can pain relief delay labour?

[Mrs P]

Hello,
I recently went to a friend of me and my husbands who has had 3 kids. She said pain relief can delay the labour up to 8 hours, can anyone relate to this??

Amy

 

[budge]

i think maybe epidural can do.

Pain releif goes against labour doesn't it. apart from gas and air that is.

Epidurals and pethadine numb pain. But pain and feeling are what make a labour go quicker and naturally.

Im sorry i am not explining myself very well. It late and im crossed eyed.

Ill try again tomorrow

 

[weestar21]

ive never heard of that hun
sorry i cant help
but what i will say is baby will come when it wants to come unless you have a c-section it will all be over in minutes

good luck hun
xxxxxxxxx

 

[Mrs P]

I think she meant the gas and air, i dont really want an epidural coz i want to be in control of my body and im worried about the risks to bubbas breathing if i have pethadine

I dont think id be able to cope without anything, im hoping the gas and air will help me through

 

[nathanmum]

i dont know about slowing it down. some people i have spoken to have said that the pethidine kind of relaxed them and made them progress a lot quicker ie had it at 4 cm then hour after having pethidine they were more relaxed and 9cm??!! dont quote me though this is word of mouth. with the epidural theres less sensation when pushing and so i suppose the second stage could be delayed? not totally sure

 

[weestar21]

i only had gas and air with adele and with colby i was induced had gas and air and diamorphine (sp) i did feel slightly more relaxed but the whole nite and day after Colby wouldnt feed properly (i lied to the MV's so i could get home but once we were home she was fine, think the diamorphine effected her more than it did me

 

[sarah113]

i had gas and air with my oldest and my labour was 10 hours from when i first got a few twinges till when i had her
i had no pain releif with my second daughter and i was in labour for 7 hours from first pain till she was born
with my son i had gas and air and i was in labour with him for just over 2 hours from first pain till he was born.
so i deffo dont thing gas and air slows it down!!

 

[kellie80]

I had an epidural with my first and it slowed the contractions right down and i had to go on a drip. I had gas and air and pethadine with my second and that went quite quick.

 

[Jaidy]

Gas and air looks like a pretty good option then.

I can see where Budge is coming from, I think what she means it labour is a natural progress and feeling the pain is your body's way of telling you how you are doing, how long you have to go, when to push etc and because some drugs interfere with this it can slow you down.

 

[Rosebay]

Yeah, with Gas and Air you still feel the pain but you don't care as much about it if you know what I mean? So it means that you are still very keen to keep going and get the baby out asap whereas they told us that with an epidural not only do you lose some of the incentive to get it over with (the immediate pain) but it's also more difficult to feel when to push etc.

Hope that helps but don't forget there are no prizes for not having pain relief if you need it. I was all up for an epidural even though our MWs did a major job trying to put us off but when it came to it the gas and air was much better than I thought, he was in a good position (my mum had an epi with me as I was back to back) and I felt in control enough not to have an epidural. Just keep an open mind I think is the best option.

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