Pain Medication During Childbirth

[Kat]

So my doctor told me to start thinking about what type of pain medication (if any) I am considering using during childbirth come August. So many people have told me so many horror stories that I am now completely terrified. Almost no one has shared a positive birthing experience!

I feel a lot of pressure from the women in my church to do it naturally, but I am not sure if that is the right choice for me. I was wondering if any of you ladies might be willing to share what type of pain relief you chose and if you would go that route again?

[Florence]

I had an epidural and it was wonderful!!

[catherine]

I really don't want to seem like one of "those" women--a battle-ax that pops out a kid and goes back to the field. I just want to present the idea that there are ways to go without medication and not suffer greatly. I had Lamaze back in the day (the 70's and 80s) when I had my kids, and it was great. They basically teach you breathing techniques to manage the pain. I never had an epidural, I never had any kind of spinal block, nothing. Well, I did have a little Demerol after 17 hours of labor with my first, but that was it.

I HIGHLY recommend Lamaze-style classes. They are very, very empowering. Some would say, what are you trying to prove? Why not just take the pain medication and be done with it? You're right--there's nothing wrong with pain medication and it certainly doesn't make you less of a mom. But even if you ARE planning to use medication, Lamaze STILL is a very positive adjunctive therapy. It relaxes you and makes you feel in control, at least in my experience.

I'm going to copy and paste a recent post in the "What Makes You Unique" thread to put my experience in context:

--Baby #1: When the doctor and DH went to get their delivery gowns on, I felt an urge to push, and said to myself, "oh, just one push won't hurt." Then I heard my son crying from the bottom of the table--no one was in the room. Boom. Done.
--Baby #2: Put the stew on the stove for my MIL, asked my BIL to drive me to the hospital, had the baby 20 minutes later. Boom. Done.
--Baby #3: Went to hospital at 9am. Doctor told me to wait, he had surgery. As Bob Barker was announcing the Showcase Showdown, the doc barely had his surgical gloves off in time to catch Cameron. Boom. Done by the time Barker was telling us to have our pets spayed and neutered.
--Baby #4: Knew I was in labor, went to the doctor's office. By the time I got to the examining room, it was time to call an ambulance to get me to the hospital. Told the doctor I had the urge to push. Doc said, "So, push." Baby was born in the ambulance, and the driver told me I almost made childbirth look easy.

No matter what you decide, congratulations and best wishes!!!!

[flowerseverywhere]

Epidural for #1, natural for 2 because he was born too fast.

Shame on people for telling you negative stories. Enjoy your pregnancy, the feeling of new life stirring inside you, the wonderful changes that your body is going through to prepare to have a child. This is the most wonderful time in your life, and even if you have a difficult labor, once you see that cute little pink face you will forget everything. If it was so bad no-one would ever have more than one.

don't let other people pressure you to have or not have meds, breast or bottle feed, cloth or diaper among other things. Read as much as you can and make the best decisions for the health and lifestyle of you and your baby.

[Bastelmutti]

Can you wait and see? You won't know your pain level and tolerance until you're actually in the thick of it. I also recommend the book "Birthing from Within" - the exercises in that helped me a lot with #2. The author is pretty up-front about labor being called "labor" for a reason, but still giving you ways to deal with it.

[Kat]

Thanks, everyone! I appreciate the non-judgement here.

I realize that labor will be hard work and that there will be pain involved. But I wish women would stop telling me the horrendous stories about severe tearing, massive blood loss, uterus tears, etc. It just scares me (even though I know that those things aren't the norm). I keep telling myself that it can't be *that* bad or else no one would have more than one kid LOL And plus, I think I'll forget all about it when I see her and get to hold her in my arms.

I am taking some classes in the month of June to help me prepare. I do think the breathing techniques will help, and I want to be ready in case I decide not to use pain medication or the situation doesn't allow time for it. I might wait and see what the pain is like, though one lady told me she waited too long and then couldn't get it. After dealing with the pain of a long labor, she was too exhausted to push and then after four hours of trying they ended up doing a c-section. Yikes! That can't be normal, right?

