Above and beyond gas & air - have heard of Meptid (Laura on here had it, and an AB lady I read about too, both being told it was better for baby?) which I'd be very interested in for various reasons.

SO I asked the MW's (phoned up) at the hospital if it's offered, and she said no, she hadn't heard of it being used on labour ward. She said it's diamorphine usually (not pethidine?). Urgh something else to keep me awake at night.

She went on to talk about epidural but just the thought scares the pants off me, I just know I'll be one of the unlucky ones who gets half sensation or spinal problems afterwards - esp. with having spd already.

Any thoughts / ideas / experiences?
Will be aiming for as mobile a labour with as much water involved as poss (pool / corner bath are the options apparently) will have tens for early labour and then it's on the gas & air (which, btw for 1st timers, is like being off your face on alcohol, takes the edge off the pain because it separates you from it, but doesn't remove it! Hence looking at the next step after that).

Please Lord let this be an easier labour with better midwives who can assist me in having a better time of it!!

well with both of mine i ended up havin an epidural With Jaiden i went straight from gas and air to epidural coz i left it too long to ask for other pain relief but with Sophia i had the diamorphine the was told eipi or nothing so i had that but it turns out there was enough tine to get topped up with the diamorphine which I would have preferred Next time I will be merrily on the gas and air (love it) then will just do it all on the diamorphine Jaiden was vontouse (sp) so was sophia but she was back to back so they tried to turn her internally so im glad i did have the epi in the end as i would have needed 2 anyway to have my placenta manually removed

Wow that turned into a long post sorry hun so the long and short of it is id deffo do the diamorphine only next time if i can get away with it

Cant wait 4 next time BTW

i had diamorphine and regretted it, i was able to stay active bfore it but after that i was so drowzy i couldn't stand up which made the labour a lot longer. I would have loved an epidural but there was no-one to administer it even though i was in labour for 20 hours.

I really didn't want an epidural but ended up having to have something (can't remember the name - oxysomething) to make my contractions come as it all stopped half way through and I was told it makes the contractions more intense and to have an epidural. I refused but about 6hrs later when I still wasn't getting there and the more oxywhatever they were putting in me was making the contractions more and more intense, OH &midwives were begging me to just have the epidural, i went for it. It was painful when they put it in, but I was in labour, everything was painful!
For me I can't say it worked that well either, as although the pain was slightly dulled, i was still feeling the contractions and i could move my legs and talking to other people they couldn't feel anything but it did make things a little better so can't really complain.

I can't say I regret having an epidural, I didn't have the labour I expected anyway cause i was stuck to the bed cause of the oxything going in, and i had to have something up attached to Imogen's head to check her heartrate so couldn't move. In the end I had Imogen and we were both safe and healthy so I can't be upset I didn't have the labour I wanted.

Oh and I haven't experienced any problems with my back since.

To be honest i think you can have all the plans and hopes in the world but until you get there you just don't really know what is going to happen, and thought patterns change when you're in those circumstances. (I never thought I'd agree to epidural). So I think yeah, have a plan but be prepared and open minded for anything to happen. That's just my experience and opinion x

I had Diamorphine at the same hospital! I had a half dose at 9pm when I went in as I can't take paracetemol. They tried to talk me into having a full dose but I didn't want it. TBH in some ways I wish I'd had a full dose but in others I'm really glad I didn't. Reasons against were that it wore off after 2 hours, in as much as it didn't help with the pain, just made me feel a little tipsy and tired. Reason I'm glad I only had half was that it made me feel really sick after it wore off.

I had another half dose at 4pm the following afternoon, after having been on gas and air since 11am (couldn't face it till then as I felt so sick) but I took it as I was EXHAUSTED and needed to sleep between contractions. I had the 2nd half at 6pm for the same reasons. I carried on with the g+a throughout this time. It made me feel like I was mega drunk, that just before you fall asleep part of being wankered lol when mixed with the g+a. It made me throw up at about 9pm but that could also have been due to the drip to speed up my contractions.

I would definitely consider it if you get to that point of exhaustion. I made sure that it would have worn off by the time I had to push as then it shouldn't have effected Amelia when she was born. Which it didn't, she wasn't drowsy at all and had no problems whatsoever. I wouldn't really recommend it for relieving pain though.

Sorry to confuse you further! x

I had pethidine with bean. HATED the feeling of losing hours of your life - it wore off before birth itself but he was drowsy when born, bad time BFing, dehydrated, readmitted... urghhhhhhh. Was never even warned of it.

I've heard before people saying they want to do things as natural as possible and just with gas and air and - although I'd never set myself any goal for labour! - I am hoping to not be begging for more pain relief as I have a feeling I'll regret it.
Nothing to do with being hippy-dippy and wanting baby born on a bed of rose petals, it's just that the effect on me and on baby - and the ramifications of both of those - maybe aren't worth it. Trying to ride out the pain, have a water birth, think about positions and movement more I'm really hoping will help. Was forced to stay on the bed on my (v.bad) back last time.

BUT an epidural does interest me - a friend had her middle child in America where they are par for the course and it was 'well, why wouldn't you?' kind of attitude to them!
I do feel they are made more elusive to us in the UK though and I've never heard a tale of epidural without something being said about a delay / wait / left too late / anaesthetist unavailable etc.

On a side note, I'm shitting myself. Can you tell???!!!

I WAS excited about giving birth this time - until I was measuring 2 weeks bigger

Last time I was a stubborn moo and wanted as least pain relief as possible, I dont know why really probably wanted to prove it to myself stupidly so I 'managed' to get away with just gas and air. But I am thinking more and more about the different pain relief options with this one. I was so zonked out with Libby as I only had about 4 hours sleep in 4 days (due to being in hospital) so was absolutely knackered and the gas and air seemed to make me sleep in between contractions (well thats what it felt like - Simon says differently though ) so I do find it difficult to remember alot of went on.

I'm just going to go with an open mind and if I feel I need more relief then I'm going to ask (shout) for it xxx

i was supposed to have diamorphine but they injected me with something for the placenta, set up a tap thing in case i had a section and gave me some other stuff for my bp and the diamorphine never metamorphosed! they said they gave it...but i certainly didnt receive it so i think perhaps it missed the muscle and didn't get to my blood stream....

this is a fairly two pennies worth - i stuck with gas and air, and eli was very fast and back to back, wasn't 'enjoyable' but like you i am very scared of epidurals (although had they talked about forceps i would have gone for it...or a section instead!)in the end i didnt have time for anything more fun.

there is another drug that they are trialling at my hospital which is like diamorphine but you are able to use the 'tap' yourself to top up your pain relief but god i cannot remember what it was called...

oh, i also threw up some codeine whilst bouncing from 4cm to 8 haha

i had metdrid and it was FAB!!!

it didnt take all of the pain away but took the nasty bit away..

it took like 40 mins to kick in n wore off after baout three hours but by then my body kicked in so it didnt hurt too bad.. wel it did hurt. but i delt with it..
in the end due to paiges hellish birth i had a spinal block as i got taking into the op room as they said i might of need a C section..

but yea ask them for it.. they do have it in labour wards n thats what i want with this baby x

How odd that your hospital doesnt offer Meptid.

With Aimee I had pethadine, so it must be a new thing that my hospital have done in the last 22 months (since Aimee). It really was good and took the edge off the contractions and made it so much easier.

I did have an epidural later on though, and I have got to say - AMAZING!!!

I actually quite fancy going through labour again as I found it quite enjoyable with Lily (hell on earth with Aimee!).

x