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I tried it while we were waiting to see if I could have an epidural and I found it did nothing for me during contractions.

With that said, it was all my SIL used during two of her labours and she loved it.

I loved it for about 45 minutes of labour. After that, I was relying on it too much and it stopped being effective. But for that amount of time it was awesome.

When my planned home birth had to be transferred to hospital I used the gas to calm the panic attack I had when I got there (I've been terrified of hospital births since my first birth went badly). It worked pretty well for that. I was able to regain focus and deliver without any other interventions.

I dunno, I have laughing gas at dentist every time I get work done because I have bad anxiety. I get very loopy and "loose" feeling. Basically feel drugged and not in control - I definitely wouldn't like that feeling during labor.

Yes, but it did nothing for me!

@Mrs.KMM: Same.

I'm terrified of needles and will have fillings done without Novocaine, The laughing gas does pretty much nothing - maybe makes me feel a little bit woozy, but when the pain start it really doesn't dull it at all. The idea of using it during labor is pretty laughable to me. Unlike dental work, labor was enough to have me begging for needles to take the pain away!

If you use it properly, it definently does something. When I was using it myself, it didn't do anything. When they made me use it and coached me with it, it got me super high within a minute. It is calming and is something to focus on, but it can make you very nauseous and light headed. The high goes away in like a minute if you don't like it. I can't imagine doing it over an extended period of time.

I was using it initially during active labour, and I wasn't doing it effectively, so I felt nothing and then barfed. I had to have a manual retained placenta removal post delivery, so they were the ones holding the mask and telling me to breathe and it did help a very unpleasant procedure go by with some comfort.

I tried it with DD1, as it is common procedure in Australia, and I hated it. It did nothing for the pain and all it did was make me vomit. As soon as I stopped using it, I stopped vomiting. And then requested that epidural ASAP!

they offered it during my first labour -- after the first breath in I vomited everything in my belly. that was the end for me! I heard some people just react to it differently. overall I heard it doesn't really do much with respect to labour pains. no harm in trying, though!

It did absolutely nothing for me. Except make me really thirsty. It does help you focus on your breathing though.

I liked it. Not so much a pain killer as a good distraction! I had to ease off it towards the end though as I started talking complete gibberish from being so spaced out.

@paigeface: I used it for my delivery 6 weeks ago! I used it when transitioning from 7 to 10 cm and it definitely took the edge off. I don't think I could have done it naturally without the gas. It took a few attempts to know just how deeply to breathe (too little = no help vs too much = feeling a little too high). The feeling was comparable to having maybe 1-2 glasses of wine too many, for me anyway. The "buzzed" feeling disappeared quickly. It just sort of put some space between me and the pain if that makes sense. It was still there, but muted in a way. Thankfully I never had nausea or vomiting or any other negative side effects like some have mentioned.

I will say it was really hard to use during pushing and that part was by far the most challenging and painful for me (2 hours!) I just couldn't hold the mask and push/hold my legs/listen to the nurses well all at the same time. I tried to still take breaths of it when I had a few seconds of rest which helped keep me going at times.

Is this commonly offered at hospitals in the states? I've never heard of anyone I know in real life using gas, but I would definitely be interested.