SoupDragon
Mum of 1, LTWTT #2
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2014
- Messages
- 431
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I started on gas and air when I got to 4cm, and it seemed to make everything much more intense. I felt dizzy and out of it and I absolutely hated it, though it did help with the pain so I kept using it.
The midwives talked me into pethidine later, and that obviously made me totally out of it. I had two shots of that, and after about 8 hours stuck at 6cm I had an epidural. That took away the pain instantly, pretty much, and though I swore blind I wanted a natural birth, what I got was an obstructed back to back labour with a 10lb baby, so my contractions were achieving pretty much nothing, for all their effort. In the end I had an emcs.
I felt for so so long that I'd failed for not giving birth vaginally like I'd planned to, and for having the epidural I didn't want, but I didn't know I had a giant baby I can't really remember much of my daughter's first few hours because I was so dazed from the pethidine still, and she was sleepy too, and I want to avoid that next time, as next baby will be our last so I'll never get to do it again.
Next time I'll be looking into hypnobirthing/TENS/whatever I need to do so I can stay active and get the (hopefully much smaller) baby out via vbac. I would never judge anyone for having pain relief, and an epidural is not a cop-out...nobody can claim they know what another person's pain is like, and it's not a weakness to feel pain or to want relief from pain.
For me the pain relief options I had just weren't for me and I don't want them again, but hopefully next labour will be more straightforward and I'll be better prepared for the pain and more able to cope through it. That's just what I want to do based on my own experiences though - I'd never tell anyone else they should try and go without if they wanted it!
The midwives talked me into pethidine later, and that obviously made me totally out of it. I had two shots of that, and after about 8 hours stuck at 6cm I had an epidural. That took away the pain instantly, pretty much, and though I swore blind I wanted a natural birth, what I got was an obstructed back to back labour with a 10lb baby, so my contractions were achieving pretty much nothing, for all their effort. In the end I had an emcs.
I felt for so so long that I'd failed for not giving birth vaginally like I'd planned to, and for having the epidural I didn't want, but I didn't know I had a giant baby I can't really remember much of my daughter's first few hours because I was so dazed from the pethidine still, and she was sleepy too, and I want to avoid that next time, as next baby will be our last so I'll never get to do it again.
Next time I'll be looking into hypnobirthing/TENS/whatever I need to do so I can stay active and get the (hopefully much smaller) baby out via vbac. I would never judge anyone for having pain relief, and an epidural is not a cop-out...nobody can claim they know what another person's pain is like, and it's not a weakness to feel pain or to want relief from pain.
For me the pain relief options I had just weren't for me and I don't want them again, but hopefully next labour will be more straightforward and I'll be better prepared for the pain and more able to cope through it. That's just what I want to do based on my own experiences though - I'd never tell anyone else they should try and go without if they wanted it!