Hi girls, my midwife mentioned that if I give birth at home they only bring 2 canisters of gas and air, after that it's tens and paracetamol!! I have to say this has put me off a bit. Has anyone run out of gas and air in their home birth and really struggled? She said that I might only need it towards the end by which point there won't be much time left. Paracetamol doesn't even always get rid of a headache!!!

I have always been told if the second one starts to run out they can send for another one. With my first they had to (I used 3!!lol) but with each of the next 3 i only needed 1/2 of 1.
xx

I forgot it was even an option with mine!! I went through about 14 hours of regular contractions and was at the point of thinking I just couldn't go through any more when the mw said 'you do realise we have gas and air here' LOL I didn't use one cannister and tbh used most when I was being stitched up!!

Everyone is different of course but for me I needed it most for the pushing stage

Hi, we get 4 cannisters here!!

I have never needed all of them i think i only really use about 1 and a half. My last baby, my 5th, i only had 2 paracetomol got in the bath and he came out in the bath, so no gas and air and no midwives!! lol

The saga of my gas and air...My 1st midwife brought one. I managed to get one good puff on it and it either broke or ran out. I got in the birth pool then as I was 8cms anyway. Panted my way through the next few contractions and had another go when she thought it was fixed, it lasted a couple of contractions then went again. 2nd midwife arrived with another canister but it ran out after a few contractions. By then I was begining to think it wasn't worth using. When I knew it wasn't available I concentrated on breathing my way through it and managed ok, when it worked it did help but wasn't a miracle. When it didn't work but I thought it would those contractions were the worst, I wasn't prepared to deal with it myself and then the G&A wasn't there and my breathing was all stuffed up! tbh. everyone is different and I think you have to go with the flow, if you are really struggling remember it's always an option to transfer to hospital and the big drug option, only you will know if you are struggling enough to want to do that. I'd joked throughout my pregnancy that I'd rather have a big stick to bite on and a bottle of whisky, as it happened the stick might have helped!

Yes it happened to me 6 weeks ago! The first midwife brought 2 canisters and once they began to run out the second midwife had to collect 2 more. The third one ran out just as I began to feel the urge to push so they tried to connect the last one, only for it to be faulty! I did freak out a bit but once I got over the fact that it was gone, my body got on with the task in hand much better. I was able to really concentrate on my breathing which is the best pain relief in my opinion.

Cat xxx