Red-haired moms/natural birth

[S.Elise]

OK, this is a strange question, but I am planning my first unmedicated birth (last time, I labored for 48 hours to about 6 cms then gave in to the epi) and I have to say that I am a little spooked by the recent NYT article all about how redheads have a lesser tolerance for pain than most people. Any fellow redheads out there who can assure me we can do it the old-fashioned way, too?

[dosergirl]

i am due literally any day now and plan on a natural birth. fear not, we can do it lady! think of it this way, we have lived our whole lives with this supposed lower tolerance, so it is only a lower tolerance as compared to others, not as compared to yourself.

don't let this psych you out! plenty of red headed women in my family have also done it au natural and all is well!

[aramat]

Outing myself as a redhead here. I've heard this before, but I think I have a pretty normal pain tolerance, if not higher. I really think that's strictly mental.

I've also heard that redheads bleed more, but from what I've heard from midwives & doctors, it seems to be 50/50. Personally, I did hemorrhage in my second birth, but hoping to prevent that this time with a healthier diet and exercise.

PS. 48 hours! You gave it your best! Were you induced, by any chance? That does often make labor more painful than usual.

[jillmamma]

Does strawberry blonde count? I have redheaded kids, so definitely the genes are there. I had both of them with no pain meds. Almost got an epidural with my first, but after the hour they wanted me to wait for fluids first, I was at 10 cm and ready to push. After doing it with him, I knew I could do it again, so am planning on a natural birth again this time. I don't know if my pain tolerance is any better or worse than others, but for me, doing a lot of reading and practicing pain management techniques really helped. So I think a lot of it is being prepared, and having few complications, plus in my case, not having super long labors really helped.

[Peace+Hope]

haha, me too!

i read that nyt article and was pissed at the extrapolations the author made.

what i think the study was saying was that redheads have a gene that keeps LOCAL anesthesia from being as effective.

that has nothing to do with pain tolerance. in fact, i've read studies that say redheaded women have HIGHER pain tolerance. this link is to a story that discusses some studies, not to actual studies.

so, crappy NYT author, poo to you, and to us strong, pain-ruling redheads!!

[flminivanmama]

Was going to post the same thing as Peace+Hope - I have heard that red heads have a HIGHER pain tolerance...

I am a red head & I had a natural birth. For my first birth I had a c-section and had NO pain meds at all till they gave me the spinal moments before they operated. (or felt anyneed for them). For my second birth I had a VBAC.

I did bleed a lot after my 2nd and fainted from the blood loss - my midwife said it was because "redheads are bleeders" LOL

PS - I also almost always have dental work with no novocaine b/c it doesn't really work and only makes my lips and cheek feel funny for hours after...

[jsh7809]

I'm a redhead, 9 weeks pregnant now. A friend of mine recently pointed this out (before she even knew I was pregnant)... what do people expect us to do with this information?! Ha ha, sigh. I'm a woman who's had really severe dysmenorrhea (I cannot spell lately, pregnancy brain)/ terrible cramps with my menstrual cycle the past decade, and did wonder if maybe I am more sensitive to the pain of those cramps due to being a redhead (or whatever). But I heard about another study that said that women with bad cramps tend to have easier labor pains. My unscientific theory is that we've already had to deal with a lot of really awful contraction-y pain, so when labor comes, the pain is bad but not such a surprise.
But this is my first pregnancy, so I really don't know WHAT I'm talking about. I'm going to do my best to ignore any implication that my pain will be worse, because I probably wouldn't know what was normal for anyone else anyway. I'm gonna try to focus on my body being built to do this, and that the pain will be worse than I can imagine, but I will get through it and can't do much about that anyway. I'm also going to explore guided meditations/ hypnosis - and though I'm going to try for a medication-free labor, I'm not ruling anything out.
I think all you can really do is set goals and do your best! Good luck, and here's a redheaded hug coming your way
Oh, and don't women in general have way higher pain tolerance than men? Maybe that will help - just focus on what wussies those dudes would be in labor!

[hookahgirl]

I am a "redhead" not fire red but red enough and Im a bleeder but birthed twice w/out meds, you can do it!!

[Ambystoma]

The Scottish half of my family would disagree! (As would the entirety of Ireland, I imagine).

I've heard about the redheads being bleeders, but not about the pain thing. If I were guess anecdotally, I would say the redheads I know in my family have super high pain tolerances.

