Im Terrified...

[KayteeB]

hey ladies

i went into hospital yesterday with "early labour" and they discovered i was
2cm dilated and "begining to thin" which was promising. Just as i was about to be unhooked from the CTG i had the most IMMENSE pain ive ever felt in my life in my stomach at the bottom right hand side, it took my breath away. I had tears in my eyes, i was shaking and i felt like i couldnt breath it was that bad. The contraction monitor went from 10% to 30% which makes me think the pain was a contraction but it lasted for about a minuet (the pain did) and therefore mum doesnt think it was a contraction.

Im terrified that if i couldnt cope with that how on earth am i going to cope in established labour it was so bad i couldnt stop shaking after it had gone. I even heard my mum on the phone to my auntie saying "she just wont be able to cope, she is going to be a nightmare" this has disheartened me so much. I know contractions can go up to 200% so godknows what that will be like!

I cant have an epi due to a massive needle phobia so i was hoping to cope on G&A and a birthing pool.

what am i going to do

 

[spencerspiece]

when the time does come you will cope. your body releases hormones that help you along the way. yes it will be painful so i would say rest in between contractions and think that every one you get through is one close to meeting your baby. once it has been born the pain will be forgotten. i wish you all the luck in the world and come back and share your labour with us xxx

 

[emzky90]

You need all the support and encouragement you can get during labour so make sure you have someone there who keeps reassuring you. Gas and Air was good for me and a shot of pethadine. The water should help you too but if you really cant' cope then the painof having an epi will be a lot easier to take than the pain of a contraction xx

 

[Newt]

When I had my 1st, I learnt that fear has a missive impact on pain and how we cope with it. Basically I was told I was not in labour and left with gas n air and pethedine and told to sleep (that it could be 3 days) I was in agony, crying and screaming, trying so hard to cope and all I kept thinking is god, if this isnt labour I wont be able to do it....
I had a mw ask me if I had always had a low pain threshold and this just made me break down completey.
A student mw checked me then an hour later, and I had gone from fully effaced/closed/retratcted to 4 cm and in active labour in an hour.....they called my hubby to come back in as baby was coming.
D'ya know what? the pain was the same, but because I knew it actually was labour and something was happening, I coped so much better and no more tears.
So please, please, please try to stay calm. Trust in your body it knows what it is doing, tell your mum off for the negativity, it really wont help and will make you feel worse, especially now youre frightened. You need to be told that you can do it and you are doing well, because you can and will. You will cope, try calming music, deep breaths and zone into yourself. And dont feel guilty if you need to have pain relief, this isnt the stone age and if it is there you are allowed to use it you'll be fine

 

[Clareabell]

When the times comes the adrrenilin will kick in and you will find a way to get through it. I used a tens machine and this really helped me in the early stages of labour. Remember to focus your mind on something and if you can relax your body as tensing makes the contractions hurt more and can stunt progression.

I was really anti an epidural but if you do find the pain to much take it, because it does not take long at all to put in, i personally did not think it hurt to put in and within 15 minutes of it being administered I was pain free! It was amazing!!

Good Luck you will be brilliant and keep telling yourself "its only one day of your life" what you get at the end of it makes it all worth while, I would do it all over again tomorrow!

 

[Stargazer77]

Ignore what you hear other people say. I overheard my midwife complaining that I had a low pain threshold. Witch.

You will do marvellously. And if you really can't bear it, that's what pain relief is for.

 

[kmumtobe]

You really should consider pethedine for pain relief in early labour, allows you to chill and relax, build up energy while you need it. It is a jab in the bum, I know how you feel about needles but I honestly barely felt it, nothing like a blood test and you can't see so that helps, ask for gas and air while it's done and you'll never notice. You might even suprise yourself, I said I wanted to stay at home as long as poss, first contractions started and I was begging to be admitted, I was petrified of loosing my dignity.. there I was in theatre legs in stirrups 12 people round and I could of cared less and I always said no needles, well I was instantly swayed on the pethedine and when he got stuck I spent 5 hours begging for an epidural and ended up with a spinal that I never felt, I could of kissed the anaesthetist, infact if i could of moved i would of! My point is you've not experiencd labour before so you just dont know, its like a higher power takes over, you become a stronger person you dont feel like you, i think its survival instinct kicking in. Have faith, dont think you wont cope you just will, cos there's no going back and you have to, it'll hurt but you'll come out the other side with your baby, it's positive pain you know what is happening. You'll survive just like the rest of us have/will and when it's over it's over. Positive thoughts x

 

[darsilver1]

Ignore what you hear other people say. I overheard my midwife complaining that I had a low pain threshold. Witch.

