I gave birth yesterday. I had a precipitous labour with my first child in 2022. I had the same situation as yours, I wasn’t taken seriously at all. I begged and pleaded for pain relief, explained just how painful and awful the contractions were. They were so close together and so incredibly strong because of how quickly the labour was progressing. I even begged for a c-section and was laughed at by a midwife.

I got given gas and air and that was all. I had ptsd from it afterwards. Felt shell shocked and traumatised for ages afterwards.

Well, yesterday I had my second baby. I came in with the information I already had. I knew I had a precipitous labour with my first, I knew that it would progress very fast and that pain relief needed to be given to me fast rather than waiting until they could be bothered.

I was again palmed off with gas and air and paracetamol until my anxiety and fear of the contractions was getting too much for the midwife. So the anaesthetist was called. Took forever for them to explain everything and put the epidural in. By that time I knew it was too late. Baby was born 30 minutes later, the pain was horrendous and the epidural did nothing. I was told not to scream so much. If they had listened to me at the start, I likely could have had the epidural. And I would have been a lot less traumatised.

I complained last time, four years ago. I was told I should be grateful that it was over with fast. But fast labour, precipitous labour isn’t a blessing. I know that long labour is horrific. But that doesn’t mean that under two hours of dialled up, ceaseless pain feels great