Labour and birth when suffering with chronic pain.

[Twinmum87]

Kind of looking ahead here but it's worring me!

I have several health issues which mean I am usually on a lot of medications and even when on them I am in constant pain. Come off all but one to TTC and even that one has been reduced so the pain is horrendus. By the time I get pregnant and give birth I am worried how things will go because of my already chronic and debilitating pain. I really don't wat an epidural because 1 I want to stay mobile (with twins in asnt alowed to get up at all) and 2 the last thing I need is for it to make my back even worse as so many people end up with a bad back for life after.

I am also very worried about tearing. The thought of being ripped apart whilst feeling everything is terrifying. My first labour was progressing very fast until, even after being put on medication to try and stop the labour, it didn't work but it slowed it down. Without that medication I think the labour would have been very very quick and I am scared that delivering so fast makes it more likely for you to tear.

I had an emergency section with my twins after 7 HR of labour and reaching 8cm and 6.5 HR of that labour i was on magnesium drip. After 2 contractions i was 4cm. First 2 contractions were 35 mins appart, next was 4mins later and then the next was 2 mins later. I was contracting that 4th time as they out me on the drip, my contractions were lasting 2 mins and were 2 mins apart, was already reading off the top of the scale on the toc monitor from as soon as they hooked me up just before the 3rd contracton. There was nearly a dip on the tracing inbetween the contractions as the next one hit just as the pervious was only just starting to tail off so it was a really intence labour. I had a tiny bit of gas and air between being 4-6 cm then spinal for the section.

 

[MindUtopia]

My assumption would be that if you're already used to coping with chronic pain that you probably have more tools than you realise already to manage discomfort. The pain of birth isn't really like other pain. I've had two knee surgeries and had pneumonia for several months. The pain of both of those was excruciating. Birth really wasn't anything like that. It's discomfort for a minute here and there, but it's not constant like with my knees or every single time I took a breathe, day and night, for several months like with the pneumonia. And it's over relatively quickly. I'd really recommend doing some sort of hypnotherapy practice to prepare. It will help you get a handle on some of your worries and give you some really good tools for coping. Actually, I've used it for when I had a tooth filled and when I fly (scared of flying), not just for birth, so you might find it helps with your chronic pain as well. I did natal hypnotherapy and had a fairly pain-free birth. There was some discomfort and it was intense and tiring, but it wasn't really that 'painful' as in the kind of pain when I hurt my knee. It was really manageable and I felt really relaxed. The only other pain relief I needed was a TENS machine. I also had a 2nd degree tear and honestly it's so not a big deal. I didn't feel it. Crowning does feel burny and my husband said I said 'ouch!' (one of the only things I really said during a contraction actually), but I didn't hurt like the way you'd expect it to hurt. I didn't even know that I had a tear until the midwives mentioned it. Getting the stitches put in hurt like hell, even with a lidocaine jab to numb it, but that was really the only thing about a tear that hurt, other than just sitting down for a week or two after. Honestly though, it wasn't a big deal and though I was anxious about tearing the first time, I wouldn't be nervous about it next time around. So try not to worry! I know easier said than done.

 

[Eleanor ace]

I agree with MindUtopia, when you are used to living with pain labour doesn't feel so bad. I suffer with chronic pain due to a medical condition. Labour was fine really. With my first I did damage my back a bit and I dislocated my hip but it was OK and didn't really affect labour. I was on my back from 7cm for monitoring and it was significantly more painful than being able to stand or kneel, so I would recommend staying as mobile as possible. Do you see a physio for your condition? They will be able to give you tips on labouring in the best positions for your body if not your specialist should be able to advise. With my 2nd I had a water birth and the water really helped my joints and helped with the pain and it can also help reduce the likelihood of tearing. I tore quite badly with my 1st and honestly it wasn't a big deal. The stretching kind of numbs the area so although of course you feel pain it doesn't feel like you'd imagine tearing would. I didn't know I'd torn, it wasn't really any sorer when I tore than when I was pushing pre-tearing. Most people say the same.

 

[Twinmum87]

I would love a more mobile labour. Having a complicated high risk multiple pregnancy last time I wasn't alowed to move and had to stay lay on my back to help keep all the monitors connected. I was seeing several different physios over the years but they never help. I struggle getting what I need because I can get one type of physio privately and a different type of physio on the nhs, nhs won't provide the other type and won't work along side a private phsyio. Each type on its own isn't helping i need both concurrently by getting that thru to their heads is impossible. Nhs are so anti anything they don't provide :/ can't afford to pay for two separate private Physios. The hypno birthing looks really good. Doing research to see what's best to order book/dvd/cd wise as its £200-£400 for a little course of it depending on where you live :/

 

[Eleanor ace]

Hopefully your next labour will be lower risk and you'll have more options movement wise . My 2nd was much freer despite being classed as high risk, and it really did help. What sort of physio's do you see? I would keep pushing, perhaps put your case to your specialist and explain that the treatment so far just isn't working. I am lucky as I've always had good experiences of my team working together, but there have been times when I've needed to push for one particular treatment plan and it is a pain .

