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pain relief for labour
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hey peeps,
I'm 33 weeks pregnant and i've been thinking about pain relief for the birth. The thing is my angel of a boyfriend has bought me a hundred or so books on the subject but its one thing reading about the different methods and another talking to real people with real experiences. He's happy for me to do whatever is best for me but i really need some advice from you.
So i'm looking 4 anyone who's had a baby who can tell me what they used and how it helped.
Thanx guys xx
I'm 33 weeks pregnant and i've been thinking about pain relief for the birth. The thing is my angel of a boyfriend has bought me a hundred or so books on the subject but its one thing reading about the different methods and another talking to real people with real experiences. He's happy for me to do whatever is best for me but i really need some advice from you.
So i'm looking 4 anyone who's had a baby who can tell me what they used and how it helped.
Thanx guys xx
0
Comments
edited to ask.....btw, are you having a boy or girl? If you're keeping the baby, what are you planning to name him/her?
Every type of pain relief has its pros and cons, You might find that you dont need much, depends on your pain threshold.
I found for the first night, when the contractions were far apart and not too severe, I just got by with a couple of paracetamol. I found the early contractions to be just like ordinary period pains, so your body does ease you into it gently (unless you are induced, which makes it faster and more painful) I didnt actually need any major pain relief until the next morning when I was ready to deliver, so I tried gas and air, but I didnt like it, as it made me feel dizzy and nauseous, but a lot of people love it, and dont need anything else. Theres a knack to breathing it before you actually get the pain though, and I think my lack of getting the hang of it was what made it not work for me.
It is a very good option if it works for you though, as it doesnt have any effect on the baby.
The next one I tried was pethidine - It made me out of my face completely, but I didnt think much of it for pain relief - the pain was still there, it was just on the other side of the room somewhere
I was pretty against the idea of having an epidural, because although it offers the most complete pain relief (no feelings from the waist down) It renders you unable to move, you have to have a catheter fitted, and it increases the risk of having to have an assisted delivery (forceps or ventouse) which is something I was really frightened of. It increases the risk because you cant feel the pain, but you also cant feel to push when the time comes, and even if they tell you when to push, you cant always do it because you have no sensation - like dead meat. Luckily mine had worn off just enough by that time so that I could push, although they did threaten me with the ventouse, they didnt need it in the end.
The epidural doesnt affect the baby so much as the mother - I was against it because of the risks to me - a forceps or ventouse delivery means having an episiotomy (cutting you) and a lot of people dont want to increase their risks of having that.
Having said all that, i was glad I had mine, as it was complete relief from the pain and I really appreciated it at the time - the needle in your back though is fucking HUGE, but you dont really feel it.
Also remember, some people get by with no pain relief at all and wouldnt have it any other way. The choice is entirely yours, My advice is to just see how you get on at the time, and try and be relaxed. Labour isnt the terrible experience some people think. Just remember YOU are the one in control - dont let them do anything you dont want them to do, you know your own body.
Good luck.
What is more every labour is different (I`ve got five children so trust me on this one!); I`ve had one epidural, three with just gas and air, and one with no pain relief whatsoever. So you`re right to want to be as informed as possible, but on the other hand try not to make plans that are set in stone because it just doesn`t always work that way in practise.
There is DEFINITELY a knack to it.... the temptation is to breathe in and out as fast as you can but you have to resist that and suck as much into your lungs as you can. Also you must start on it the second you feel a contraction coming on because it takes a few seconds to work.
Have you had a baby now?
Hi,
I've got no plans to hve a caesarian, i think thats a bad thing to plan coz afterall its major surgery. If i need one when the time comes thats different.
