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First pregnancy and dont want any pain relief.
Hello its my first pregnacy i'm due on the 6th august
I dont want any pain relief just gas and air
Will i regret not having any?
I just want a natural birth without any drugs
and just want to get through birth as calm as i can without any does that sound stupid?
can anyone answer please?
Thankyou.
I dont want any pain relief just gas and air
Will i regret not having any?
I just want a natural birth without any drugs
and just want to get through birth as calm as i can without any does that sound stupid?
can anyone answer please?
Thankyou.
0
Replies
Prior to my first labour, I attend relaxation classes and listenend to natal hypnotheraphy CD's, I have to say that I feel that these helped during labour - midwife kept saying to hubby she couldn't tell when I was having a contraction and I just kept quiet.
However, that said I did end up having an epidural because I just found the pain so intense and I wanted to continue being calm and enjoying my labour / birth experience and an epidural seemed like a good way for me to do that. However, my labour was also induced so possibly more intense.
I would say that your plan sounds lovely but the best advice that I received prior to labour is not to be a martyr and if you feel like you need more pain relief to ask for it.
My birth experience was still calm and enjoyable even though I went for the epidural - once the epidural was in hubby and I spent the afternoon listening to the radio and chatting with the midwife - infact I was about to have snooze when the midwife checked me and told me it was time to push.
So I would say just keep an open mind about how you achieve your calm labour and I'm sure that you will achieve it.
Good luck
Amme
18 weeks today
im due in august too (19th) and this is my second baby.
With my first i was exactly like you and diddnt want any pain releif other than gas and air and also to try a tens machine, and luckly it all went to plan. In fact my labour was so quick -7 hours in total, that i hardly got to use them at all! This time i am hoping to do the same and may even try water birth if a pool is available.
I know eveyone is different but i found, allthough it was painfull, i didnt need anything else and managed fine, plus the added benefit of being able to move arround as much as possible and not have my body full of drugs.
Id say deffinatly try without!
I think its great you want to do it drug free and I really hope you get the birth you want, I would say though stay open minded in regards to pain relief because you just don't know what its going to be like.
Don't forget that you don't get a medal for having no pain relief so even if you go in with one mind set don't feel like you can't change it later.
Got my fingers crossed for you though I wanted to only have gas and air...maybe next time!
Thanks again.
i work in a birth centre and that's where i hope to have my baby. I think there's nothing wrong with wanting to mobilise and have gas and air, the water is fantastic too - have you thought of getting in the pool? You can still have gas and air in there.
From my experience with good support birth tends to be easier to deal with when and quicker when you can be upright and get into any position you want to, using gas and air and water without an epidural. Where things go wrong or people need inducing it becomes a whole different ball game and some man made intervention measures like the hormone drip can make labour very hard to deal with. In that case i would definately consider an epidural. The problem with epidurals is that they make labour longer (as its not natural to be laid up on your back with no feeling) can can cause you to need more intervention. But i think theres a place for them where needed and it depends on how things are going in your labour and what kind of person you are.
I figure if i can move around, go to the birth centre where ill get one to one care and definate access to a water pool im giving my body every chance to follow the call of nature. If things dont go according to plan then ill accept i did everything i could and consider further pain relief, i certainly wouldnt be a hero in that situation!
If you have a birth centre near to you you sound an ideal person to use it. The care is second to none and the staff are very experienced at acting when they need to. These places actually have better outcomes for low risk women than big units because they can give such close care and allow women to birth in a natural environment, doing what their bodies tell them. If you dont have a birth cente your local consultant unit should have a low risk part to it which might well be able to offer you a pool birth. Hope this helps x
No it doesn't sound stupid to want a natural birth, so don't worry about that!
I had my first baby in March and like you I didn't want any pain relief. I was induced as I was 12 days overdue and had heard that being induced can make labour quicker and more painful but I managed ok with just gas and air.
I found that breathing properly through contractions really helped, one of the healthcare assistants showed me what to do. I managed to get to 6cm dilated without anything and then started on the gas and air. I had wanted to use the pool but wasn't allowed because I was induced but I was ok without it.
I would say go into it with an open mind - I wanted to do it without pain relief if I could, but I would have asked for something if I had felt I couldn't cope with just gas and air. I must admit that afterwards I was pleased that I had managed to do it on just gas and air (especially as my husband thinks I am a massive wimp!).
I didn't regret not having any drugs but then I think on the whole I had a pretty good birth experience (they put in my notes that my labour was 5 hours 47 mins which I believe is pretty quick for a first baby, although I think they only count from when you are 4cm dilated and I was having contractions for about 14 hours in total).
