Do you feel like a 'cheat' if you have pain relief?

[Hunnie]

Nope! I felt I was uncomfortable and may as well make the most of my hospital visit and make it a bit more enjoyable and comfortable I feel more of a chest that I ended up with a section!

 

[Butterflykisses]

No way should anyone feel like a cheat for having pain relief when giving birth. On my birth plan I had written that I wanted any pain relief going. A baby has to come out of places that appear much smaller than the size of the baby and as my sister who is an Anaesthetists's nurse always says "pain relief was invented for a reason!!".

Congratulations to you and your wife on the birth of your wee one. Enjoy every precious minute

 

[katie_lou]

I had 1 shot of diamorphine after 17hrs of being in pain and used gas and air for a few hours too. I absolutely don't feel like a cheat - I brought my baby into the world, how I did it or what I used to make that happen makes no difference - I did it!
If I felt I couldn't cope, I'd have asked for an epidural and wouldn't have felt 1 bit bad about it.
As some of the others have said, its incredibly painful, why should any1 feel like a cheat for wanting to ease pain?! x

Tapatalking from my blackberry!

What was diamorphine like? Im thinking of giving that a go this time x

It's brilliant , it made me feel sleepy at first so I managed to get done sleep before it all kicked off , it really helped with the pain as well xxx

 

[katie_lou]

I don't want pain relief coz I will feel I've been a wimp if I do, I hope just for a water birth or tens machine with gas and air if I can, but I'd I absolutely can't stand it I will ask for something but u just don't want to feel off my face or too tired to do it xx

Having pain relief doesn't make u a wimp hun xxxx

 

[Sunbeam638]

I will take what they offer and which ever way LO comes out I'll still feel like a hero!!!

 

[Samsgirl]

I will take what they offer and which ever way LO comes out I'll still feel like a hero!!!

and so you should cos it's bloody hard work!!! lol...you will be fine though. As horrendous as my experience was.....I will do it again.....xx

 

[NatEvz]

I don't want pain relief coz I will feel I've been a wimp if I do, I hope just for a water birth or tens machine with gas and air if I can, but I'd I absolutely can't stand it I will ask for something but u just don't want to feel off my face or too tired to do it xx

Honestly hun even before the diamorphine i was exhausted xxx

My piece of shit galaxy ace

 

[tinytoes]

I needed in when I had my first child it relaxed me which relaxed her and enable me to have her without c section. There is no shame in needing pain relief

 

[FirstBabyEek]

I also had a back to back labour. I got to 10cms with gas and air and breathing techniques with little worry about the pain. Then baby rotated himself 2 mins before I started to push and tried to come down face first.

The pain was sooo unbearable I thought I was going to quite literally loose my mind - I too would have happily shot myself. So I had to literally beg for an epidural at 10cm and I'm so pleased I got it because I ended up in theatre needing ventouse, foreceps and an episiotomy, only just missing the need for a c section.

The point is, the situation can change from being fine and manageable to an emergency in a matter of minutes and therefore you need to be in control of yourself to be able to do the right thing at the right time, pain relief for me was the only thing that allowed me to do that and avoid a more difficult out come.

 

[monkeynut]

With my first I had gas and air, pethedine and an epidural, I think I mainly had these as I couldn't walk or move about to ease contractions (had to lay on my left side as LO heart rate kept dropping.

I don't feel like a wimp for it, but this time round I am hoping to have a home birth, I remember the pethedine made me very drowsy and what I wanted was ignored because of this so I'm going for as little intervention/pain relief as possible this time, not because I'm brave but because I want things to go how I want.

 

[redbear]

i had gas and air and didn't feel any pain at all but i was only in labour an hour or something so wasn't time for anything else anyway even if gas and air hadn't worked for me. i do feel very proud just because i didn't want the epidural and the doctor said i whould need it because i wouldn't cope with the pain :s i don't think anyone is a cheat everyones labour is different and some are more painful than others. people have been amazed i had my 8lb 15oz on gas and air but because they automatically assued i had an epidural xx

 

[Lolly85x]

I had 1 shot of diamorphine after 17hrs of being in pain and used gas and air for a few hours too. I absolutely don't feel like a cheat - I brought my baby into the world, how I did it or what I used to make that happen makes no difference - I did it!
If I felt I couldn't cope, I'd have asked for an epidural and wouldn't have felt 1 bit bad about it.
As some of the others have said, its incredibly painful, why should any1 feel like a cheat for wanting to ease pain?! x

Tapatalking from my blackberry!

What was diamorphine like? Im thinking of giving that a go this time x

I had the morphine injection, after it being the only thing I said I didn't want...!! But I'm a wimp! Haha! I thought it was great, had I been later in my labour I wouldn't have taken it.