 

[Twinmum87]

I have seen the typical physios that give you streatches and excercises on the nhs then also privately a physio who was not quite as extreme as a chairopractor in manipulation but very hands on. Like rather than cracking and snapping bones back into place is was all about gradually easing a vertebre back into place using pressure whilst gently using the tightened muscles that were pulling it out of place. The stretches and excersizes alone never helped even one bit, the manipulation gave temporary reliefe but as the muscles were so tight it would pull the vertebres and rib back out of place again so I feel i really need both in conjunction with each other, get the bones into place then do the e streaches and exercises to have a chance at actualky working on the worst of the muscles and eventually the muscles will loosen up enough to then stop pulling the bones back out of place. I also have hypermobility which causes a lot of joint pain, it affects my spine quite badly and a torn knee cap with damage to supporting tissues. Not bad enough to require surgery but bad enough to cause problems.

I am feeling a lot more positive since reading up on hypnobirthing. At a loss of what to purchase tho as there are so many products out there! Been trying to find a good free download to have a little listen to before I decide what book/dvd/cd to order. OH is very onboard with the hypnobirthing idea as he really wants to be involved as much as possible in supporting me

 

[Eleanor ace]

I see an NHS physio and he does manipulations, updates my exercises (to make sure I'm doing them right and not being lazy ) and also does ultrasound therapy (you may have had this already but if not I would really recommend it). It sounds like you've had a bit of a rubbish experience with your NHS physio's, stretches alone aren't going to do much! I feel you with the joint issues, I'm hyper mobile too and my body is a hot mess from all the dislocations and associated soft tissue/ligament/muscle damage that go along with them. The good news is that a torn vagina hurts less than a torn ligament .
Have you looked to see if there are any hypnobirthing classes near you? They could be useful, I know a few people who have used hypnobirthing and the ones who went to a class or group seemed to really find them useful.

 

[Twinmum87]

Oh at the chronic pain clinic at the hospital they told me that the nhs don't offer Any form of physical manipulation therapy! I just can't jusitfy forking out £200 for the sessions. I have been reading a lot of people managed to get by with the book and cd's so think i will try and see how i go.

I have had ultrasound therapy on my elbows before. My shoulders are wrecked from dislocations, half the time in the evenings i have to prop my arms up on things and can just sit with them by my side as they just slip out, they slip out when carrying things too it's really annoying. my right knee slips out often and that one is much more painful. Ankles are done in from so many strained/torn ligaments, my fingers ache all the time and wrists get these weird sharp pains and lock up for a while .... Is there any part of me that does work? Lol not a pleasant thing to live with is it?

 

[Eleanor ace]

Where abouts do you live? I'm in the South West (Exeter) and I've ad manipulations here with various physio's since I was 17, and in Wales when I lived there, no one ever mentioned it not being an option! In fact before I could qualify for surgery it had to be shown that manipulations and physical reductions weren't making a difference. But I know different areas have hospitals have different rules for stuff.
What condition do you have? It sounds similar to mine (I have Ehlers Danlos type 3). It's definitely not pleasant, I have days where I get a bit down about it thinking about how poop my body is and wondering why none of my body works- although I have very strong thumbs and they don't dislocate so that cheers me up .
I've read lots of great birth stories from ladies who used CD's for hypnobirthing and found them really great . Maybe you could search through the birth stories section for birth stories with hypnobirthing in the title and see if they say which CD's they used?

 

[Twinmum87]

I have never been diagnosed with anything specific, they are so reluctant to look into anything it's unreal! Their answer to everything is physio! I am in manchester. Will be changing doctors soon and will be under a different hopsital district so hoping they have a chronic pain department too and I can get refered there instead and see a different consultant. I have a curve in my spine, several displaced vertabre, tightness in all my muscles thru neck back and shoulders, problems with my right calf muscle and all the supportive structures of my right knee plus the small tear in the right knee cap. The second metatarsal on my right foot is perminantly dislocated, pelvis is slightly twisted, the hypermobility, asthma and migraines. Oh and I had an excruciating pain for 4 years and struggled to breath sometimes and dictors and physios ignored me, when i went to see the private physio and he noticed right away one of my ribs was comoletely out of place! He managed to force it back in but because the vertabre at the side of it is displaced it eventually gets pushed back out again but I know how to pop it back in myself so it's not nearly as painful now as when it was constantly out of place. They have comoletely refused to so any MRI or x-Ray on my back :/ my mums has only just had hers MRi after 10 years of constantly back and forth from the doctors and is being passed from pillar to post to every consultant going each of them telling her a completely different diagnosis to the problems she has! So I am not holding out much hope.

 

[Eleanor ace]

You poor thing, that is a lot to deal with without proper support from your doctors! I got lucky, my condition often takes a lot of pushing before a diagnosis is made and gets written off as other things but I happened to see a specialist in my area just as a fluke (at this point they thought I had hypermobility and I didn't think to question it). I know other people from pain clinic who didn't get a diagnosis for years and had to fight to get genetic counselling despite that being the only way to confirm a suspected diagnosis. Hopefully the new hospital will be more willing to look into it properly. I can't believe you had excruciating pain for 4 years, that's crazy, what if you'd had a lung condition! I won't ever complain about my treatment again!