Hi I was wondering if anyone on here ... - Fibromyalgia Acti...

Fibromyalgia Action UK

59,347 members66,394 posts

Hi I was wondering if anyone on here can share their experiences about pregnancy with no medication and labour / birth??

Mdaisy profile image
3 Replies

I have had a very troublesome pregnancy and I am now nearing due date which is wonderful because A) the lovely bambino will be here and B) I will soon be able to take my medication regime that was previously regulating my FMS . I am however interested in other peoples experiences and especially on labour and birth as it is so close now . Many Thanks in advance :)

Written by
Mdaisy profile image
Mdaisy
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
3 Replies
EmaB profile image
EmaB

Hi,

I had my little boy in 2005, I had pethadine during the labour but really wanted a water birth to help with the pain, but due to other reasons couldn't have this.

I focused on my breathing and tried to remain as calm as possible throughout. Although I cannot stress how much focusing on the breathing techniques really helped me.

All in all, I didn't find it too bad, but I was absolutely exhausted after and in pain and due to breast feeding still couldn't take anything so I just got lots and lots of rest, slept when baby slept and asked people to help out with doing everything around the house till I was back on my feet.

Good luck with it all :)

LindseyMid profile image
LindseyMid

I was fortunate in that my Fibro was under control before I got pregnant, although I did need to come off strong medication to get pregnant.

I used Natal Hypnotherapy during pregnancy and found this hugely helpful for birth. I ended up with an emergency Caesarean, but that was because of an intervention cascade due to pregnancy complications (I was induced at 38 weeks), nothing to do with the Fibro.

I didn't have a water birth because of what happened but I would recommend anyone with Fibro seriously looks into this. A waterbirth is considered to be very effective labour pain relief for most women - the only thing stronger is epidural which has a lot more associated risks. Warm water is also good for Fibro.

You can take basic medication - paracetamol, ibuprofen and codeine when breastfeeding if appropriately educated and monitored. Those three are the standard post-caesarean medications anyway.

Establishing breastfeeding was tough for us (nothing to do with Fibro), as it is for many people, but we persevered and I feel that breastfeeding may well have helped keep my Fibro under good control - it has a relaxing and muscle relaxing effect after all!

Get lots of help for after the birth. If you don't have helpful family around, you might want to consider a post-natal doula: doula.org.uk/ . Trainee doulas are limited in how much they can charge fwiw.

Also read about safe bed sharing. Sleeping with a baby is not officially recommended, but the real risks come from people falling asleep with baby in chairs or sofas, or if there are other risk factors (either you or your partner smokers, drinking alcohol, etc). I looked into safe bed sharing when I realised I just could not stay awake during some night feeds. Bed sharing can really help with establishing breastfeeding without overly exhausting the Mum too. There is a great Unicef leaflet on this but I can't find it online atm. This checklist is helpful though:

pantley.com/elizabeth/books...

LindseyMid profile image
LindseyMid

Thinking about after the birth, Breastfeeding Network and Kellymom.com have the best evidence based information on medications whilst breastfeeding. Both use the information from the Hale Guide 'Medications in Mothers Milk' which is considered the best source of evidence based information on this topic.

breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/

kellymom.com/

You may also like...

Hi, here to share my recovery - and how you can help yourself.

dramatic I could feel how all my mental issues were due to the chronic pain. Over the last 2 1/2...

Hi All, just wondered if anyone experiences this:

had this once before back in December and again now. What can it be and is it related to fibro?

Your Medical Records to be shared with anyone

called...Now how confident do you feel about that given that Atos healthcare find really unwell...

Hi every1 I was wondering if eny body has red enyfin about a link between fibro and Lyme disease

out ther who have been missed diagnosed am just wondering if eny1 has been told they have fibro but...

hi I'm. wondering if anyone can advise

NI contributions an got less than 15 points at medical,they stopped the money wat do I do