Hi ladies, I'm only 24 weeks and like most women, am terrified of the labour/birth process and it doesn't help the fact that I've seen my sister-in-laws have really traumatic labours. And so since I found out about my pregnancy, I've been not only reading up about different forms of pain relief but also talking to everyone I can find to get their opinion! And basically this is the idea I have in my head so far:

*Gas and air - it doesn't really help much and makes some women feel sick
*Pethidine - it doesn't take away much of the pain and makes some women feel drowsy and confused
*Epidural - some women think it's a godsend and apsaloutly love it but others say that it slows up labour and you're more likely to need an assisted birth
*TENS - I don't personally know anyone who's used a TENS machine but have read that it doesn't always work

I would like to find out more about TENS though - has anyone has tried TENS machines in their previous pregnancies and how they found them? Which make/moel would you reccommend? And is anyone planning on using one and what make/model they have bought/buying?

Sorry I have soo many questions! It's not just about the pain that I'm worried about. Of course there will be some degree of pain and there's nothing we can do to avoid that but I'm really worried about going through something like which my sis-in-law went through with her 1st baby which was something like a 30 hour very traumatic labour then ended up needing a cesarian which I really don't want.

I have just had my 4th baby and i have never found labour unbearable.
My 1st lasted 13 hours and was a waterbirth at home with G&A
the 2nd lasted 4 hours and the 3rd lasted 6 hours and they were both waterbirths with G&A in a midwife led birth unit
and the last one was 2.4 hours and again at home in a birth pool with G&A but this time i used a TENS mashine before i got into the pool and i also used clary sage oil in a burner.

I found the water great pain relief! The G&A i LOVED it made me feel like i was drunk. LOL! The tens mashine i did find took the edge off the pain and gave me something to do and think about other than the pain! and the Clary sage oil smelled nice and helped me to relax!

But the best pain relief i found was relaxing through each contration and trusting my body to do its job!
I know it sounds airy fairy but i really did find all these thing helped and gave me very good birth experince's!!
I hope i helped. please don't worry in most cases birth is not as bad as you think it will be.
xx

Hi
I agree with michelle 07 re the TENS i used it for my first and it probably helped and definitely gave me something to play with! I completely forgot to get it out the bag the second time

I had two difficult labours and ended up with an epidural both times - mostly because i got so anxious - in the early stages it does definitely help if you can keep calm and postive and would have loved a water birth but i was deemed too high risk - despite all probs my babies and i were all well looked after by lovely midwives

Good luck and just go with how you feel on the day x