Pain relief in labour.

I was given fentenyl in 2 doses. I know this is a street drug

I did pethadine before an epidural as I didn’t want one ideally. It was right for me as gave me some more labouring hours where I was definitely high enough to not care about the pain so much lol I’d hoped I would be able to sleep which I couldn’t but I still thought it was worth it. I did epidural eventually but that was because it was just taking me so long to progress as in days and days and I wanted to conserve some energy to push

I had an epidural with my first and nothing with my second due to lack of time. Epidural meant zero pain but pushing was much harder as I couldn’t feel the contractions. No epidural was better than expected but it could have been due to it being my second and the birth being so quick. Not sure what I would advise but you might not be able to decide last minute as usually they don’t have enough anaesthesiologists and it takes a while for someone to become available.

Well I did the birth plan and litteraly my first labour finished with exactly what I didn't want. So u really can't plan anything because circumstances change and they need to do what is ok for that time. Iam 33 now of my second and I will not do a birth plan anymore. I did Epidural in my first end with spinal and i had some issue also baby days after so I will not choose Epidural again unless it's strictly necessary. Gas is good so I will choose that this time.

Personally I chose on the day. As you say first time you don’t really know how you will cope or how long you will be in labour etc. I put gas and air on my birth plan but I asked them to let me know when was the last time I could get more pain relief. Which they did. I was fine on just gas and air. But even this time for second birth I’ll do the same as this time could be different

Yes choose on the day! I just put gas&air and water bath. Open to discuss other options on my plan. I was convinced that I’d be fine this way…. My labour ended up longer than I thought, so then I took pethidine at first and then epidural. I had a fact sheet of each drug that made it easier to decide If you manage without epidural, amazing. As the poster said above, it’s better to feel the pushes (I pushed too hard and baby needed some help with breathing when he came. All good now though).

I had the epidural with my first and second. No regrets or complications.

Thank you everyone xx you gave me food for thought xxx

I was in labor for 66 hours with no pain medication, but I did a lot of planning and preparation first. I also had a doula to help. If you haven't thought in detail about how you would manage pain without medication, I would start thinking about that now if you can. Even if you plan to use an epidural, you won't have it right away and there's always a chance you won't be able to get it at all or it won't work right if you do, so it's good to think about pain management anyway! I think it's good to be open to changing your plan if you need to, but it's good to make one unless you're fine with just doing whatever the doctors want. That often puts you on a certain path as super common simple interventions lead to loss of freedom of movement and also to more interventions. But if that path is okay with you, there's nothing wrong with that!

Also, if you are not already aware of this, it's very common for women to hit transition and suddenly feel like they can't do it anymore and agree to meds or intervention they didn't otherwise want. But transition means you're almost done! It's helpful to be prepared for the fact that you will probably get a rush of fear or other unpleasant emotions right there near the end so that you know it's time to push through that (if that's what you want) rather than giving in to things at the last minute

@Tess I was in active labour for about five hours before I pushed my baby out. I had obviously been in some sort of early labour for maybe days before that, but just hadn’t realised. I didn’t have any pain relief whatsoever, I couldn’t get the hang of gas & air in the moment lol Once I got in the water it offered all the relief I needed. Anyway, I just wanted to applaud you for labouring for 66 hours without any pain medication- Wow! 👏🏽👏🏽 I also agree with everything you said about unnecessary interventions & the transition stages, all very true

Had my first with pethidine and gas and air. I was set on epidural but they got my blood test wrong and when they realised it was too late. If in doubt ask them to check your bloods at the start so you can have what you like as it goes on and decide as you go. Pethidine was amazing as I laboured through the night and slept between each contraction. Feels like you are drunk and woozy. With my next baby I have been offered a different type of induction (baby is measuring small so needs to come anywhere 36-39 weeks) but can have epidural before induction starts. I gave birth with my first in 6 hours so they expect a quicker labour this time for me.

I would say be open to anything. I had pethidine but for me personally all it did was knock me out between contractions, I still felt them quite a lot. I wanted an epidural but unfortunately was too far along so in the end just gave birth with gas and air which was actually ok!

Maybe I got really lucky (I was in a state after a 4 day induction to get into active labor and I had very bad pre-eclampsia) but I had nothing for most of it, and then 2 doses of the fentenyl which absolutely got me through the stronger contractions. I felt if I'd kept getting fentenyl I'd have been fine... I was definitely not high but it blocked pain pretty well, but I wasn't allowed more and they didn't do anything like gas and air.I had the epidural. It was scary getting it honestly and that was stressful. It worked better on one side than the other. I could control the amount of it. I think I was out of it because my nurses and doctors were scary, scary people so I pressed for a lot of the drug without thinking when it was getting bad, but I could feel everything that was happening without intense pain so I guess it worked well. I was FULLY in control pushing and just needed everyone to shut up and let me do it. The pushing part felt very normal and I felt enough to have control.

I thought I needed gas for my first when contractions started but I had a home birth and our midwives didn’t carry it. Smoked a joint. Listened to 174 hz music. Used hot water from the shower and then a birthing pool. Too many drugs can stop you from owning the experience of birth, which truly transforms your spirit. Say fuck it and don’t do any pain relief. After my first without any meds I said I couldn’t wait to do it again. The moment you pull your newborn to your chest is pure magic !!

After I moved to labor room my contractions picked up stronger. I did all the non-pharm methods: heat pad, massage, positions, deep breathing through every contraction, hot shower… all those managed for a while but when contractions got strong I just kept escalating the pain mgmt. I went for laughing gas, that managed for a little while and no longer manageable. So at that point I just asked for IV fentanyl and epidural at the same time so the fentanyl can bridge me over for the time it took to call for epidural. Then sweet relief for the next 6 hours until birth