[Lan84]

I'm a redhead (very, very, very red hair) and my pain tolerance is terrible! I don't know if degree of redness matters or not. I'm hoping to go as long as I can without any pain medication, but I won't turn an epidural down if I'm in serious pain. I've had issues with some local anesthesia in the past, but not general anestesia and it doesn't happen all of the time. Generally I feel any work being done on my teeth, which can be pure torture.

Please let us know how it goes! You definitely can go the natural way. It's been done for thousands of years. It just might be tougher depending. Good luck!

[christina10106]

I'm a red head and I actually have a high tolerance for pain. Local anesthesia never works for me, and I did bleed a lot after my second. The bleeding could've just been from a tear. I gave birth to my second drug free at home. Don't listen to that crap, you can do it!

[firewoman]

I'm a redhead! I have had two homebirths without meds after having two in the hospital with epidurals. My labors were quick and straighforward with minimal bleeding. I'm planning my third homebirth coming in the next month or so and if labor had been that bad for me, don't you think I would opt to back to the hospital with an epi? You'll do great. Stay home longer this time. Hospitals really tend to slow labors down with all their paperwork and IV's and monitoring. It is hard to focus on laboring when you are being pulled in so many different directions!

[MamaMonica]

Moved to Birth and Beyond .

[Sailor]

I'm a red head too. Pregnant with my first. I so did not want to read this article, considering I'm planning on a natural home birth.

Pain tolerance ... to be honest, I probably do have a low pain tolerance. However, I always figured that once the baby was inside of me (short of an emergency), it was only coming out one way. So, somehow, I'd just get through it.

I'll let you know how that goes, lol.

[GoestoShow]

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Edited by GoestoShow - 12/10/10 at 6:56pm

[S.Elise]

Originally Posted by aramat

Outing myself as a redhead here. I've heard this before, but I think I have a pretty normal pain tolerance, if not higher. I really think that's strictly mental.

I've also heard that redheads bleed more, but from what I've heard from midwives & doctors, it seems to be 50/50. Personally, I did hemorrhage in my second birth, but hoping to prevent that this time with a healthier diet and exercise.

PS. 48 hours! You gave it your best! Were you induced, by any chance? That does often make labor more painful than usual.

Thank you! I wasn't induced, but I did go into labor naturally at 37 weeks with a fairly small baby that had his hand by his head and turned back-to-back during labor. It was fine, the first 48 hours were fairly mild. I was more tired and psyched out when I got the epi...but I DID get to skip feeling transition and pushing contractions.

[Evergreen]

I never knew you were a red head too, P+H!!!

I am a redhead. I would say I have average to low pain tolerance. I hate getting hurt. I freak out with finger pricks, I cry when I stub my toe. I did have two natural births though. The first was 29 hours, the second 42. The first one was tough, but I got through it. The second was terrible I cried, shrieked, screamed, demanded my midwife pull Ava out with spaghetti tongs, begged for a "Csection at the neck" but I got through it. I am glad I did too because after that I now realize the next one should be a breeze.

[S.Elise]

Originally Posted by firewoman

I'm a redhead! I have had two homebirths without meds after having two in the hospital with epidurals. My labors were quick and straighforward with minimal bleeding. I'm planning my third homebirth coming in the next month or so and if labor had been that bad for me, don't you think I would opt to back to the hospital with an epi? You'll do great. Stay home longer this time. Hospitals really tend to slow labors down with all their paperwork and IV's and monitoring. It is hard to focus on laboring when you are being pulled in so many different directions!

Firewoman, that is so inspiring, thank you for this! I am actually staying at home this time with a CNM and doula. Last time was actually at a WONDERFUL birth center in the UK (no paperwork, food/drink readily available, monitoring only if I wanted it, and even then I was allowed to be on my birthing ball or beanbag , privacy in a dark room with just DH), so I have to say I cannot "blame" my long labor on the circumstances. It might just be how I labor. I'm not so much scared of it being long again, I am scared of transition contractions! But hearing this gives me courage!

[ishyfishie]

Redhead here with what I'd consider a pretty high pain tolerance for "serious" things--when it comes to stubbing my toe or something like that, I'm a big baby though! I had dd in a hospital with no pain meds, 9 lbs 13.3 oz, some bleeding afterwards but no one used the word "hemorrhage" at any point. I'm planning a homebirth with #2!

[noobmom]

Not a redhead here, but I read the article a while ago.

From what I understand, redheads aren't as affected by pain meds, so basically you need 20% (or whatever the number is) more than the average non-redhead. So don't think of it as having a lower pain tolerance, think of it as the meds being less effective.

In other words, a epidural isn't going to help you as much as the next lady, so you might as well do it natural. Good luck!