I think part of the reason I am so anxious about it is because it is my first one, and I don't really know what to expect. I want to have a good experience, but I'm totally freaked out by what people (strangers, even!) have been telling me. Thanks, all, for your responses--I already feel better about it. :-)

P.S. Catherine, I would love to have a "Boom. Done." labor like yours! My SIL has those. Like ten minutes start to finish, and then she is a size six again. Jealous!!! LOL

[Float On]

I was in the 'wait and see' category and ended up not using anything either time. Personally I kind of enjoyed the pain through my breathing - it felt like a journey and I was fully aware of my part in it. But then again - I have a very high pain tolerance and I wouldn't begin to tell someone that they were less or more of a person for however they experience their childbirth. I say do what feels right so that you can enjoy the experience.

As a side: They had new student nurses there the night I was having my first baby. They'd been there 4 days and were looking pretty much like deer in headlights. They kept showing up in my room and hanging out. Finally one of them said "We have to tell you how much we're admiring you, you've given us hope that childbirth can be an o.k. experience - we've spent 4 days with a lot of screamers."

Screaming thru the contractions seems to help some people but I never found anything painful enough to scream at - I do remember once I said "Oh, that one hurt." (please remember again, I have a very high pain tolerance.)

I almost forgot but I found out that I'm allergic to iodine/betadine during #1. I ended up with horrible burns all over my 'downthere and backside'. I think that took longer to heal than the 2 stitches I needed. For #2 they did give me a iodine/betadine tag and everytime someone would come into the room we'd have to remind them.


My 2nd, I was so calm that they almost sent me home. They came to check again and discharge me and I said "Here it comes" and they barely caught him.

[Tenngal]

epidural, as soon as possible.....no need to stress yourself and the baby enduring pain that is so easily relieved.

[mtnlaurel]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...amaygaskina-20

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth gave me very effective techniques to get me through 2 natural childbirths. And an iPod totally cranked up with my favorite tunes. My hubby ended up being more of a DJ vs. birth partner.

I did as much of my labor at home as I could before going to the hospital - I wanted to be able to move around, etc.

Once I was in the thick of it, I realized there was only one way out and that was through it. I just surrendered to the process and rode the wave. It's a challenge, but doable.

I am almost phobic of hospitals and have major trust issues with modern healthcare systems, so that was my motivation to make it the least medical as possible.

[Amaranth]

Most people have a fairly normal experience. It's sort of like driving to work. Your 30 coworkers don't walk into the office every morning and announce that they had a perfectly normal drive to work. It's the occasional odd driving experience they talk about.

You can also be thinking of your choices somewhat like cooking as well. Some like all their food raw. Some like it all cooked. Most like a mix. The more cooking skills you have, the more choices you have.

Similarly with labor management, the more skills you have and the more knowledge you have, the easier it will be to consider your current situation and choose the most workable option. There are also exercises that make your last trimester more comfortable and your labor more productive, so double bonus there. The more you practice the possible options, the more automatically you can implement them during labor. It is hard to think during a contraction-- similar to trying to think while sneezing, but if you have a lot of skills at your finger tips, you can think fast between contractions and choose a strategy.

Also talk with your doctor about what options are available at each stage of labor so you will know where the decision windows are.

Also consider your other experiences with pain management. Some people like a small amount of pain meds to take the edge off and then they do fine. Other people can distract themselves with a *really* good book or movie or favorite music and no pain meds, but if they take a small amount of pain meds they can't focus on the book or movie well enough to distract themselves. So knowing how your own body responds can help you a lot here.

The other thing is that the doctors and nurses want you to have a good birthing experience too. So they will offer tips and strategies as you go along based on what has worked successfully for many other moms in similar situations.