MSE Pregnancy Club 26

kerri_dfw

an9i77 - my OH says he's going to have a go on the G&A, I don't want to have it as I've tried "balloons" when I was in uni and they made me feel really sick. I know from previous operation experience that morphine makes me completely out of it, sick and I say silly things. From what I've read and seen epidurals go against your body as you don't feel the need to push, so I'm against that. My Mum told me pethidine made her feel really sick. For me I know my body wouldn't put me through anything it couldn't handle and if the baby isn't getting any pain relief then I don't want any either. Saying that though, I'm doing the hypnobirthing course to try to make myself as relaxed as possible when the birth comes so all my energy is then used by my uterus to get the baby out. We'll see how successful this all is in a few months time though, I might come back saying "oh wasn't I silly"

bride2be2012

We don't have a MLU or birthing centre anywhere near by, it's a choice of home birth or hospital. As this is my first and I haven't a clue what to expect, I'm going for the hospital, I may consider a home birtH in the future if we have any more-we stay 5 minutes away from the hospital anyway, so if I needed to be admitted in an emergency, its not far to go (and an ambulance could prob do it quicker than five mins, ha ha!).

But I also hate hospitals and want in and out as soon as possible - this is one of the reasons I am wanting as little intervention and pain relief as possible. If I have anything more than gas or air then there are side effects on me and baby to consider and it may mean a longer stay in hospital. Yes, it may only be a an extra day but that's a full 24 hours I could be at home. I've a fairly high pain threshold, and have had a fairly major op in the past, with all the pain relief it comes with (diamorphine etc), and its not an experience I really want to repeat. I stopped taking the pain killers I got home with me straight away as I felt all they did was make me sleepy and didn't help with pain relief anymore than paracetamol. So if I can avoid anything stronger than gas and air, then I will.

neneromanova

How is there only 46 days left for me?!?! I haven't even thought about packing a hospital bag yet. I don't have any nappies, maternity pads, dummies, just lots of very cute clothes :rotfl:

Managed to get little mans room painted yesterday though which is nice. Now just to go into the spider infested garage and get the cotbed sides in :eek: can someone else come and do that for me please :rotfl:

Pushchair arrived. Its so clean and new I wonder how long it'll take to get dirty.

Anyone else having a meh day? Yesterday I had so much energy, today I can't be @rsed to do anything ah well.

butler_helen

kerri_dfw wrote: »

an9i77 - my OH says he's going to have a go on the G&A, I don't want to have it as I've tried "balloons" when I was in uni and they made me feel really sick. I know from previous operation experience that morphine makes me completely out of it, sick and I say silly things. From what I've read and seen epidurals go against your body as you don't feel the need to push, so I'm against that. My Mum told me pethidine made her feel really sick. For me I know my body wouldn't put me through anything it couldn't handle and if the baby isn't getting any pain relief then I don't want any either. Saying that though, I'm doing the hypnobirthing course to try to make myself as relaxed as possible when the birth comes so all my energy is then used by my uterus to get the baby out. We'll see how successful this all is in a few months time though, I might come back saying "oh wasn't I silly" [/jQUOTE]

^^^^^ this!

Gas and air - fine as far as I can tell and it's something to grip when it gets tough.

Pethadine - can make you feel nauseous and I have horrific nausea from IBS as it is, I don't need more.

Diamorphine - if given too late you get a drowsy baby.

Epidural - you can't tell when to push and there is a slim chance it's given wrongly.

Tens machine - pointless and likely to irritate me... But that's not actual medical knowledge!

Massage - no thanks, someone touching me whilst I'm breathing through the pain sounds horrific.

However within the next 12 days I will come back and tell you what happened. I'm not fussed what others choose to do and that's the nice thing about being in the UK and the NHS, we have the ability to make informed decisions.

Bangton

an9i77 wrote: »

Good luck to all those due very soon. Those who don't want pain relief (except gas and air - I mean the hard stuff), what are your reasons? Is it because you want to be fully 'compos mentis' at the time of the birth, or is it to avoid affecting the baby?
I only ask because I had every drug they gave me last time, and it did mean that I was a bit too out of it to really appreciate what was going on (said to OH just before they cut me open in EMCS 'this is possibly the most surreal moment of my life!') but I'd rather have a bit of feeling surreal over the pain, any day (I have a low pain threshold).
Also the diamorphine was, until the emergency started that led to the EMCS, very relaxing and nice.
Just curious why people would prefer no pain relieveing drugs.

AFM I'm ok, getting fed up with being pg now especially in the evenings when I get rib-ache, also getting v tired, but whenever I feel bad I just think of my friend who was forced to deliver at 26 weeks (baby is ok so far) and would probably do anything to be back being pregnant again with baby safely inside her not in a NICU.

