I see what you are saying. I was dead set against any drugs as i wanted a home birth with my first. But, my daughter's respiratory rate kept decreasing and i got a temperature and we both had strep b so in the end, ending up in hospital was the safest thing for us both (I WAS A MISERABLE COW AND HATED EVERY MINUTE THO!).

I personally dont go out and eat swordfish, but i have had a light beer in the last month, eaten deli meats, drank tea, etc, etc.

I am a nurse myself and used to run a medical practice which included obstetrics and gynae. I have many colleagues who have helped me over the last few months.

Regarding drugs, I would not take anything other than paracetomol willy nilly. But due to a severe jaw infection recently(as 4 dentists refused to treat a pregnant woman over 2 weeks) i ended up in hospital having surgery and needing IV antibiotics, tramadol (VERY STRONG OPIATE) and 4 times a day 30/500 cocodamol, all of which the obstetrician prescribed. It is not ideal but it was neccesary.

All i wanted for my first labour was to be in the comfort of my own home. I know that the research shows that low risk women who labour at home are less likely to require medications, interventions and cope better post natal. Certainly that is what the UK research suggests. More and more hospitals now have a home birth team and promote it. We were unlucky but i still believe it is the way to go.

One problem that does NOT help on your general labour ward in the UK is the total lack of staff. Some women get little attention until the last few hours. This can be debilitating mentaly and physically for the labouring woman. It is frightening and not having someone take you through your labour when you are scared and new to birthing babies is not ideal.

I would expect that if all labouring women got one to one midwives throughout their labour (as much as shifts allow) and not a midwife who was looking after quite a few women at the same time, it would promote less use of medications.

I am not against drugs in labour. As i have said before, we live with the times and we now have meds that can help and prevent still birth and maternal death-a gift.

But for me, having an epidural slowed my labour down-IN MY OPINION-as you can never know of course.

Ive had 4 natural labours, including being induced for medical reasons with my fourth. I'll be going natural with this 1 too if all goes to plan. Fingers crossed.

Different strokes for different folks - whatever suits you best. x

I had pethidine with my first and it didn't work on me...but I did have trouble breastfeeding at first never thought that might have been because of the pethidine! Had a bit of gas and air too but really didn't like that as it made me feel drunk and that was NOT a useful state for me to labour in Second baby was a fast labour with no pain relief and it was quite frankly very easy. I hope I get that lucky with this one. I'm against epidurals because they freak me out. I would have one if my baby's life depended on it but just for pain relief I would never have one. But I do have a really high abdominal pain threshold so that obviously will make a difference.

Considering a home water birth this time

I react VERY badly to pain medications as well. I had the same thing happen after having dental surgery done. Sick for a week throwing up and barely getting any sleep. It was not an ordeal I want to endure again.

I think women should definitely make educated decisions about their birth. Don't let fear take a hold of you is what my mother tells me. She has faith in me and so does my husband. Surround yourself with positive support! If you're comfortable getting an epidural, that's fine, if you don't want any drugs, that's fine too. Both have pros and cons.