Drug Free Births

Hi I rocked on a Medicine Ball while watching the rain hehe, was very relaxing. As the contractions got stronger I preferred to be on my feet, so walked between contractions and would stop and lean against the wall and bury my head in my arm when a contraction hit and thinking how I was much closer to meeting my little girl then about an hour before I started pushing, when the contractions were the worst, I was standing up by the bed, then would lean over the bed (they put it up to maximum height) during contractions with my hubby rubbing my back. The hospital midwives were great with telling me I was doing really well and that I could do it without drugs. Then when they told me I was 9cm it didn't seem to hurt anymore (adrenaline I guess?) and I pushed her out in 17mins. I really recommend giving birth standing up if you can, I found the gravity really helped hehe.

Good luck, hope you can get your drug free birth this time

I got a few ideas from the book "Birth Skills" by Juju Sundin and Sarah Murdoch - even though I only managed to read the intro and first chapter before I went into labour, it gave me the right mind set and a few practical skills (will read the whole book next time!).

In the earlier parts I also alternated with standing in the shower, using a wheat pack, my mw did some acupuncture and DH worked the pressure points on my lower back. Later on I used an exercise ball and I spent a fair amount of time in the birth pool, though I gave birth out of the water.

Good luck.

Acupressure! The MW showed DH where the pressure points on the lower back were and wow, it relieved the pain so much! Poor DH though - if he wasn't applying pressure when a contraction came through I'd scream at him!

Must ask midwife about acupressure it sounds awesome!

I spent a bit of time in the bath/shower and on hands and knees at home then at the hospital stayed on the toilet backwards, leaning on the cistern with my arms folded , head on arms. I found it so comfy. I had my midwife right beside me the whole time encouraging me and reminding me to breathe, also dh spent a lot of time leaning really hard onto my lower back.

Maya wrote: Oh I also found knowing how close I was getting to the end was helpful too,

Yes, definitely! Towards the end of the pushing stage we used a mirror so I could see it all progressing - that was motivating.   My mw was super enthusiastic throughout it all too which always gave me an extra boost of energy.

I watched Maya crowning in the mirror and Sienna actually being born in it but with lil miss there was no time. One of my pit crew went to find one but got told off by one of the charge midwives and my midwife was too scared to leave in case she missed the birth lol.

I didn't even see her being born onto the bed as I was flat on my back for an internal staring up at the ceiling when I said "call me crazy, but I need to push!" and then bang, there she was!

Acupressure is AMAZING... there's a good thread on here all about it.

Also I have to say it helped me not to scream - I just focused on my contractions and when I had to push I just kinda held my breath and pushed, and relaxed in between.

Liz I think Emma was meaning before you get to the pushing bit. I agree it helped.

I had a deathgrip on a vomit bag...while I was hanging over the back of the head of the bed. I think I went through at least 10

Gravity is definitely a huge help.

You might find your second birth will go a heap faster. Your body is so much more efficient.

For most of the second one I sat on the edge of the bed leaning over holding the chair arm, better a solid thing that a human limb. The MW suggested I get up on the bed as she thought that I might have been blocking his progress.

Like Liz, I held in all noise & focused it all downward when I could push. Obviously worked as Alia came out in 22 mins & Cooper just 5mins.

Also like Terri, I focused on one thing, chair arm, back of bed, vomit bag, baby's head (yip had the hand in there)

Mum & DH were there for wheat bags & massage. I did focus on the massage & the harder the better which I had a contraction. I think it help shift the focus of the pain & shared it with other parts of my body.

Edited by Aliasmum

I too had read "Birth Skills" by Juju Sundin and Sarah Murdoch and also read up a little on accupressure. So I went to the hospital with a bag packed with sudoku books, stress balls, a comb to squeeze, and imagined myself walking up and down the corridors counting, plus a bag full of goodies to eat... lol

Nothing turned out like I'd planned, I didn't use a single technique I'd read nor any food either.
My labour progressed quickly (this was my first pregnancy), from very start to end was 8 hrs. I had a bath for 2 hrs and when I got out I was fully dilated. Then I pushed for a couple of hours and then it was over. I didn't feel the need for pain relief at any stage.

Lying in the bath waiting to fully dilate wasn't that pleasant, but to be honest (and I'm sure there will be people that won't like me saying it but) I didn't find labour anywhere near as painful as I had imagined. When doctors for various (non-labour related stuff) ask you to rate pain from 1-10, well I'd put labour and delivery at around 4 - 5, maybe one or two contractions reached a 6. But then I have experienced back pain a lot in the past which may have conditioned me to accepting pain, and labour pain for me didn't even come close to my past experiences with back pain when drugs like morpheine barely touched it.

I'm sure reading Birth Skills and being fully informed about what happens during labour prepared my psycologically though and so I went into it with little fear. So I'd definitely recommend that book to anyone.

Everyone you speak to has such a different story to tell and some so easy and some so difficult. Just because it was easy for me I realise that some people have it really tough and complications don't help either, so I'm not against pain relief in the slightest, just that I didn't need any.

Also I think that that male MW on the news last week talked absolute bollocks re needing to feel pain to bond. So many people who have had cesareans bond with babies immediately, and even people who adopt form strong bonds quickly.

I stood up the whole time leaning on the bed and I think pushing my legs down with each contraction. Mum was holding my hands and talking to me the whole time (which was wonderful) and I used her hands a bit to squeeze and DH rubbed my back. I was pretty lucky though in that I was 7cm dilated before I even knew I was in labor and the pain only intensified when MW had a look up there.