pethidene

[Kazzo]

I might be the only person who had Pethadine and had it help. With DD1 I was induced due to Merconium stained waters and no real contractions. After 4 hours on the drip and no progress I had the Pethadine shot and fell asleep for a couple of hours. When I woke up I felt fine and within an hour was ready to push. I was told that Pethadine is a better option to have early in labour as it is a muscle relaxent and can help you with mild contractions. If your having really painful contractions then it wont help with them, just make you drowsey in between. Like most seem to have experienced. A close friend also had pethadine early on in labour with similar results to me.
I am however more then glad to say that DD2 was completely pain relief free (did not even get to use hot water because I never really thought I was close enough to birthing) and that was by far the best labour/birth.

[*TripleJ*]

i had peth with DS and now after having DD i know that it caused me to bleed more and made me and DS groggy for after probably 24 hours and made my recovery more painful and made BFing harder causing me to give up

with DD i did it drug free and it was a faster recovery and i was aware and awake it was awesome i definately reccomend it

[indie24]

It made me violently sick and I was sick for a couple of days later on it. I ended up with a c-section and couldnt even look at my baby when she was born because I was trying not to throw up. I made me very shakey too. When I moved my arms it was like I was watching it but had no comtrol on it

[ShootingStar]

The only thing i found any effects from was the epidural.
With my first labour i had gas and pethadine and i felt neither did anything. With my second i tried gas.. again nothing.. didnt bother with the pethadine and went straight for the epidural. Best thing in the world if you ask me! Will be going straight for that this time round.

[Mum2Romone]

Thanks ladies for all your replies. I know I don't want a epidual, but is there nothing else.....

[Persephone1]

If you're wanting to avoid medical pain relief, make sure you're armed with alternatives. I found hot water a great relief, as well as hitting stress balls against the wall. I also had a TENS machine, and heat packs. I had water injections which helped with the back pain. I've heard Calmbirth techniques are great too. All of my pain relief techniques helped me avoid an epidural (and, I believe, a c-section).

[Glamourcide]

Oh goodness, I hated pethidine. Never again! DD1's labour was induced and I had the synto cranked up to max - dilated from fully closed to 10cm in about four minutes! And of course, there was paaaaiiiiinnnnn. I have a phobia about catheters so wouldn't let anybody come within cooee of me with the mere suggestion of an epidural, I'd rather have died than have a catheter (not afraid of the needles involved at all, just a tube stuck in my peehole. Go figure.). So, my options (seeing as I was in a regional-area base hospital where your options for birthing are 1: on the bed, 2: on the bed, 3: on the bed, and NO WATERY PLACES ARE ALLOWED, not even a 10-minute shower before your waters break!) were either pethidine, gas, or a combination of the two. I tried gas at first, it hit me like smoking weed used to, took the edge off and made me a bit dopey but nothing major. Brought out the big guns with peth - hah! Felt sick, fell asleep between contractions but when they hit (every 25-40 seconds after coming down off the one before), I woke up literally screaming in pain, it didn't do a damn thing except make me feel awful and tired and I couldn't use my body to push efficiently any more as it was too slack from the drugs to get on with things. So I was just laying there thrashing around and yelling in excruciating pain, without being able to do anything to get my baby out, I started panicking and it all went downhill from there!

Second labour, I had a couple of puffs of gas to take the edge off again, I'm a former pot-head so I can keep a totally clear head through the haziness of the gas (even though it's a different drug entirely, the feeling is so similar that I know how to take it), refused any and all suggestion of peth, and had a fully posterior birth all by myself The experience was so much better. After DD1, I had a PPH and while it was near-fatal (Dr's words, not mine!), I believe I would have handled it better had I not been drugged out of my gourd and powerless to comprehend what was happening and still panicking about the birth - DD1 was safe and sound and I was so smashed and unable to understand what was happening, I remember thinking it was okay that I was dying because DH was going to look after DD1 and be an awesome father... Ugh. The memory is horrible. You're definitely not alone in those feelings. I'd never go for it again, after my own experience and hearing so many similar stories from others, I really wonder why they even offer it as an option! :/

[helle]

Why the hell was your synto turned up so high?!

