even though when I'd had DD they told me not to attempt a normal birth next time around and I was more frightened of a normal birth than a caesarean. So I got booked in for the C section and what happens, I go into labour five weeks early (Christmas day) and spend the day in agony before they agree to another blessed caesarean.

So I think you know what I recommend.

Jxxxx

Chrismojam

I would love to do the whole labour thing with no or as little as possible pain relief........but then I know what I'm like with a bad case of trapped wind or constipation:eek: .........so the likelihood of me having a drug free labour is nigh on impossible:rolleyes: ..........unless it happens so quickly that I can't have any:eek:

I'm not preggers yet either...but like you...it doesn't hurt to try and prepare does it:D

I was watching one of those baby programmes the other week (I do this when I get hormonal and broody......watch ALL the baby programmes.....OH does a quick disappearing act....can't think why?:rolleyes: ) and that had someone having an epidural (really shouldn't have watched it)......it didn't go right and had to be done again:eek: and this was the consultant doing it! the needle or whatever it was didn't go into the right spinal canal or something...oh god just watching it frightened the life out of me.....bless...the poor woman having it done didn't want one either but she had to because of complications....uurrghh! However, before anyone shouts at me for scaremongering......it goes right many more times than it doesn't!!...apparently...........:rolleyes: