Drug Free Births

I didn't vomit in transition with lil miss, I felt like vomiting and was all shivery and had the cold sweats but I'd been eating chocolate muffins while we were waiting around and I was determined not to throw them up lol.

i had a drug free birth with henry. I found being upright helped. I had to lay down twice during my labour for two internals and that was hell. I walked around in between contractions and lent of anything when a contraction hit. When they started getting real close together that i couldnt walk around i leaned over the bed (which they raised to a good height for leaning) and then towards the end when my legs got tired my midwife got me a beanbag for me to kneel on (still leaning over the bed) and thats the position i used for pushing. My birthplan was for a waterbirth but since henry was early i had to wear a ctg (is that the right name - monitor thing strapped around tummy) through all of the labour - i found this very intrusive. I had two showers and they were bliss - would have spent the whole time in there had i been allowed. Mum kept hot towels on my lower back , which wasnt as good as the shower but still helped alot. For some reason saying ouch and grunting helped me lol - apparently i was really quiet though and hardly made any noise at all. Through the whole labour i was very focused - didnt talk much or do much kinda like in a trance, im not sure how this happened but it helped somehow.
One thing that is encouraging - as soon as he was out there was no pain, none and i felt on top of the world lol.
I loved giving birth and cant wait to do it again. Bring on december!!

I had 2 drug free births, C i didn't cope well at all (didn't help that I was convinced it was a big joke and I wasn't really in labour ) I was in the spa bath for most of it, which certainly helped quicken contractions .

This time , the mw told me to lie on my left side in the bath (not sure why , but seemed to work for making contractions consistent )
Then I would breathe through my nose and out my mouth , when the contractions got worse I pictured the labour being over and holding the baby , and I looked at a pic of C , and my late grandma , who i was very close to.
Looking at the pic of C , reminded me what I was working towards, that it would hurt ,but the reward was great .
It did get to a point where it didn't matter, the pain was too intense, and I just wanted to die , and felt I couldn't go on ,but those techniques worked for some of it .
And also I clenched my friends hand, and had DH rub my back during contractions .

Acupressure was fantastic (thank you Liz!). I got through most of my labour with Lilia drug free (only use gas at the very end) because of DH applying pressure to points on my back, gripping on to a comb and also being upright through most of it too (until it felt like my legs were going to give way!).

I had a drug free birth with my first baby. What worked for me was that i was really determined to have a natural labour and so really psyched myself up for it i think.

To be fair things went pretty smoothly but i did get to a stage where i thought damn if this is going to be another few hours i don't think i can do it without drugs - but turns out that was transition talking and it was time to push.

I walked throughout and spent most of the contractions leaning on the bed with DH rubbing my back. I had some affirmations i collected from the internet and used those when i had doubts. I'd been reading them every day in the last few weeks and had convinced myself i could do it! Having been so firm about this my midwife also really backed me up and said you can do this just how you planned. I also had a friend there who had had kids and she was a great support for me and hubby.

I've had two drug free births now and basically just because they went so fast. Dom was 3hrs and Issy 1.5hrs. It still the worse pain I've ever been in but I think they way I talked to myself before the labor and births and during made all the difference to me. You have to be positive and encourage yourself and shoot down that voice that says you can't.
I gave birth standing the first time and squating the second, I think that helped a lot as I wasn't fighting gravity. I had DH to hold me up so I just focused all my energy on the baby and what my body was doing. I was very quiet as yelling etc takes a lot of energy and distracts you from your interior dialogue with yourself. The only problem was I was so focused on giving birth I couldn't answer the midwife's questions and when she tried to check the baby's progress I slapped her!
Of course, I don't know what I would have done if the labors were longer but I will always try to do it without the drugs because I don't like the thought of the side effects for me and the baby.
I hope you have an easier birth this time round and everything goes well. Best wishes!

I only used gas during my labour. At my antenatal class, we were played a relaxation tape by Deepak Chopla, it taught you to concentrate on every single breath, and that if you feel your mind wandering to anything other than breathing to focus. I swear it got me through labour! I lay on the bed with the gas and my midwife would tell me when to start using it (as my contractions were about to begin). I had to have the room totally silent and just focused on my every breath. Also when the pain got so bad I would just think about 'the more pain, the more I am dilating and the sooner my baby will be here!'

Thanks ladies.

I'll try to think positively and maybe get a couple of the books suggested to have a read of.

Shower is all i used for Emily till it was pretty much time to push it was great!.   Mikey I found really hard had no pain relief not even water, but he ended up coming really quick which was really nice got rewlief pretty quick once he was ready to come.