Pain relief during labour

[JacTan]

Hi Mummies,

Would like some advice on the different type of pain relief provided during labour.

Is epidural recommended? Would taking epidural have any side effects on both mummy and baby?

Thanks a lot in advance for sharing

 

[engel]

Think your gynea should b best at advising you on your options as she would know your threshold better.

But personally, I opted for epidural on the day of labour itself (original plan was drugs free) for my first girl as I found labour pain every 5 mins to be annoying...
Plus ; I got to nap( was too early in the morning)
on the negative side ; could not feel lower body hence would need to depend on midwife/ gynea to know exactly when to push. And feelings to your
legs won't return till couple of hrs later...

Have a birth plan and tell ure gynea... But there's no strict rule that you must stick with it

gotta plan for mine soon to... Haha...

 

[JacTan]

Think your gynea should b best at advising you on your options as she would know your threshold better.

But personally, I opted for epidural on the day of labour itself (original plan was drugs free) for my first girl as I found labour pain every 5 mins to be annoying...
Plus ; I got to nap( was too early in the morning)
on the negative side ; could not feel lower body hence would need to depend on midwife/ gynea to know exactly when to push. And feelings to your
legs won't return till couple of hrs later...

Have a birth plan and tell ure gynea... But there's no strict rule that you must stick with it

gotta plan for mine soon to... Haha...

Thanks for your advice, engel

I am still deciding whether or not to have epidural. I am more concern if the epidural will cross over to the baby. I heard that mums who took epidural are more prone to "spine-aches" when they get older. Not too sure if that is true or not...

Is labour pain really that excruiating? I am a first time mum-to-be and currently reading up this area before the big day!

I read that there are a few more pain relief method such as inhaling the "laughing gas", etc. Any idea if this helps lessen the pain?

Are you due again soon?

 

[paull]

for my first bb i opt for epi cuz really couldn't tahan the pain =) but for my 2nd one, i decided to not take epi cuz have to save money lah..
so i opt for laughing gas first, initially when i read frm forum ppl commented that the gas wld be very smelly, but it seems quite ok to me..imo, the gas doesn't really have any effect on me, just that it help me to tolerate the pain more cuz u have to breath in and out deeply..
but after awhile the pain gt worse, i opt for another injection that injects on ur butt, was told by the nurse that once u inject it u'll be in labour within an hour..
and true enough, after awhile i feel the urge to push and bb was out in less than an hour! but it was really really very painful =)

 

[JacTan]

for my first bb i opt for epi cuz really couldn't tahan the pain =) but for my 2nd one, i decided to not take epi cuz have to save money lah..
so i opt for laughing gas first, initially when i read frm forum ppl commented that the gas wld be very smelly, but it seems quite ok to me..imo, the gas doesn't really have any effect on me, just that it help me to tolerate the pain more cuz u have to breath in and out deeply..
but after awhile the pain gt worse, i opt for another injection that injects on ur butt, was told by the nurse that once u inject it u'll be in labour within an hour..
and true enough, after awhile i feel the urge to push and bb was out in less than an hour! but it was really really very painful =)

Thanks for sharing

Seems like labour pain is really what i heard describing on the tv documentaries - feels like being stab in the adomen

Hmm.. maybe i will consider having the injection in the butt since it will shorten the labour process. Better to get done and over with

 

[August]

u can actually search the net with regards to the pros and cons of epidural. i'm due in august, and have decided to go drug free, thats of course if i can handle the pain~! haha, i dun mind fainting countless times from the pain, and being slapped awake for just 1 day rather thn suffering for a longer period of time after the birth.

of course if the gynae steps in and strongly encourage me to take epidural for some reason, thn i may consider again. after all, we always want to best for the baby and ourselves isnt it.

human are born to give birth, no such thing as pain thn cannot give birth rite? jus endure for a day, after all, women's endurance lvl for pain far exceeds that of a men's. haha.

 

[engel]

@JacTan

haha... Yeah... Due again in Aug....
Appears my 2nd Bb is gonna b bigger than my first and my back hurts mad by end of each day ....

 

[dujuanrosa]

Thanks for sharing

Seems like labour pain is really what i heard describing on the tv documentaries - feels like being stab in the adomen

Hmm.. maybe i will consider having the injection in the butt since it will shorten the labour process. Better to get done and over with

think the jab is pethidine. if given too close to delivery, the drug may get to the baby and the baby will be drowsy/groggy and might affect the Apgar score.

laughing gas - i tried with the first baby. really can't say if it works but the pain was more intense because my water bag was artificially ruptured to induce labour, and that would supposedly make the pain more palpable. but contractions were fast and furious and baby was out in under 1.5hours after water bag was broken and no oxytocin administered

read up on visualisation techniques if you dont't want to go the end of hypnobirthing. i was not too comfortable with hypnobirthing, but visualisation techniques sounded reasonably easy. i was virtually pain free and very relaxed all through labour for the 2nd baby, and it was quite fast too. both doc and midwives (there were 4 of them around cos baby was premature) were amazed how comfortable i was - i was still smiling at 10cm diluted and i made sure hubby took a photo of that smile! haha! i was 6 cm by the time i was in hospital and it was another 2 hours and the baby was out. in fact, i was so comfortable my doc asked if i wanted to try pushing and i was like, no... i rather allowed the body to do the job to push the baby out. and one final contraction did the job - the water bag broke as the baby came out and the midwife had to turn me to the side and told me to wait as my doc pulled on her gloves! haha!

labour can be a very enjoyable and memorable process - i won't want to rush it and get it over and done with so quickly! it was, for me, also an opportunity for me to communicate with the baby as i await his/her arrival