I'm going to try for no pain relief at all but not adverse to it if the need arose. I think for me it's a case of not wanting to feel out of it or to have any complications from the pain relief. I never have been a fan of taking any drugs. . Including paracetamol. Unfortunately that came from my sister's husband dying after taking something deemed safe and a friend's brother. I am aware it's irrational though! ! I have a fairly high pain threshold too so I want to see how it goes but to me birth is all about luck and I can only try. If I fail to do it pain relief free I won't beat myself up.

Kayalana99

amus wrote: »

I tend to find a lot of first time mums (purely anecdotal based on people I know) go for the 'no or minimum pain relief' on the birth plan (including myself with my first!), doesn't seem to be quite as common with subsequent pregnancies...

Being on my 2nd, I almost was opting for pain relief (as my eariler post about not wanting it to affect the baby) but feel like it wouldn't be fair to the 2nd one after I did it for the 1st one...

I might give gas and air a try again since last time it only seemed to make the pain worse...I was doing really well concentrating on getting through the pain/contractions and then took gas and air and my head went light and I couldn't think straight and ALL I could feel was the pain... but same time I only tried it once, and then refused to use it again and one thing I remember the midwife saying was you havn't taken enough just try some more but I was just admant after that I didn't want to touch the stuff lol

For the person above about wanting to see how it goes, its hard. I think its a decision you need to make before you go as if I remember rightly...once you get to certain points in your labour (the really painful..its coming soon bit) your not allowed to take anything that close to the baby coming out? So if you want pain relief its got to be a before decision? I might be wrong their but I do remember at the very end of my labour I would of taken anything they could give me but it was to late.. ofc you manage tho.

Hopelass

Morning Ladies!

Happy due date Helen!

Neneromanova - I had a meh day yesterday; felt really weird and unmotivated until the evening when I got more energy - I literally just went back to bed for most of the day until OH came home Feeling better today so hopefully it will pass for you too.

Well, after all my scaredy -catness I went to an antenatal class on Tuesday. I was the only one there!!!!! The midwife explained that they are more like question and answer sessions now so I had a two hour one to one session with the midwife which was fantastic! I found all about the hospital - I am going for the birth centre which is almost brand new - TV's, ipod docks, twinkly lights above the pools etc. and it is only a set of double doors away from the labour ward, doctors, epidurals etc. so I think I'm very lucky having those options both together.

I also bit the bullet and took myself off to aquanatal yesterday evening. Even though I'd had a meh day, I knew I'd be cross with myself if I didn't go. It was loads of fun! There were about 10 ladies; all of whom seemed perfectly lovely. I don't know why I was imagining some awful cliquey situation where everyone knew each other and would look me up and down (I have social anxiety issues).....anyway was really pleased I went and it was quite a workout, am aching a bit today but feel loads better for going.

Pain relief wise, I would like just to have to pool and G&A . OH's sister in law had the works (G&A, pethedine, epidural, episiotomy and forceps delivery) and remembers nothing at all about the birth. Baby was also drowsy. I would like to avoid that as much as possible but am fully aware that things change, so as long as baby arrives safely that's my main concern. I have been trying natal hypnotherapy as well and have been reading Juju Sundin's Birth Skills book which I hope will also help me stay calm. We'll see!!

Have a good day ladies; weather is looking quite nice here.....might do more washing......

Hopelass 34+6

justonemorepairofshoes

Baby Flora Emily arrived yesterday weighing 8lb 8oz after induction and lots of gas and air!

TTC40

Congrats! Another pink one for 'us'. Where are the boys? Beautiful name. Hope you are both well.

Bangton

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Being on my 2nd, I almost was opting for pain relief (as my eariler post about not wanting it to affect the baby) but feel like it wouldn't be fair to the 2nd one after I did it for the 1st one...

I might give gas and air a try again since last time it only seemed to make the pain worse...I was doing really well concentrating on getting through the pain/contractions and then took gas and air and my head went light and I couldn't think straight and ALL I could feel was the pain... but same time I only tried it once, and then refused to use it again and one thing I remember the midwife saying was you havn't taken enough just try some more but I was just admant after that I didn't want to touch the stuff lol

For the person above about wanting to see how it goes, its hard. I think its a decision you need to make before you go as if I remember rightly...once you get to certain points in your labour (the really painful..its coming soon bit) your not allowed to take anything that close to the baby coming out? So if you want pain relief its got to be a before decision? I might be wrong their but I do remember at the very end of my labour I would of taken anything they could give me but it was to late.. ofc you manage tho.

Your absolutely right of course. At the end you have to see it through. By seeing how it goes I mean the full labour. I have no idea of the intensity being my first baby so if I can't take the lead up I know I can't take the birth bit either. In my mind I want nothing .. including gas and air as I'm not a fan of taking anything but I will if desperate. I think it's a tough decision to make in advance being completely unaware of What's going to happen and I wouldn't want to be naive and say to myself I can do it only to set myself up for a fall. For now I can see how I labour and how that feels but I know if I commit to not having anything there will come a point where I'll have to deal with it and push through it:)