[Glamourcide]

Me? Lol, because two doses of gel hadn't worked (let's not forget it was my first pregnancy and it was two days before my EDD, bub was in no hurry at all to come before she was ready!) and the midwives wanted to get me over and done with so as not to interrupt dear old Rosemary's retirement lunch. Hah. My body has this odd reaction to interference of any kind, it 'works' about five times quicker than it's meant to - like the time I had elastics put on my braces as a kid, I was in excruciating pain for two days and mum took me back to the orthodontist to make sure it was okay and he saw my teeth, gasped and said, 'Those elastics were meant to push your teeth together in six weeks, not 48 hours - what kind of a freak are you?!'... that kind of thing happens all the time lol :/ General anaesthetic that's meant to keep me knocked out for four hours? I'm not only awake, but walking around and eating cheeseburgers in under two hours lol. Superwoman or something, I guess

But yeah, the midwife thought I was full of crap when my body started pushing on its own, 'Oh stop carrying on, you won't be dilated more than 4cm yet... *I scream at her to do an internal* Oh goodness, yep, you're 10cm alright, baby's head is right there, feel free to push whenever!' baaaah. Induction, never again :/

[helle]

Me? Lol, because two doses of gel hadn't worked (let's not forget it was my first pregnancy and it was two days before my EDD, bub was in no hurry at all to come before she was ready!) and the midwives wanted to get me over and done with so as not to interrupt dear old Rosemary's retirement lunch. Hah. My body has this odd reaction to interference of any kind, it 'works' about five times quicker than it's meant to - like the time I had elastics put on my braces as a kid, I was in excruciating pain for two days and mum took me back to the orthodontist to make sure it was okay and he saw my teeth, gasped and said, 'Those elastics were meant to push your teeth together in six weeks, not 48 hours - what kind of a freak are you?!'... that kind of thing happens all the time lol :/ General anaesthetic that's meant to keep me knocked out for four hours? I'm not only awake, but walking around and eating cheeseburgers in under two hours lol. Superwoman or something, I guess

But yeah, the midwife thought I was full of crap when my body started pushing on its own, 'Oh stop carrying on, you won't be dilated more than 4cm yet... *I scream at her to do an internal* Oh goodness, yep, you're 10cm alright, baby's head is right there, feel free to push whenever!' baaaah. Induction, never again :/

My gosh!! That's crazy!/

[LimeSlice]

during the transitional stage, I clearly became delirious and I'm wondering whether the pethidene would have contributed to the feeling of delirium?

May have contributed, but this feeling of delirium during transition is a very normal response to your body's natural chemicals/hormones it releases during labour.
Pethadine makes me high as a kite, for about 20 mins, then I pass out. Not helpful! Would never take peth during labour, no desire for bubs to be drugged at birth. It is nasty stuff.

[Babyluv]

I Recommend the Tens machine, it's fantastic.

[angelaartsstudent]

I was told by my midwife that Pethadine is extremely old fashioned and that particular hospie doesn't even offer it any more...I didn't care anyway as I had a painkiller free labour and birth.

I did have gas+air when my episiotomy was being stitched up (I had a PPH with episiotomy so he jabbed me with the local so fast before stiching that it hadn't kicked in when he started stitching) and omg, never again. Major trippiness. Have said it on BB before, but I literally saw the pattern on the room curtains jump off and dance away.

[AnyDream]

My experience with pethidene during labour was that it took only the slightest edge off the pain, but put me in a different space to cope with it...I was able to rest/snooze which was really valuable because I was beyond exhausted.

HOWEVER I had it a number of times during excruciating gallstone attacks and I can tell you it is *very* effective for that sort of pain (it actually lessens the spasming effect), so, just because you've found it unhelpful during labour, don't rule it out for future pain experiences of a different nature.

[Beautitude]

My sister had pethidine for one of her labours and her way of describing it was "like being locked inside your body whilst you go through hell and not being able to tell anyone about it."

That's exactly how I felt when I had the pethidine with my first son. I remember the midwife telling dh how well I was doing when I had it and I just wanted to scream that I was in hell. Swore I'd never do it again so this time I used just the gas and it worked really well for me. I managed to birth my 10 pound 4 boy with just the gas.

[Cherished]

The hospital where I gave birth does not offer it for all the reasons above. The midwife at the antinateal class said it should be illegal.

[Fleur]

Had peth with DD1 after about 6 hours of labour & only a few cm dilated; it was my last stop before an epi. Didn't do a thing, I wouldn't have even known I had it.
I didn't even consider it with my subsequent labours.

M2R, you might find your experience of labour completely different this time; very good advice from Persephone1, consider heat packs etc, water is great, I looooved the shower, TENS machines, even just moving around, swaying etc can help; all kind of things, not true that there is nothing else

ETA - also, I think that sometimes second (or later) labours are easier because you are a bit more prepared for it; at least that's how it was for me. As I said above, I was looking for serious pain relief after a few hours when I had DD1, but with my later babies I laboured for longer with no pain relief; mentally I was a lot more prepared, a lot tougher & found it easier to deal with.
So you never know, might be heaps better for you this time