,

[bathbabe]

But I'm not gonna sit here and debate the word naturally when it's defined by itself...

nat·u·ral
   [nach-er-uhl, nach-ruhl]
–adjective
1.
existing in or formed by nature

Formed by nature We all did that with our LOs, so we are all natural!

For those of you who dont know 'what this gas is'

50/50 oxygen and nitrous oxide (laughing gas)

ETA: also known as Entonox

i could do with some of that now

Me too! I did love the stuff - was magical!! It really helped me get through the 1st stage and I didn't have anything else, until the synto drip. Floating was not the word!

You can buy it (minus the air ) as long as you say your buying it to make whipped cream or something

 

[Kte]

I had induction, G&A, morphine, an epidural (briefly during a 3 day labour), "assisted" delivery with intentional collarbone fracture, okay, so he came out of my vagina, who cares - he's ALIVE and that's all that matters to me.

Over-interventions contributed a lot to the eventual disaster at the end, so I really hate the martyr/medal comments personally. I think more babies would be born healthier/safer if we refrained from overuse of medications/interventions, but I'll be the first to admit it's horribly painful to cope with!

I do and I don't agree. I agree that some decisions shouldn't be rushed but in my case, it was assumed I was being lazy - I laboured at home for 4 days, went into hospital on the 4th day which was a Friday at 7cm and went straight into delivery ward - pool was free so went into pool, when I was fully dielated at 10pm I had the urge to push so it was all systems go, had a talk from the MW about what to expect and then suddenly nothing . . . . my daughter wasn't born until 7.10am the Sat morning. She had gotten stuck and there was no way I would of been able to get her out.

So the first part, being in the pool (and I had G&A) no intervention was fine but I don't know why I was left so long and forced to push for hours and hours when nothing . . . . no one would listen to me that things were wrong.

Also, in my friends case, her first baby was born and they noted that she should have a c-section the second time as she had a narrow pelvis. Her 2nd baby was bigger than her first but they wouldn't do the c-section, that lead to complications and affected her second baby quite badly.

So I guess, as with everything, a balance is needed.

 

[Aunty E]

Hmm. My first delivery I had no pain relief until I got to the hospital at 8cm dilated, filled with confidence that Mog was coming out in the next couple of hours. She was malpresented with one hand up by her face, and absolutely wasn't coming out. After pushing for 4.5 hours with gas and air, I was given a spinal block and she was yanked out over forty minutes with the help of a ventouse and then some forceps, not to mention an anaesthetist, a paedetrician, a registrar, two midwives and a junior doctor.

My second delivery, I used a Tens machine at home, was 4cm at hospital, had gas and air for a couple of hours and he crowned without me realising. 6 mins later he was out. My second delivery was better in many ways, not least of which was that my baby didn't have to go to special care, go on antibiotics for three days and generally get stabbed with needles. But I don't think I could have done anything in my first delivery to make it go like my second, I didn't do anything differently at home other than use a TENS, I didn't do anything differently during my pregnancy, she was just in a sucky position. So it kind of irritates me when people bleat about needing to believe in your ability to birth your baby - Imogen would have died if they hadn't pulled her out, it's as simple as that, and I will always be grateful that they managed it because she was so far down the birth canal a c section would have been almost impossible.

 

[wishingonastar]

personally I don't think G&A can be called pain relief because in my experience it did absolutely nothing to blunt the pain. just spaced me out!

haha ditto just made me wanna puke!

 

[lauren10]

Lily12, I took your comment to mean: 'I did it naturally, I'm proud of myself...but I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else, because I think lots of other women could do it too.' I didn't find it offensive at all. It's like me saying "I have great hair" and other people taking that as they DON'T have great hair. (And I really do, I do have great hair. Er, no, that's grey hair...)

I would have loved to say I did it without pain meds...mostly just to see if I could handle it! Kind of like a feat of strength. But...amidst all the pain I chose the epidural and I'm ok with that

Because of modern medicine, all this intervention is sometimes saving our babies' lives. It wasn't that long ago that the infant mortality rate was a whole lot higher. My LO's heartbeat was dangerously low as she was coming through the canal, so they had to cut me and get her out fast with forceps. Who knows what would have happened if they weren't there to intervene...I'm grateful for all this unnatural stuff.

And, I think I suffered a whole lot more after the labor than I would have if things have gone naturally and without pain meds - I was in pain for weeks due to an infected episiotomy. And yeah, that makes me a little bit tougher than I used to be!

xxx

 

[Dolly.]

I considered my birth natural in the sense that I got the baby out without forceps, ventouse or c-section. I had G&A and 1/2 dose of pethidine (which did naff all, had no effect on me at all) but to me that is irrelevant. I think in medical terms if you pushed the baby out it is natural, if you have forceps or ventouse or c-section then the birth needed 'intervention'.
It went down on my hospital notes as natural birth and midwife and health visitor referred to it as natural too so....

