Birth plan and pain relief

It's so individual everyone is completely different! Personally I'd like the most natural birth possible with just gas and air and a birthing pool in a midwife lead birthing centre... but things don't always go to plan so also have to be open minded!

Using hypnobirthing techniques so plan is to have as little interventions as possible with hopefully only gas and air needed for pain relief. This was all I needed for my first birth but each birth is different and unpredictable so will just see how things go.

I didn’t find labour that painful so will be trying for a spontaneous, unmedicated and minimal intervention birth! Hypnobirthing, birthing comb and breathing exercises was great pain management for me in my first labour and will be trying that again 🥰

I'll be in a hospital delivery suite (there are no birth centres where I live). Aiming for gas and air only, but I like the sound of remifentanil if I need something stronger. Also planning for c section as I have one booked for my due date if I don't go into labour beforehand!

@Georgie this is exactly what I wanted for my first baby but it didn’t happen! :-( Hope it goes to plan for you though :-)

I had an epidural with my daughter and it was amazing- I’m not writing a birth plan nor am I making any decisions before birth. It’s good to go in with an idea of your “birth preferences” but you don’t know how you’ll cope in birth, you don’t know what could happen and a lot of woman get really upset and disappointed if things don’t go to plan. Medication are there for a reason and if it’s needed it’s nothing to be ashamed of- I was in labour for 48 hours from start to finish and didn’t sleep the whole time as ever time I tried to relax my daughters heart rate would drop and I’d have to move, I needed forceps and an episiotomy the epidural just made the whole experience more bearable and I’d consider it again if I needed it x

For my first my plan was all natural I have a really high pain tolerance as I have chronic pain and thought I could handle it, labour pain is on a whole new level and I wimped out and got an epidural. I had an induction and a sunny side up baby (back labour). My plan for my OCT. is to start as natural as possible (regardless of spontaneous or induced labour), but know that if I can’t stay calm and in the zone with gas and air/tens unit that having an epidural is best as I have lots of prior birth trauma and the pain cycle triggering PTSD would be bad. I will be much more mobile with my epidural this time around if I need one to help the process along. I think there is a stigma around epidural that it is wimping out, but honestly the goal of labour is to stay calm and connected to your body and baby and sometimes pain relief is for the best, and not to feel guilty for Changing your mind.

I would research all types of available pain relief options and weigh the risks to baby/labour (how likely you are to need other interventions if taken) and the potential side effects, against your wishes and desired outcome (no tearing, wait for white, no instruments ect) that way you are not trying to think about it when in labour and can make the decision to have more pain relief if needed guilt free.

Second baby so hoping for epidural 😂 begged for it last time and they didn’t give it to me, they don’t like doing it. Do whatever is best for you! X

I had an epidural for my last birth and it was amazing 🤩 Will deffo be getting epidural again this time . My hospital does a “walking epidural” it’s lower dose that you control yourself , can still move around and not need a catheter etc. can still feel contractions but not as painful literally the most amazing thing x

I plan to use a birthing pool to help with contractions and the start of labour and depending on how I’m getting on, it’s likely I will go for the epidural when I’m about 6cm dilated (if I can last that long without it). Avoiding gas and air and pethidine as I have a phobia of sick and being sick and I get beyond anxious when I feel sick. When learning about pethidine in an antenatal class I did on Saturday, I didn’t like the idea of the potential side effects for mother and baby either so that’s a massive no for me!

@Rebecca I agree with you in regards to pethidine, but remifentanil sounds much better. It only lasts for a couple of minutes so you press a button at the start of the contraction, it gives you a little dose, and then wears off. So baby doesn't come out sleepy as the drug doesn't hang around in their system. And if you don't like the side effects you can just stop pressing the button! It sounds great, I'm going to ask my midwife on Friday if they offer it in my area as it isn't nationwide at the moment

@Charley I’ve never heard of remifentanil before, will have to mention this to my midwife as I don’t believe this is offered at the local hospital where I’ll be giving birth. I’ve literally planned my preferences based on what I think are the best options for myself so that I’m less anxious, especially due to my phobia. I want to be as calm as possible (if I can🤣) for the baby’s sake x

@Rebecca sounds like a good idea!