Good luck
just do as some others have said and keep an open mind. I was falling asleep during labour but contractions kept waking me up.. the midwife was concerned that i would not make it to the pushing stage as i would be exhausted (looking back i agree) which led to my husband and i decidng i would have an epidural. this was actually the last thing i wanted before my birth but suddenly it was just a decision to do the best for my baby and didn't seem scary or wrong.
go for it with natural pain relief options... breathing, tens, hypnobirthing, water etc... but don't be afraid to change your mind!
hope it all goes well!!
xxx
Just want to parrot what everybody else is saying about keeping an open mind and no it doesn't sound stupid. I was adamant I'd have a natural birth with my first son but I had a slow and non-progressive labour (my contractions started at 10.30 Sunday morning, were every 3 mins by 7pm but I wasn't dilating so he was born by ventouse at 11.34am on the Wednesday!) so in the end I had an epidural after 60 hours! I had wanted a water birth thing but it was just not for me because I found it easier to be stood up or squatting by the bed! I think I am just awkward though because for everybody else I know who's had one, they've thought they were brilliant! Afterwards I felt a bit gutted that I didn't have the bottle to go without the epidural, but 3 days of no sleep meant I was totally exhausted. I still felt like I'd let myself down though.
With my second son I thought, "I managed 60 hours without pain relief last time, I can do it again this time!" I was induced and it was agony. I have a retroverted uterus and carry back to back so it was all up my bum (sorry if tmi) but I was having really strong contractions on top of each other and I was dying for an epidural but I was told it was just propess pains and I wasn't in labour. The midwife wouldn't even examine me she was so convinced and when she knocked off her shift, she told me she'd see me later when she was back on! I felt so mard that I couldn't cope with "fake contractions" that it knocked my confidence a bit to be honest, and filled me with dread for the "real contractions". As it happened, the next midwife called the doctor because baby's heart rate was dropping with every contraction and had a low baseline. I was 6-9cm (very vague in my opinion) dilated, and by the time I'd walked to delivery I was getting the urge to push. It certainly wasn't calm! I wished they'd examined me sooner so I could have had my epidural! I don't feel like I achieved anything by doing it with just gas and air.
Hopefully you will have a brilliant birth with great support, just please don't put any pressure on yourself. You will be squeezing something quit large through a small hole, it's painful!! During and after the birth the most important thing is that you are both safe and healthy, not whether you have had pain relief. Take care and good luck
Due in September but being induced in August (3rd induction)
I had g&a and pethidine with my first, just g&a with my 2nd and planning nothing on this one. We have been looking into hypnobirthing, it sounds fab xx
I wanted a natural labour like you just gas and air. In the end I had pethidine I wish I hadn't it just made me sleepy and made the baby sleepy and I struggled with breastfeeding as a result. Second time around I had a home birth and just used a tens and a little bit of gas and air. It was easier second time around as you know what to expect. I would research all your pain relief options and keep an open mind as you never know what will happen. x
In my experience, I was more calm and collected after an epidural, and would go as far as saying I enjoyed it. I was in no pain, so I could enjoy the moment, laugh with OH, the staff etc and concentrate on what was happening welcoming my daughter.
Before that, I had tried tens, useless. Gas and air made me sick. I therefore had about 4 hours with no pain relief, it was horrendous, i was tired, grumpy, rude to everyone trying to help, in pain - the difference before and after was amazing. I can't understand why women want to suffer when there is no need.
I too was hoping for a relaxed labour with little pain relief - I really didn't want an epidural. I was hoping for a water birth, with aromatherapy & massage.
However when I was 38+3, at 9:20am on a Saturday (just before we were leaving to take Gran shopping to M&S!) my waters broke, but I had no pains whatsoever. I called the hospital & I went in at 12 for them to check that my waters had broken, which they had. Because I had no pains I was sent back home with some disposable thermometers (so I could take my temp every 4 hours to make sure infection wasn't setting in) and told to call back at 8am on the Sunday morning to see if they had a bed for me.
By 7 that evening contractions had started and by 4 on the Sunday morning they were close & painful enough for me to go in.
Typically by the time I'd been checked in the contractions had stopped, so after some tea & toast I was put on a drip to speed things up. When they did the internal I was fully effaced & 4 cm dilated.
I was doing really well just breathing through the contractions and didn't have gas & air till the afternoon (which was horrible, made me go whacky, much to husbands amusement). The aromatherapy didn't do anything & when my husband tried to massage my back he just p*ssed me off really.
My contractions were all over the place and never really regulated - I'd have nothing for ages then 3 in a row, and whilst I was dilating the baby wasn't descending. I was getting weaker & the midwife encouraged me to think about having an epidural, which I did have and it was amazing.
I can't remember much about what happened afterwards as I was so exhausted I just lay there whilst the contractions kept coming irregularly. Lots of people in & out of the rooms lots of internal exams etc & it became obvious that my baby wasn't going to descend, she was laying back to back with me & I guess was stuck.
Then they decided they would try to turn her manually, which they did (and it hurt like ****) but she turned herself right back to the original position again. Someone told me that I could keep going for another 4 hours & still not get anywhere, and because my waters had broken 30-odd hours previously they made the decision to give me a c-section.
It wasn't very long after this that my baby's heart rate halved in a matter of seconds and we were rushed into theatre for a cat 1 c-section. Fortunately she came out with 2 massive cries and was perfect.
Sorry for rambling on but I guess my point was that my actual birth was about as different from my planned birth as possible. I think the best advice is to not get your hopes up about the labour, as you don't know how you'll cope with the pain or what may happen, and believe me your concern & focus will be on getting your baby out safely.
However, I know I don't really know what I'm letting myself in for so if when it comes to I feel I need more relief I'm not going to be afraid to ask for it!
Good luck xx