Not sure if i'm having a boy or a girl, we want it to be a surprise. Names are proving a problem. If we have a girl we'll call her Jasmine Bethany Cole. If we have a boy thats when we're stuck. I like names like Keiran and Callum but they don't go with Cole. My bf likes Andrew but theres no way i'm having a son called Andy Cole!! We both quite like Jake tho
Any suggestions are welcome tho!!:D
I was hoping not to have an epidural coz i'm worried about forceps and having to be cut but my pain threshold is so low i can see myself demanding everything at once!!
i think kieran and callum sound nice with cole.
if you have a one syllable surname, it's better to have a first name with at least two syllables, otherwise it sounds quite harsh. jake cole. say it to yourself a few times. i don't think it fits.
callum cole, on the other hand, sounds like he should be a world class sportsman, or a novelist, or an actor. it just flows better.
also everyone knows that superheros have first and second names beginning with the same letter.
would probably get shortened to jake anyway. it's a tricky business, this naming one. my boyfriend's niece is three weeks old, and has only had a name for about a week. they had loads of things planned, bt when she was born, she just didn't look like any of them.
also they found that there were names that didn't jump out immediately, but when put together with their surname sounded really nice. so try saying everything with the surname after it. and try and think of all the things that it could be shortened to.
I quite like Riley but my bf thinks it sounds too american and apparently its a snooker cue(?)
we both like Connor and Bailey but both my mates kids are called that and its too much hassle. Guess we'll just have to wait til we c the baby and decide what name fits.
Just didn't think it'd be this hard!!
yeah. but you might find that when you see him/her, that a name just pops right into your head.
when my mum was pregnant with me, they had loads of (very dodgy) names picked out, but as soon as my mum saw me, she just said 'she looks like a Katherine'. it wasn't even on their list.
I had to give birth to my first, she was developed.
17
dont know what to say. that must have been awful.
very
I had been to the pub on a Sunday night (no did not drink), got home at approx 11.10 by about 11:30 was phoning for an ambulance as hubby had been drinking. anyways all I had was gas and air. Hubby was watching the monitor so he knew before me that i was gonna get a pain, so he told me one was coming and i just started taking the gas and air. It mad me feel kinda high, yeah i still felt pain in the latter stages but having said that because i was kind of high from the gas and air it didnt bother me.
I personally think people should keep all options open, until the labour is actually happening how can you truly know whats gonna be best for you. If its a long, slow labour then you may decide for epidural so its more bearable but if its a quick labour like myself then id say just go for gas and air.
So is every female - I think it`s fear of the unknown as much as anything. But lets face it, once it`s in there it`s got to come out one way or another! Not like you can change your mind.
How come thats all she gets given?
from what i've been told, after 9 months in there, you're more than willing to go through the pain just to get it out!
Yup especially when you are late & every day feels like a month.
It all went Pete Tong though, ended up having to go to the big hospital in Bath as I wasn't really getting anywhere with my labour and had been having mild contractions for 3 days and I was already 10 days overdue. I think the ambulance ride jiggled things up a bit as by the time I got there I had been violently sick all over myself, my boyfriend, the midwife that came me, and the gas and air canister in the ambulance! mmmm!
I started off on gas and air, then they tried to give me an epidural as I was ready to kill myself at that point, but the contractions were so strong I arched my back when they were putting the tube in my spine and snapped two of them, I never really got the feeling completely back in my lower back after that. They broke my waters and found the baby was in distress, so they got the ventouse out, after three pulls on heavy traction, they decided he wasn't going to come out, so I had an emergency c-section, and as he was trapped they had to use forceps and I had a haemmorage. My poor child was born completely in shock, with a lower than normal Apgar score, and went to Special Care for a while. I was out cold in the recovery ward for about 12 hours!!
Back to the original question, I thought the Tens machine looked quite good, but there wasn't one available when I could have done with it. Gas and air is good and makes it more bearable without taking away the sensation, but it made me sick as a pig. Started off feeling really happy and jokey, but chuffing away on that stuff lead flat on my back in an ambulance really did finish me off! Some people find the mask really claustrophobic and prefer to use the mouthpiece. I found wallowing in the bath really soothing for the very early stages, and I was a bit obsessed with sitting on the loo as I found that really comfy!! Did have horrid images of actually giving birth on a loo though!!
Hope it all goes well, you forget the pain the minute you hold your baby xxxx
Names, I think you should have a couple in mind. We didnt know what sex it was, so for a girl we had Ellie and Courtney and for a boy Taylor and James. But when he arrived we looked at him and Taylor seemed right!
Hope everything goes well:)