 

[tristansmum]

I'd love a water birth next time

Can someone explain how forceps fail please, I don't understand how?
My bubs got stuck so I had an episiotomy (does that word make anyone else cringe?!) which I didn't feel at the time but bloody did after!
Why do they do either forceps or episiotomy as they do the same thing, don't they? 'Release' a trapped baby I mean?

The episiotomy it to cut you to make more room but the forceps are to get in and move and pull baby out where hands can't get too

Sometimes foceps can't be used, either due to posistion of where it would grab baby, or the style of forceps available as iirc there are different kinds etc . . but there is another assisted option which is the ventouse but again, it all depends on babies positioning and other variables.

I was cut and my LO was forcepts delivered as she was stuck, she had twisted and once they got her head out, as its supposed to be, then they pulled her out as they normally would. I was lucky about the cut, I didn't feel a thing but that is because I had to have a spinal as there was a potential that it would end up as an emergency c-section.

I think everyone, regardless of how it went, should be immensley proud of themselves

I had failed forceps. Basically i got to 10cm and pushed for ages (like maybe 1.5 hours). In the end they scanned my tummy and saw his chin was tilted upwards and so couldn't decend. They took me to theatre and gave me a spinal and put the forceps in. they tried to turn him but they couldn't and his heart rate dropped and so had to do c section. that is how my forceps failed.

i never used to understand either. xx

 

[pupsicle]

I'd say a vaginal birth is natural, whether you have pain relief or not.
I wanted a waterbirth, but in the end baby came too quick and I didn't get chance. I had no pain relief.

 

[beth0703]

i dont see gas and air or paracetamol as pain relief tbo :/ i see them like tens machines or massage just to help make the pain seem less painfull. i personally would regaurd pain relief as injecting the body to make it numb and take the pain away such as epidural or pethadine. I had gas and air it makes it no less painfull just made me feel drunk so you forget the pain kinda like when you go out in a little dress in the
freezing cold by the time your drunk you dont even realise haha.

I must agree with Nessicle tho every woman should be proud no matter what as some births just cant be natural due to medical conditions but it dosnt make them any easier.

x

 

[hels08]

to me a natural birth is a vaginal delivery with no pain relief only gas and air. A midwif told me that gas and air is not a pain reliever it just makes you giddy so you dont care about the pain, ive had two children with only a little bit of gas and air for the last 30 mins or so before pushing, it didnt take away any of the pain at all but it made me laugh my head off so i didnt care about the pain!

thats only my opinion, as long a mum and baby come through it happy and healthy at the end then i dont see how anything else matters!

 

[xxEMZxx]

For someone that had G&A it is NOT A PAIN RELIEF!! LOL.

 

[Cat_pj]

For someone that had G&A it is NOT A PAIN RELIEF!! LOL.

Never a truer word was spoken! (or should I say typed? LOL!)

 

[bathbabe]

Didnt take the pain away for me either. But then neither does normal paracetamol

 

[iceylou]

same here, i thought it might and was sucking on the tube really hard, HOWEVER the pethidine was lovely

 

[xxEMZxx]

Don't get me wrong it helped a lot with my contractions for breathing and concentration and I will def be having it again but no way does it stop the pain. And as for paracetamol I don't even know why my midwife told me to take it, 2 paracetamol's hardly take away my headaches let alone the pain of giving birth!!!!

 

[wishuwerehere]

I take 'natural' birth to mean vaginal, without forceps or ventouse. Pain relief didn't really enter into it.
I had a natural birth, I had no pain relief, thanks to a very fast labour and a very pushy midwife...when I asked for g&a, she said I would be fine and I didn't need it lol!
When I got to the hospital i would've taken anything they offered, so I don't really feel anymore proud than if i had done it with pain relief, it was only circumstantial that I ended up without anything, in much the same way that many people who need a c section are just victims of circumstance as well

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I threw the G&A across the room, after trying to take a suck of it and finding it completely put me off my stride with the deep breathing that really WAS helping.

 

[rach321]

I had a 10lb 5oz baby on gas and air - trust me it really isn't pain relief, just kind of takes your head away so it doesn't seem as bad!

 

[babyerin]

I think all women should be proud of themselves for giving birth, whether out of your foof or through the sunroof..its a massive event in your life and only us women can do it. Yay for us!!

Giving birth itself is natural, how you got there is circumstantial. Nobody should feel guilt or bad about their birth experience

 

[sugartush08]

I have always wondered this my self as I did have pain relief (no eperdural though) just nubin (sp) and deliver vaginal with no assistance! So thanks for this thread!