Any tips on surviving induction without pain relief?

[kelzyboo]

Hi, a little background info first lol

So i already know that i will be having my labour induced, unless by some miracle he decides to make an appearance a few weeks earlier but my problem is i do not want to have any pain releif at all, i am open to trying gas and air if i need it but nothing else and under no circumstances do i want an epidural!

Are there any ladies out there who have had to be induced and what is your experience of the pain? I had the drip in with my last when my contractions slowed so i know how much more painful it makes the contractions (my daughter arrived 4 days before her induction date, i am hoping her brother will follow her lead!)

Thing is i don't want any interventions with the birthing process (apart from induction, cannot get round that) and i want no pain relief, am i being unrealistic|

Any experience good or bad will do lol thankyou all

 

[SmokyJoe78]

Hi - I was induced last time and used my TENS machine and natal hypnotherapy CD, which worked for me Also I refused to lie on the bed (despite the monitoring etc) and did yoga moves - at one point the MW had to hold the monitor in place for a while

 

[kelzyboo]

That sounds promising, i won't be tied to the bed either lol I would deffinately like to look into hypno birthing i just wasn't sure that i could with an induction x

 

[SmokyJoe78]

Yeah - I used it to help me through the contractions - kept me calm and focused

 

[kelzyboo]

Thankyou, gives me hope that it is possible x

 

[KandyKinz]

It definitly is possible. I was induced and managed through it without pain meds.

Here's some of the things that worked for me #1. Believe in your ability to birth unmedicated #2. Maintain your mobility whenever possible. You can still walk beside your bed while being hooked up to an EFM. You can still sit on a birth ball beside the bed while still being hooked up to an EFM. #3. Try to ignore your contractions initially for as long as possible. #4. Familiarize yourself with a variety of coping strategies.... hypnobirthing, progressive relaxation (very prominant in the Bradley Method), get a TENS unit etc #5. Familiarize your partner with things they can do to comfort you.... double hip squeezes, sacral pressure, etc #6. Acknowledge that you will more then likely hit a wall where you feel that you just can't do it anymore and remind yourself that more likely then not once you've hit that point your likely in transition and the end is very near.

 

[caseylin]

It definitly is possible. I was induced and managed through it without pain meds.

Here's some of the things that worked for me #1. Believe in your ability to birth unmedicated #2. Maintain your mobility whenever possible. You can still walk beside your bed while being hooked up to an EFM. You can still sit on a birth ball beside the bed while still being hooked up to an EFM. #3. Try to ignore your contractions initially for as long as possible. #4. Familiarize yourself with a variety of coping strategies.... hypnobirthing, progressive relaxation (very prominant in the Bradley Method), get a TENS unit etc #5. Familiarize your partner with things they can do to comfort you.... double hip squeezes, sacral pressure, etc #6. Acknowledge that you will more then likely hit a wall where you feel that you just can't do it anymore and remind yourself that more likely then not once you've hit that point your likely in transition and the end is very near.

thats great, i very much appreciate this
I am hoping not to get induced, but am planning a first visit to a birthing center in a month to make my decision as I am being seen by an OBGYN in a huge hospital right now... but really want to go au natural

 

[kelzyboo]

Thanks Kandy thats good advice

I do believe in my ability to to this without medication but i think the biggest thing that will get me through is my determination not to have the delivery i had with my daughter, i had all the pain relief available and ended up on my back in bed unable to move, which led to the damage in my pelvis i still suffer from now. It was horrible and i deffinately want the opposite of that this time, i want to be calmer and in control and with meds i can't do that!

|Hopefully willpower will get me through lol x

 

[aliss]

My labour was 3 days and I did take an epi on day 3 but I made it through the first 24 hours which is very long! I don't have any other experience as this was my first but for me, the power of not wanting the meds was the only thing to get me through it. I couldn't keep on by day 3 but I'm proud of the first 2!

 

[kelzyboo]

You should be proud of the first 2 days lol can't believe you went through all that, don't blame you at all for the epi on day 3 in fact its only just occured to me how long it could actually take lol i guess i thought it would be hours not days, i can cope with hours but induction can take days and i never even thought of that (i'm so dumb lol)

Just hope its quick for me because 2 days of agony i think i would crack and ask for something, you deserve a medal for making it as far as you did! Hope when it comes down to it i can be as strong xx

 

[aliss]

Haha thanks, mine was quite the exception though, don't worry it's very unlikely to happen to you!!! And subsequent babies seem to be faster, here's hoping for you!

 

[Flowermommy]

This is just the thread I was thinking of starting! I've had 3 children previously, all hospital births because of complications with my first but all with no pain relief and no intervention ( that comes after with me unfortunately!). I'm going to be induced 2 weeks before my due date and have been inundated with stories about how it's more painful (gee, thanks for that! ). Now I laboured well last time, despite the pain it was quite a lovely, empowering experience and I really wanted the same this time. I believe I have a high pain threshold but what if it's just not high enough!? The advice given here is helping me believe I can do it

I do hope I'm actually working myself up about something that won't be an issue in the end! X

 

[kelzyboo]

I'm being induced early aswell and the horror stories were my concern too, i had the drip they use to induce labour with my daughter (contractions stopped at 6cm!) and i remember that yes it is more painful but i believe that with the right attitude and an open mind we can do it just fine without pain relief. I'm looking into relaxation techniques at the moment and its really helpful, i think what matters is if we believe we can do it and its what we really want in our minds then we can do it!

 

[nov_mum]

I was induced and had no pain relief. I had prostins though and not pitocin which I hear is worse. I had relatively quick labours - it is a preeclampsia thing to birth quickly. I found moving useful and tens was a life saver

 

[aw1990]

I had the drip after getting stuck at 6cm first time round too and only had gas and air after the drip had been turned up a couple of times
2nd time i was induced from scratch with 2 doses of prostin and only had 2 co-codamols lol tbh though if it hadnt of happened so fast and i actually got moved to the labour suite rather than giving birth in the 6bed induction ward, i would have probs had gas and air as it was intense, but i was only in pain for a couple of hours, and went from 3cm-birth in less than an hour lol
I was terrified of being induced after hearing a lot of horror stories but i have had 2 very positive experiences x

 

[Bumpontherun]

I wasn't induced but after 3 days my contractions just stopped, I was 10cm and everything! Anyway - I got the drip (I think it was syntocin) and pushed for 2 hours without any pain relief. (I'd had morphine 9 hrs before but think it was all gone by the time I got the hormones). It definitely was more painful but I didn't want any more pain relief and I got through it with support from my husband and knowing I was nearly there.

Like you I'm determined to do it au-natural this time (I'm open to gas and air and paracetamol but that's it) whatever happens. I think it is possible, I'm going to give hypnobirthing a go and in the end I think it's mainly about self belief Hopefully neither of us will be induced but if I am I'm not going to let that be a reason not to have the birth I want.

 

[kelliemssw]

I was induced by pictoin because I had low amniotic fluid (3). They started the drip at 2pm and my water did not break until 7am the next day. What I did was walk walk walk. They had wireless monitors which was awesome. The pictoin was not bad at all. I heard horror stories about it but I would do it again. After the water broke I kept on my feet and swayed the whole time. I did it! I believed in myself, my husband believed in me, and the nurses were amazing.