pain relief options

Went to antenatal classes last night at the hospital we're booked in at and
the topic was pain relief etc - Was pretty good in the fact that they say
they try not to push it, and only offer it if you ask for it but wanted us
to be aware of the different side effects etc. Also said the stats for 2003
(Didn't have last year's) were that 30% of people didn't use anything.
Anyway, when they got to the topic of Pethidine they mentioned how it's very
relaxing and you feel almost high, however it can pass through to the baby,
give you headaches and make you vomit. I asked what the difference would be
then with having a few glasses of vodka (purely out of interest, not that
I'm planning to!!) They kind of laughed at me and said they didn't think it
would be a good option and my husband was quick to jump in and say that I
don't drink anyway in case anyone was worried.
But they didn't answer my question - purely out of interest - what would
happen if one used alcohol during labour? I would imagine that it would
have a relaxing effect and the after effects would be similar to pethidine
anyway - I'm sure people must have at some point.

I don't know about during labor, but I have enjoyed a glass of wine or beer
on occasion during the pregnancy, my ob said it was safe - 1 to 2 glasses
per wk.

"Linda" wrote in message
...
Went to antenatal classes last night at the hospital we're booked in at
and the topic was pain relief etc - Was pretty good in the fact that they
say they try not to push it, and only offer it if you ask for it but
wanted us to be aware of the different side effects etc. Also said the
stats for 2003 (Didn't have last year's) were that 30% of people didn't
use anything. Anyway, when they got to the topic of Pethidine they
mentioned how it's very relaxing and you feel almost high, however it can
pass through to the baby, give you headaches and make you vomit. I asked
what the difference would be then with having a few glasses of vodka
(purely out of interest, not that I'm planning to!!) They kind of laughed
at me and said they didn't think it would be a good option and my husband
was quick to jump in and say that I don't drink anyway in case anyone was
worried.
But they didn't answer my question - purely out of interest - what would
happen if one used alcohol during labour? I would imagine that it would
have a relaxing effect and the after effects would be similar to pethidine
anyway - I'm sure people must have at some point.

"Linda" wrote in message
...
Went to antenatal classes last night at the hospital we're booked in at
and the topic was pain relief etc - Was pretty good in the fact that they
say they try not to push it, and only offer it if you ask for it but
wanted us to be aware of the different side effects etc. Also said the
stats for 2003 (Didn't have last year's) were that 30% of people didn't
use anything. Anyway, when they got to the topic of Pethidine they
mentioned how it's very relaxing and you feel almost high, however it can
pass through to the baby, give you headaches and make you vomit.

No kidding. It can also make you so cold and shaky that you don't mind
vomiting so much because it gives you something warm to lie in, as
disgusting as that sounds. Terrible diarrhea too. I don't know about
alcohol, but I can't imagine that being drunk to push a baby out is really
any more desirable.


--
Amy
Mum to Carlos born sleeping 20/11/02,
& Ana born screaming 30/06/04
http://www.freewebs.com/carlos2002/
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/ana%5Fj%5F2004/
My blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/querer-hijo-querer-hija/

Linda wrote:

But they didn't answer my question - purely out of interest - what would
happen if one used alcohol during labour?

The labour would slow down or stop. I've heard of this being done
deliberately to give a woman a break from troublesome contractions when
she's exhausted - I'm fairly sure I remember from Larry's birth story
that his wife did this, on the midwife's recommendation. (It's also
done to stop a premature labour in the first ever episode of 'Quantum
Leap', you may or may not be interested to know.) If you want your
labour to keep going, probably not a great idea!


All the best,

Sarah

But they didn't answer my question - purely out of interest - what would
happen if one used alcohol during labour? I would imagine that it would
have a relaxing effect and the after effects would be similar to pethidine
anyway - I'm sure people must have at some point.

actually we discussed this at our antinatal classes, we came to the
conclusion that 1 glass of wine in an extended early labour was not going to
do any harm, and may even be a good thing if it gets you some sleep, later
on in labour the main risk is that the baby will come out drunk, and a
drunken baby is not a good thing they would need very close monitoring for
several hours and would probably be slow to establish feeding.

as for pethidine, I don't think I've heard of anyone who has said it works
in labour, maybe it takes the edge off, but I'm not even sure it does that,
I was on pethidine before going into labour as I had such bad joint pain,
I'd had a short at 1.30pm, 100mg, which I think is either the same or half
of the standard labour dose, I then all of a sudden went into labour and at
2pm was 6cm dilated, which hurt like hell, the only effect the pethidine had
was to make the babies heart beat non reactive.

Anne

"oregonchick" wrote in message
...
I don't know about during labor, but I have enjoyed a glass of wine or beer
on occasion during the pregnancy, my ob said it was safe - 1 to 2 glasses
per wk.

So did I and so do I! I believe the alcohol thing to be quite overreactive
in North America. I mean, in my European books, they recommend not going
over two glasses of wine a... DAY (about one cup, or 250 ml). I wouldn't go
that far, but I think there is a middle in everything.

My guess is that most doctors and authors and healthcare professionals
prefer to tell women not to drink any alcoholic beverage, because saying to
some that to drink a bit is OK is like giving them a ticket to ride... A bit
paternising, I admit, but I really think it comes from there. I mean,
drinking "a bit" to some may equal to two-three beers a day, while to others
it could mean one glass of wine here and then over a long period.

"Zaz" wrote in message
...

