obstetrician at The Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne. ‘By that time, she will be able to feel the pressure of the baby's head and can then push at exactly the right times in order to deliver the baby herself.'Pethidine gets into the baby

:Some hospitals offer mobile epidurals that enable you to move around with help.PethidineThis is injected into your buttock or thigh to relieve pain.Advantages:It can be regularly topped up.Disadvantages:You may feel sick or drowsy. It can cross the placenta

.'Pain Relief, however, is limited to gas and air and sometimes pethidine and you're unlikely to be able to have an epidural. If you want to have your baby in a birth centre, your pregnancy needs to be low-risk, with no complications.Demand for birth centres

Excited, impatient, nervous... chances are you're feeling all these things and more as you count down the days to your due date. Although every birth is different, having an idea of what might happen during the different stages of labour can help you feel more prepared. Read on f...

and air and the Tens machine had become more of an annoyance than any help, so I had pethidine. This made me feel a little drunk but didn't block out the whole experience which I was grateful for.Karl was amazing as my birth partner - he constantly fed me

makes you feel queasy, ask for a mouthpiece. You can use gas and air at a home birth or in a birthing pool. PETHIDINE/DIAMORPHINEPethidine is a painkiller that also helps you to relax. It's either injected or given intravenously during the first stage

because some drugs, eg pethidine, can cause early feeding and breathing difficulties for some babies.You are also more likely to have skin to skin contact after the birth, which encourages breastfeeding.How can I get a water birth?Discuss your birth

. If you want pethidine, tell your community midwife in advance. If you have an independent midwife, you need to go to your GP as most don't have the facilities for the strict rules regarding pethidine storage. Epidurals are safer given in hospitals

contractions. When they were six minutes apart, my husband Mark took me to hospital. I walked round a lot and knelt on the bed. At 7am I begged for pethidine. After that everything's a bit hazy. My waters were broken, but by noon I wasn't pushing properly

. Unfortunately pethidine didn't agree with me and I kept being sick every few minutes. Mum was marvellous, mopping me up. But poor old Jason got the brunt of my mood-I'd shout at him to get off me, even when he was on the other side of the room! Of course, I