Pain Management With Fentanyl, Nitrous, etc.?

l4rk · December 2015

Hello Ladies,

I've been shying away from wanting an epidural and looking into other pain management options. But because epidurals are so common, nobody I know seems to have personal experience with other options. If you gave birth and used fentanyl or nitrous as pain management, can you please share your experiences? What was it like? How painful was it?

Thanks!!

mrhargr · December 2015

I wasn't ready for an epidural but needed something to help me sleep when I was in labor with DD1. They gave me fentanyl and it made me so sick. I threw up so bad. Never again.

claireloSC · December 2015

No personal experience, but in my birth class, they said it basically just takes the edge off so you can relax, but it doesn't actually numb the pain.

failuretofly · December 2015

I've never had either but as a nurse I give both all the time. Most people say they don't take away the pain, just make you care less about it so you can relax and get some rest.

Mommyduclos · December 2015

I had one dose of fentanyl in my IV during my labor with my daughter and it was amazing. My contractions had been so intense and right on top of each other for hours, there was no relaxing at all, and the meds gave me that. I just remember having a contraction and then just flopping in bed and zoning out and calming down and it was just what I needed. I am willing to do one dose of it this time in transition (7-10 cm) if I don't have an epidural (which I don't plan to) however the thing you need to know about these drugs is they have a very short half life, so one dose doesn't last long. Also IV pain meds are more likely to affect your baby than an epidural, so I guess I would just caution you that if you are wanting that real early in your labor that maybe an epidural would be a better way to go than lots of doses over several hours-, but if you need just a little relief at the end it definitely did that for me.

cZa · December 2015

I had something injected into my iv with my first labor. Waited 30 minutes after contemplating if I even wanted to put something in my body that could affect baby, only for it to make me feel buzzed for about 30 seconds.

l4rk · December 2015

Thanks ladies! I appreciate your input. Who knew that pain meds were going to be my toughest decision...

juju0592 · December 2015

With my first, the contractions were so close together but I wasn't dilated enough for an epidural so they gave me fentanyl. It made me feel high/ loopy for about five whole minutes- then all the pain came right back.