You will do marvellously. And if you really can't bear it, that's what pain relief is for.

OMG you had me laughing when you called your midwife a "witch"...LOL...isnt a midwife support to be supportive and help build your confidence that you can deliver the baby...Even if she believed you had so called "low pain threshold" she should have kept it to herself...LOL...

Kaytee B, you can do it!!! believe in yourself....just tell yourself that the pain will end eventually...I told myself that during labor...it helped me...good luck!!

 

[Kage76]

when mt waters broke- i started to have contractions about every 15 minutes, one of the midwives refered to them as twinges. Well if i could have removed her speen with tweezers through her nostrils I would have. Once i went into active labour i realised that they were indeed twinges. However the body is an amazing thing and it just deals with it. I just kept reminding myself that it knew what it was doing and that millions of women had got through it fine. I did however have to go for the gas and air and eventually an epi when they started to induce me- it seemed the contractions from the pitocin were so much more intense than my natural ones, and to be honest i much preferred the epi to the gas and air as I felt more in control and more like myself than i was stoned on the gas and air. And the great thing is that as soon as its over and I had my baby in my arms I would have done it again 10 times over.

 

[happygal]

as others have said hun, when the time comes your adrenaline will kick in and youll do great! yeah, its going to hurt....but after youve had your baby youll look back and think it wasnt as bad as you expected it to be! i know it sounds cheesey but just remember that even though the contractions might me uncomfortable....each one is getting you closer to meeting you baby! good luck hun, im sure youll do great! xx

 

[MoonLove]

You CAN do it!!!

I was frightened of the idea of not being able to cope, but when it comes to it - you just DO IT!


I was in slow labour and in quite a bit of pain from 2-4cm before they admitted me to hosp. On the night i went in, i'd already developed my own way of coping with each contraction! (Squeeze my eyes with my hand and clench my teeth together whilst singing in my head ) I got to about 7-8cm with just gas and air, i only ended up asking for an epidural after they put me on a drip and artificially broke my waters. I was just tired by that stage, it wasn't because i wasn't able to cope.

Your body just does it, and you are so focused on getting your baby out!

Don't worry and rest assured that you will do it and you will be fantastic Its all SO worth it in the end.

 

[Courtcourt]

You CAN do it!!!

I was frightened of the idea of not being able to cope, but when it comes to it - you just DO IT!


I was in slow labour and in quite a bit of pain from 2-4cm before they admitted me to hosp. On the night i went in, i'd already developed my own way of coping with each contraction! (Squeeze my eyes with my hand and clench my teeth together whilst singing in my head ) I got to about 7-8cm with just gas and air, i only ended up asking for an epidural after they put me on a drip and artificially broke my waters. I was just tired by that stage, it wasn't because i wasn't able to cope.

Your body just does it, and you are so focused on getting your baby out!

Don't worry and rest assured that you will do it and you will be fantastic Its all SO worth it in the end.

Me too! They kept telling me to relax, but to me it felt better to squeeze my eyes shut!

OP-I have a needle phobia too, but the epidural honestly did not hurt one single bit. I got tingly, like a "shock" sensation and that was it! You can do it!

 

[bigbellyashle]

I hate when people are telling to relax when they don`t know what I am dealing with...

 

[lynnikins]

if you can its best to relax through contractions and let your body do what its doing not try to fight it or the pain ( i fought contractions for my whole first labour and it ended up being over 56 hrs total !! as when i just breathed deeply during contractions and stopped myself tensing up my second labour was under 8 hrs ! )
have you thought of using TENS as a pain relief option? no needles and no effect on baby it just interrupts the pain signals going to your brain from the nerves being affected by the contractions i didnt know how much it was helping till i took it off lol it doesnt mess with your bodys natural endorphins which are produced to help you cope with labour either the way that pethidine and epidurals do.

You can totally do it most labours start out like mild period pains and build up from there and every decent contraction is one less before you meet your baby

 

[liz_legend]

Is your mum and/or aunt going to be in the room during the delivery?
(I'd rethink that if I were you)

 

[misskim]

I agree with most of the other posters on here, it will not be as bad as you expect. Do not buy into the culture of fear that surrounds childbirth in this country.I am confident and try not to think about it