"oregonchick" wrote in message
...
I don't know about during labor, but I have enjoyed a glass of wine or
beer on occasion during the pregnancy, my ob said it was safe - 1 to 2
glasses per wk.

So did I and so do I! I believe the alcohol thing to be quite overreactive
in North America. I mean, in my European books, they recommend not going
over two glasses of wine a... DAY (about one cup, or 250 ml). I wouldn't
go that far, but I think there is a middle in everything.

My guess is that most doctors and authors and healthcare professionals
prefer to tell women not to drink any alcoholic beverage, because saying
to some that to drink a bit is OK is like giving them a ticket to ride...
A bit paternising, I admit, but I really think it comes from there. I
mean, drinking "a bit" to some may equal to two-three beers a day, while
to others it could mean one glass of wine here and then over a long
period.

We have such a problem here with doctor's getting sued over every little
thing. People are too dumb to think for themselves and use good common
sense. In Europe, they don't have the alcoholism rates that we do here, and
there is no drinking age. I allowed my daughter to sip a glass of wine in
France when she was 6, and she thought it was gross. But here, I'd probably
go to jail...

oregonchick wrote:

We have such a problem here with doctor's getting sued over every little
thing. People are too dumb to think for themselves and use good common
sense. In Europe, they don't have the alcoholism rates that we do here, and
there is no drinking age. I allowed my daughter to sip a glass of wine in
France when she was 6, and she thought it was gross. But here, I'd probably
go to jail...

"Europe" is not a monolithic place. European countries do have drinking
ages, and their own problems.

In Norway, they can drink beer, wine, etc at 18, hard liquor at 20. And
their week and a half of partying by high school seniors darned near
puts our college Spring Break ritual to shame. So I've been told by a
pair of brothers who are friends of mine, one of whom is a medic and has
to spend time treating and resuscitating these teenagers every year.

Here's a table that provides legal drinking ages. You can see that 18
is -much- more common that "no drinking age." Although some research
shows that 80-90% of underage teenagers drink anyway. Statistics for
cirrhosis of the liver are similar to or higher than what is found here
in some countries, although drinking and driving is not as big a problem.
www2.potsdam.com/honsondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html

Legal drinking age in France is 16, BTW, not six. (Norway is also
listed as sixteen, which contradicts what I've been told, but it's too
early in the morning for me to dig into that now. Will later.)

You can certainly make the case that the drinking age in the US is too
high. I certainly thing so. Have to use actual facts, though.

Michelle
Flutist

Michelle J Haines writes:

Here's a table that provides legal drinking ages. You can see that 18 is
-much- more common that "no drinking age." Although some research shows
that 80-90% of underage teenagers drink anyway. Statistics for cirrhosis
of the liver are similar to or higher than what is found here in some
countries, although drinking and driving is not as big a problem.
www2.potsdam.com/honsondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html

That should be .edu , not .com

Legal drinking age in France is 16, BTW, not six. (Norway is also listed
as sixteen, which contradicts what I've been told, but it's too early in
the morning for me to dig into that now. Will later.)

I think the confusion may be in the definition of "legal drinking age": the
page above is certainly confused, e.g. its information for the UK is wrong.
It seems to be trying to give the ages at which someone is legally allowed
to drink alcohol - for instance, it has a discussion of how the situation
in the US is complicated. However, it gives 18 for the UK, just with a note
about 16 in pubs. That's wrong: in the UK, someone under 18 cannot *buy*
alcohol, but it is legal for anyone over the age of 5 to *consume* alcohol.
(Actually until I searched just now I didn't know there was a minimum age.
Seems I am now officially a law-breaker, since Colin gets a tiny taste if
he asks. This is in practice a very common parental policy around here, in
the interests of not letting alcohol be "forbidden fruit".)

Sidheag
DS Colin Oct 27 2003

"Michelle J. Haines" wrote in message
...
oregonchick wrote:

We have such a problem here with doctor's getting sued over every little
thing. People are too dumb to think for themselves and use good common
sense. In Europe, they don't have the alcoholism rates that we do here,
and there is no drinking age. I allowed my daughter to sip a glass of
wine in France when she was 6, and she thought it was gross. But here,
I'd probably go to jail...

"Europe" is not a monolithic place. European countries do have drinking
ages, and their own problems.

Of course - every country has it's problems. I wasn't trying to generalize.
That was just my experience in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France.

In Norway, they can drink beer, wine, etc at 18, hard liquor at 20. And
their week and a half of partying by high school seniors darned near puts
our college Spring Break ritual to shame. So I've been told by a pair of
brothers who are friends of mine, one of whom is a medic and has to spend
time treating and resuscitating these teenagers every year.

Here's a table that provides legal drinking ages. You can see that 18
is -much- more common that "no drinking age." Although some research
shows that 80-90% of underage teenagers drink anyway. Statistics for
cirrhosis of the liver are similar to or higher than what is found here in
some countries, although drinking and driving is not as big a problem.
www2.potsdam.com/honsondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html

Legal drinking age in France is 16, BTW, not six. (Norway is also listed
as sixteen, which contradicts what I've been told, but it's too early in
the morning for me to dig into that now. Will later.)

Regardless of what the drinking age is, there is not the enforcement there
that there is here. Parents are expected to be responsible for their
children, and use their own judgement.


You can certainly make the case that the drinking age in the US is too
high. I certainly thing so. Have to use actual facts, though.

What actual facts did I miss, exactly?

Betsy