Ladies, did you use pain medication when in labor?
July 19, 2008 10:06 am Back Pain Medication
I had my first child without any pain medication. It was my personal choice and I’d do it again.
So, did you use pain medications when in labor?
If yes, would you do it that way again? Why or why not?
EDIT:
Someone said that it’s plain stupid not to use pain meds….
Well, I didn’t use pain meds for the safety of my son. He was born at 24 wks, 3 days so they needed him to be in the best condition possible. I was in labor for 20 hours…but contractions only lasted about 2 hours. And, it was totally worth it!!! I would have rather endured the pain than have my baby be all drugged up. He needed to be strong and aware when he came out. He’s still in the NICU, but he’s stronger than hell. He’s a fu**ing miracle.
And, I would do it again because it really wasn’t that bad for me. It’s just pain and it’s not like it’s never ending.Then again, I may not have another child, being that there’s a chance of me having another preemie and it’s the most traumatic experience of my life so far. And, I don’t think it makes me any more of a woman than the ones that use pain meds.
Your Opinion Counts
July 19th, 2008 at 11:30 am
1st time yes…i got it to sleep since i had been awake for 2 days. but what a waste, the moment I sat down after they finished giving me the epidural, it was time to push.
2nd time: regrettably yes..I was HURTING! but had I waited 5 more minutes longer, I would’ve had a baby. that epidural delayed me from pushing for an hour.
Next time I’m doing it natural. FOR SURE!
July 21st, 2008 at 8:47 am
yes with #1, no with #2.
I loved my natural birth! Took 1 1/2 hrs and I had one small stitch. I will do it again if we have more kids.
I needed it with #1, he entered the birth canal with his hand up by his face and got stuck, he needed to be delivered with forcepts and I had 13 stitches. ooouchie
July 24th, 2008 at 7:25 am
First two no meds, there was no time. I had my dauhter after 45 minutes in labor, she was 9 lbs. 1 oz. i wish i’d used drugs for her delivery. My oldest son was born in 10 minutes of abor, and i almost had him in the truck on the way to the hospital. I was ready to do my last child without drugs, I mean i’d already done it a couple of times that way. But then they had to induce me with my son ans it was taking so long with the induction that the third time they asked me about the epidural i caved and had it done. And, honestly i’m glad I did, because all the fluid got caught behind him and he was a dry birth.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I did use medication when I was in labor, I was only 16 when I got pregnant and I had him right before I turned 17, I did it because I had heard so many horror stories about labor that I was so worried about how bad it was going to hurt. I took sterydal while i was laying in the bed waiting to finish dialating, it took away the pain of my contrations and did not slow labor down, which i had heard the epideral did, they gave it to me in an IV and it started working right away, and my contraction pains were really starting to get unbearable for me… after laying there at four centimeters for a while they decided to break my water, and i decided to get the epideral right before they did that, that way I didn’t feel them break my water, I wouldn’t feel the contrations once my water was broke because there wouldn’t be any cusion there, and I would have it in my system when I was ready to start pushing… When I have another one, I am going to try to do it the same way, I am way to scared to try to do it completly natural without any medications
July 28th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I have a huge fear of pain and hospitals. I have can not handle pain. It cause me to freak out, I can’t breath, I get dizzie and sick, pass out and this goes on for hours. Even little pain like getting blood work, I end up in bed at the ER with oxygen. Even though blood work dont hurt just a pinch my body still reacts. I had a traumatic hospital stay when I was 4 I do blame this for it. I had 3 spinal taps for an ear ache. They held me down and didn’t tell me they said were just washing your back! Uh yeah right…no one was able to come in my room except my mom and she was not allowed to leave. Middle of one of the nights my IV bleed all over lost lots of blood it was real scary, they even freaked out.
So back to your qa. I do take an epidural at hospital as soon as I get admitted. I am pregnant with baby #3 and will have another one. Dr recommends it…the stress of my body going crazy is not healthy for me or the baby. I try to count to 10 breath but nothing works. I fear pain, shots, things to do with hospitals. My girls are smart very smart, and when they were born they were alert and looking around. They had no side affects. I have none! Some say after you will never be the same but back to normal. And my babies are smart and was alert at birth
EDIT
I am also very small…and they didnt think I could have a vag. bith. But I did great! Dr said it would have been a real pain full birth…..Baby 1 10+ stiches Baby 2 none no pain after Baby 3 who knows but oh yes to pain meds
Both delv. only 3 pushes…when it was time 3 and that was it! People say you can’t feel to push or know how to push right! I sure did!! It was fast easy and no pain
July 31st, 2008 at 1:18 am
I told myself that i did not want to use anything. I was pretty stuck on that choice for a while. my water broke and they had to induce me. I went 14 hours with no meds and then i couldn’t do it anymore.
The doctors kept coming in pretty much trying to force me to do the meds and i kept saying no. They kept throwing it in my face and finally i had it.
After i had my son i was so upset with myself. I pretty much broke down crying when i realized that i pretty much gave up.
I told my self and my hubby that next time i am going to do it with no meds at all. I know what to expect now and i know what will help me get through it next time.
I am just one of those people that do not believe in drugs at all. I like doing things naturally, even when i am sick.
