My first was 100% natural. It hurt but i was quiet and calm through the whole thing.My second was 10 times worse, so I had gas and pethedine, and it was still worse than the natural one. They shut the labour ward doors becauseIi was screaming so loud! I could not believe the difference in pain between the two. If I have another baby, I wont decide if I use drugs until I am going through it. I tried to go natural with the second, then just thought, why? Nobody is going to give me a medal, I am suffering, bring on the drugs. So overall, I think it really depends on each persons situation.
First time I used gas and air and pethidine (not by choice, there was no epidural available).
The gas was just a joke, did nothing for the pain and above all made me vomit and too completely exhausted to push. it also made me delirious.
The pethidine just made me dizzy and had no effect on the pain. if you have a long labour like I did, then these methods are crap.
Second time I went without anything for about 20 hours and an epidural became available by chance since the anaesthesist came in to do a c section for someone and I begged for it. the epidural was absolutely fantastic, it completely takes the pain away. after 2 hours they wouldn’t top it up so i went back to natural for the last 2 hours. in the end the birth was so much better, i bonded and recovered much faster.
Having twins this time and am really hoping that an epidural will be available. otherwise ill go cold turkey.
Desert Rock
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i’ve had 4 children,my last one 18 months ago was natural,there actually was’nt time for any meds,in labour 85 mins from start to finish,my other 3,i had gas and air and pethidine,at the time i thought it was the bee’s knee’s but after going through it without any,i would recommend it to anyone.but you must have a strong pain threshhold to do this,esecially towards the end.
definatly natural next time.
i had one with just gas i wouldn’t recomend it unless you like pain 12hour labour other 2 with pethadine that helped a bit i havent had and epidural not by choice because our hospital doesnt have anyone qualified to give it everyone is different try it natural if you want but make sure they have the pain meds in hand if you change your mind
i had 3 kids in 3 yrs. i had staydol with my oldest and went without with my other 2. was in labor 4 hrs. with oldest, 1 hr. with now 4 yr old and 6 1/2 hrs with youngest. did have long labors so didn’t have really time 2 think about it.
I’ve only had one labour and I had just gas and air, I was offered pethidine and the epidural but I refused. Sure it was painful as hell but I did not want to be out of it on pethidine at the precious moment my son came into the world. I wanted to be able to remember that forever. The epidural just seemed wrong to me, mad as it sounds I wanted to feel my baby coming out.
I’ve had three children three different ways.
1. Emergency C-section
2. V-Bac. I was induced, given meds for the pain that didn’t help and finally an epidural.
3. Natural, no drugs. I felt more pain this way, but it was tolerable. I also felt more in control. Recovery time was shorter.
If I were to have another child, I would go natural again if I could.