I don't feel like a cheat having pain relief. I had gas and air, morphine injection and an epidural. And if I had to do it again I would love to have the exact same labour.xxx

 

[BunnyN]

My mum was a hippy in the 70's when my brother was born, she didn't want pain relief but was pressured by midwives during a complicated labour and ended up all doped up but still in pain. The medication made her feel sleepy and ill for days after. She said for a long time after she felt like she had 'failed' at child birth, both for taking meds and some silly hippy notion that you should be able to 'overcome' the pain.

She had a home birth with me and says it was a much better experience, not only because of being at home, she also had less set ideas about how things 'should' be.

Despite planning a home birth for my sister (born 14 years after my brother) she ended up in hospital and had a long labour. She refused pain medications which made the midwife quite angry. She felt she had made the right choice, for her, because she felt 100x better and more alert than after the birth of my brother and went home the same day. She says that birth was far from her 'perfect' plan but she but she already knew things don't always go to plan and was able to accept it much better and didn't have feelings of guilt.

Now she always gives pregnant friends a pep talk: It's good to have a 'birth plan' but births rarely go to plan, be ready to adapt and don't feel guilty if things go differently, it isn't important as long as the baby 'comes out' healthy in the end. No two women will have the same experience and no two births are the same. Taking pain medication is a personal choice and no one should feel pressure to take it or not to take it, there is no 'right' and 'wrong' just personal choice and circumstances, stand up for what you want and be ready for what you want to change, there is nothing wrong with that.

 

[prettypenguin]

My mum was a hippy in the 70's when my brother was born, she didn't want pain relief but was pressured by midwives during a complicated labour and ended up all doped up but still in pain. The medication made her feel sleepy and ill for days after. She said for a long time after she felt like she had 'failed' at child birth, both for taking meds and some silly hippy notion that you should be able to 'overcome' the pain.

She had a home birth with me and says it was a much better experience, not only because of being at home, she also had less set ideas about how things 'should' be.

Despite planning a home birth for my sister (born 14 years after my brother) she ended up in hospital and had a long labour. She refused pain medications which made the midwife quite angry. She felt she had made the right choice, for her, because she felt 100x better and more alert than after the birth of my brother and went home the same day. She says that birth was far from her 'perfect' plan but she but she already knew things don't always go to plan and was able to accept it much better and didn't have feelings of guilt.

Now she always gives pregnant friends a pep talk: It's good to have a 'birth plan' but births rarely go to plan, be ready to adapt and don't feel guilty if things go differently, it isn't important as long as the baby 'comes out' healthy in the end. No two women will have the same experience and no two births are the same. Taking pain medication is a personal choice and no one should feel pressure to take it or not to take it, there is no 'right' and 'wrong' just personal choice and circumstances, stand up for what you want and be ready for what you want to change!

why was the midwife angry that she refused pain relief? :s

Sent from my GT-S5830i using Tapatalk 2

 

[BunnyN]

why was the midwife angry that she refused pain relief? :s

I guess she thought she knew better as a professional and my mum was just being awkward. She was already a bit grumpy because my mum wanted a home birth and I thing she took it personally because she was the head midwife (or something like that) in the hospital. I think she was old and didn't have kids herself so she wasn't very empathetic.

My point is that sometimes women get pressure to take medication, sometimes they feel pressure not to. I think you just have to do what feels right for you at the time. If you decide to go for pain relief, whether you planned to before or not, there is nothing to feel bad about.

 

[kanga86]

I was asking for an epi before being taken off for my emergency section, so don't feel as though having pain relief is cheating. I actually feel more cheated for not having given birth naturally. xx

 

[hellywelly]

I felt cheated cause I didn't get my epidural!!! ha ha!! I only had a 4 and a half hour labour and by the time they brought the lady in to do it I was 10cm and it was too late!!! It bloody hurt and had it not been so quick I would certainly have an epi. Personally I didn't want morphine or similar as I was worried about the crossover to baby, and I was also very upset that gas and air actually didn't work for me - I was chuffing away on it and it made no difference to the pain - I actually screamed at my husband at one point that they'd forgotten to plug the damn thing in and it was all air and no gas!! At the end of the day, however baby arrives, you have done a damn good job looking after it for 9 months in your tum already and you should be allowed any pain relief you like!!

 

[Samsgirl]

I told hubby my gas and air was just air too. Lol.

 

[redbear]

its 30% laughing gas they should give us 90% lol xx

 

[Mrs N]

Well I had a dreadful labour that lasted 48 hours and the midwife told me I would need an epidural and I was indignant that I didnt want one but after about 30 mins on the hormone drip I was crying for one!! TBH I think someone is silly to battle on if it is hurting them rather than taking away the pain!! (obv not talking about the ones who cud cope with the pain!!)
xxxx