*EDIT*
*** I agree with you 100 percent, I hated myself for doing what i did and not because of me but i felt like i let him down. Me being so anti drug and preaching it to the world i was a hypocrite when the first thing my baby experienced when he came in to this world was the drugs. I know a lot of people tell me that it does not effect the baby but all the doctors told me that it does.*****
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:36 am
Yes I did, and I didn’t feel a thing. Wish I could say the same for the poor Mom to be in the other room that went natural. Wow was she ever screaming!!! I have a very low tolerance for pain so yes I would do again the same way.
August 4th, 2008 at 2:24 am
peach pie get a life. i dont have any kids yet but i plan on trying natural and have meds as a second choice. in this case your opinion doesnt matter. what each woman wants to do when giving birth is there own decition, if they want to do it natural or new technology.
August 6th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Yes, but kind of wish I hadn’t and will try not to again. I had contractions and was 2-3cm dilated for a week before my water broke. Went to the hospital, was admitted, 2 hours later they put me on pitocin. 8 hours later I was just wiped out, and I needed some kind of break. I tried the IV pain meds but they just knocked me out between contractions and made it feel like one long endless contraction. After 2 hours of that I decided to get an epidural. Later the doctor realized my bag of waters never fully broke and after she broke it everything sped up. Although I still had to push almost 4 hours to get my stubborn, sunny-side up, 9lb 12.5oz son to come out LOL.
When it’s time for the next one I will try my best to avoid pitocin and pain meds. The pain was never really unbearable for me, I just needed a break after a week of contractions and 10 plus hours of hard labor.
August 8th, 2008 at 5:22 am
1st - I had an epidural because I was in labour for a total of 28 hours…so there was only so much I could handle.
2nd - I had no pain medication at all because I was in labour for less than two hours, so there was no time to have an epidural.
To be honest, I would go natural again. As weird as it sounds, I found that it was a lot easier (particularly in the pushing stage) and it was a much more pleasant experience.
August 10th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
NO MEDICATION FOR ME I EXPERIENCED NATURAL BIRTH PAIN IT WAS WONDERFUL AND YES I WOULD DO IT THE SAME WAY AGAIN WHEN U GET ALL THAT PAIN AND FEEL LIKE SCREAMING IT’S TOTALLY WORTH IT WHEN U SEE THIS PERFECT LITTLE PERSON
August 12th, 2008 at 9:44 am
4 births no meds, and with the recent research that is looking at increase in epidurals and correlating it to the increase in autism, if I was still in the baby business I would not.
I was a head nurse in NICU and you did your babe a favor by not using meds- taking care of a drugged preemie was sooo hard.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:15 am
I had an epidural….yes I would do it again, it took some of the pain away but not all
August 14th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I delivered both my children unassisted at home. No pain meds.
August 16th, 2008 at 5:47 am
I was strongly advised against it because of my heart and since my philosophy was always “why go through the pain if you don’t have to” I decided to. In your case, you needed to stay off the medicine for your baby, my mom was the same way, and even then, her first baby came out almost dead and black.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:55 am
My daughter was stillborn. We had found out before the birth so I chose to have a little bit of a pain killer ( not epidural because I FEAR those things!) I chose the pain killer because I was already in enough emotional pain, I didn’t need physical pain. BUT of course it wore off before the birth. Before the birth when I was still doped up on the pain meds, I was laughing, joking,etc..and I kept going to sleep and just couldn’t stay away which made me decide that I didn’t want any pain medication when I had my son. Also during the time with my daughter, I felt that my laughter and “drugged happiness” wasn’t appropriate for that situation and so I refused any more of it, which is why when it came time for birth, I felt every single ounce of pain and I even tore during the birthing process.
But yeah with my son I didn’t have any pain meds and luckily the labor was fairly quick and easy with him. The good thing about being in so much pain is when you have the baby and the pain all of a sudden disappears. That is the BEST feeling in the world, to feel that good.
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:49 am
Yes I did both times and probably will this time as well.
Originally I didnt want any drugs especially not an epidural, but I did end up using the gas both times.
With my first it was because I wasnt breathing during the contractions so my Mum suggested it to get me to breathe. It totally chilled me out which was great but then I felt like the worst mother in the world. I remember my brother walked in to check on me, and I just kept telling him what a terrible mother I was because I had the gas.
Obviously I dont feel like that now but at the time I did.
And with my second I used the gas again, but without the guilt.
I’ll probably use it with my next labor just because it chills me out enough to relax for a lil bit. I dont deal well with pain so I scream, so the gas stops me screaming for abit and makes me breathe through the conraction, and I can chill for a minute or two. It doesnt get rid of the pain it just gives you enough of a buzz to ignore it for a minute:)
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
They had to induce me bc i had preeclampsia and gave me meds to feel my contractions but after they broke my water i felt every one of them so they gave me meds so i could take a break from feeling all of them. they were coming every 3-4 mins but i could not feel them and about an hour after they broke my water, they were one right after another and i wanted to push but wasn’t dilated enough so they had to give me meds. not by choice tho. but no epidural. everybody kept saying that i would want one but i proved them wrong!