How good is nitrous oxide?

[PaulaR]

There is one hospital in my area that has nitrous oxide. I have severe allergy to medical tape and realy don’t want to have an epidural taped to my back again due to the allergy.
I will have to switch doctors and hospital that I used last two babies. Is nitrous oxide realy much better than nothing? Is it worth it. I’m hoping so bc I don’t know if I could handle a drug free birth knowing how great and epidural feels

 

[ClairAye]

For me it helped me breathe through contractions and then I felt drunk after the contraction passed. I did use it on/off for 15 hours with my first and for less than an hour with my second but got no actual pain relief.

 

[lau86]

I had all 3 of my babies with just gas and air. It doesn't kill the pain but it helps you not to care. I love it, but I've never had the chance of an epidural or anything stronger so I can't compare really

 

[jessmke]

I tried it with my first and it did nothing for me. I didn't bother with it when I had my second.

 

[PaulaR]

I tried it with my first and it did nothing for me. I didn't bother with it when I had my second.

So you just used nothing?? How do people do this!!

 

[Reiko_ctu]

So I used it with my first, and it doesn't help with the pain. But it gives you something to focus on. If you have something to focus on already then maybe you don't need it. With my second I didn't use anything but when I got my stitches afterwards I used it. I've never used drugs but I asked my midwife if that's what feeling high feels like, and she said yes haha. I'm having a homebirth this time and I hope they bring the NO with them XP

 

[Zephram]

I used it with both of my births before I caved and got an epidural. I found it did nothing for the pain, rather it made me feel dizzy and ‘out of it’. If anything I found it a distraction having to breathe through the nozzle and actually quite hard work taking enough in every contraction that it had any effect on me at all. I seriously don’t know how people push on gas and air as I found pushing to take so much concentration during my VBAC, so beats me how people manage to do gas and air at the same time.

 

[MindUtopia]

If you would prefer a natural birth, I would do what you can to make sure you have as many options available to you as possible. It does help calm you, though some ladies feel sick using it. I had it available with my first birth, but didn't use it (actually never really thought about it in the moment and I'd asked the midwives not to offer it unless I asked). I found other approaches were much more effective for me and I didn't need it. But if you don't want an epidural then I would want to have some other option in case you need it. Btw, it's good to see some U.S. hospitals are starting to get it. It's been a long time coming.

 

[becsboo]

you have to use it correct for it to fully work it can take all the pain away but you have to continuously breath it in and out with no break i didnt take it out of my mouth and it worked great

 

[jessmke]

I tried it with my first and it did nothing for me. I didn't bother with it when I had my second.

So you just used nothing?? How do people do this!!

Yeah I had nothing for my second labour. Honestly it wasn't that bad, especially because it was fairly quick (4.5 hrs).

 

[jessmke]

you have to use it correct for it to fully work it can take all the pain away but you have to continuously breath it in and out with no break i didnt take it out of my mouth and it worked great

That's exactly what I did and I didn't get any relief at all from it. I used up an entire tank without taking it out of my mouth.

 

[becsboo]

you have to use it correct for it to fully work it can take all the pain away but you have to continuously breath it in and out with no break i didnt take it out of my mouth and it worked great

That's exactly what I did and I didn't get any relief at all from it. I used up an entire tank without taking it out of my mouth.

Oh no

 

[itsnowmyturn]

I tried gas and air with my first for a few contractions and didn't like the way it made me feel so just did it without (and as it was paramedics delivering her I didn't get anything else) and I decided not to plan for any pain relief for my second (obviously knowing I could change my mind if I needed to) but turns out I wouldn't have had time for anything other than gas and air with the second so I did it with nothing again. I can honestly say I don't think things are too bad with nothing if u just take it one contraction at a time. Both times I realised that the time I wanted pain relief was actually just before I started pushing, when your pushing if u focus in the push rather than the contraction and pain u barely feel the contraction (half the time I didn't actually no whether my contraction had gone off or not).
Plan for no pain relief with it in mind u can change your plan if u need to.

Can't they use something other than medical tape? I'm sure there are other things available to hold it in place?

 

[PaulaR]

I tried gas and air with my first for a few contractions and didn't like the way it made me feel so just did it without (and as it was paramedics delivering her I didn't get anything else) and I decided not to plan for any pain relief for my second (obviously knowing I could change my mind if I needed to) but turns out I wouldn't have had time for anything other than gas and air with the second so I did it with nothing again. I can honestly say I don't think things are too bad with nothing if u just take it one contraction at a time. Both times I realised that the time I wanted pain relief was actually just before I started pushing, when your pushing if u focus in the push rather than the contraction and pain u barely feel the contraction (half the time I didn't actually no whether my contraction had gone off or not).
Plan for no pain relief with it in mind u can change your plan if u need to.

Can't they use something other than medical tape? I'm sure there are other things available to hold it in place?

I haven’t gotten it diagnosed but I am pretty sure I am allergic to rosin which is what is in anything sticky. When I asked last time they said the bandage must adhere well bc it’s protecting a needle in your spine. To be honest I don’t think the hospital cares. The second time it happened I begged the dermatologists (yes made him come back with his boss) twice for steroids and they refused...guess who had to run to the dr after being discharged for steroids again!

 

[itsnowmyturn]

I guess they wouldn't want to mess with needles in the spine but it amazes me that there isn't anything out there that can do the job.

Have u looked into other pain relief, I guess the sticky pads of tens machines would have the stuff your allergic to as Well? What about other types of injectable pain relief?

I can honestly say if by some ungodly reason I decided to have another I wouldn't intend to have any pain relief again, have u thought of natal hypnotherapy? I used a CD in the run up to labour of both of mine, I'm not sure how much it played a part in my labour and I didn't really think much about it in my labours but it certainly helped me fall asleep while I was pregnant so can't complain at that lol

 

[Reiko_ctu]

Oh yeah maybe try hypnobabies!

 

[Missbb2591]

I’d had varying success with it. With my first I hated it, it made me feel sick so I ended up using the mouth piece to bite on with my second I found it really helpful to a point, once I was in transition it made absolutely no difference. It took the edge off before then and made me feel very drunk between contractions and almost giddy, I’d just lay there giggling. With my third I didn’t use it because she was born very quickly at home. This time round I will use it if I feel like I need it and see if I find it helpful or not, it’s worth a try and for me I wouldn’t want diamorphine or pethidine which tends to be the other options before epidural here.

 

[Bevziibubble]

It didn't do much in the way of pain relief but it did help to distract from the pain to some degree. I found it made my hands seize up though because it gave me such bad pins and needles I couldn't even let go of the thing I was holding! It also gave me a really dry mouth and made me feel sick.

 

[Sweetkat]

That's all I had with DD and it worked for me. Was a quick natural labour - 4!hours. I was 7cm dilated when I got to hospital and I had nitrous oxide straight away

 

[Sweetkat]

Also, the midwife kept saying only use it for contractions and kept trying to take it away and I was almost wrestling her for the tube lol