No drugs for me, it's only a spot of labour

The BBC news website reports today that many women underestimate the pain of labour and childbirth and want to get through the ordeal without any drugs. Research at Newcastle University has revealed massive discrepancies between the expectation of labour and the actual experience (really?), which means that the quarter of women who have an epidural often feel a sense of failure. I can empathise with this, as I was encouraged by midwives, NCT ante natal classes and a private course with Birth Days, to find natural alternatives to pain relief and I would have been gutted if my birth plan had not panned out. For me, it worked, but I felt embarrassed revealing my good experience to those whose resembled a chapter from a Stephen King novel.  But I didn't go into labour blindly expecting a blissful time. I imagined pain of the Medieval torture ilk -- like having your body torn apart on the rack. Having been told that drugs could extend the agony by slowing down labour, I thought that an epidural would be harder work than going au naturel.  So I strapped on a TENS machine as soon as the first twinges of labour started to niggle. This released endorphins rather than adrenaline and helped keep panic levels down. Admittedly, there was a tipping point when I lamented, "This fXX*ing thing doesn't work!". Another clincher: living close to the hospital (how many have that luxury?) - I stayed at home so long, it was almost too late for hard core drugs when I checked in. Ultimately, there's no right or wrong way to give birth - we just do the best we can and, as first time mums, we can't possibly imagine what's in store. I was lucky to go to a midwife led unit, the Mary Rose Maternity Centre in Portsmouth, where caring support and a wonderful birthing pool was the best medicine for me.