[FauxPas]

I had an induced birth (medical reasons) which I believe made the contractions stronger - no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't pass by the pain relief offered.

I ruled out pethadine simply on the basis that it crosses the placenta and is a narcotic.

I tried one breath of gas and it made me so disoriented and unable to even attempt to control or "be one with" my pain that I immediately dropped it.

The midwife put on pure oxygen which I actually found helped in managing the pain - but I guess it was only because it enabled me to draw deeper breaths and this was relaxing. The OB though told her to switch it off as I believe you can get oxygen poisoning by breathing pure O2.

In the end, I gave up and asked for an epidural. This was great pain relief but because mine was a long labour (13 hours) I needed top ups of the drug they use. I was fine on the first two top ups but with the third it must have been an OD as I had uncontrollable shakes and felt freezing cold and was vomiting. This lasted about 1.5 hours.

When it was finally time to push, I felt a bit too numb for my liking in one leg in particular but I was still able to push. I didn't feel any pain so I was able to enjoy little bub's arrival without being in terrible pain.

Another downside I experienced - likely to be from the IV fluid drip I was on for the entire time - is major (and I mean major) swelling in the feet, hands, belly and face - in fact I looked like a goodyear blimp (and to an extent 10 days after the birth still do although it has gone down substantially).

I am normally just under 50 kg and only reached around 58 kg just before birth - my friends commented on how I was only belly and had not put on real weight. After birth - I looked like I had hit the Krispy Kreme's with a vengence - kind of like Gwyneth Paltrow in that movie Shallow Hal. It feels horrible especially when it didn't seem to be reducing at all for the first 7 days. In the last 3 days though I have started to lose a lot of it (means heaps of sweating and toilet trips).

Now maybe its just me and my vanity but being a goodyear blimp for over a week (and not knowing that it would definitely go down) was by far the worst of the after effects!

[BeYOUtiful]

Thank you for the info Briandrea