Mum Has A Completely Pain Free Labour – And Now She Still Can't Feel Pain
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Emily Madeley, 24, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, had an average pain threshold before she welcomed her son Alfie in 2015.
But bizarrely, when she went into labour, she reported experiencing very little pain - to the extent that when she began to dilate, she didn't know it was happening.
When Emily turned up to hospital to be induced in November 2015, nurses were stunned to discover she was already 8cm dilated.
Medical staff were then left gobsmacked as pain-free mum proceeded to casually munch her way through a tube of Pringles as she pushed out baby Alfie.
Following on from her inability to feel her contractions, Emily says she no longer feels any pain - and has even broken bones and scalded herself without noticing.
Emily said: "I've never been to the doctors to find out why I felt no pain. Before I had Alfie I would stub my toe and be in so much pain - so it's strange."
She worries that having another baby could somehow reverse the unusual condition.
The mum continued: "I was absolutely dreading labour and giving birth whilst I was pregnant - it's so scary when it's your first so I would worry about it all the time but it was nothing like what I expected.
"It was quite relaxing - I just ate Pringles and watched some TV and he was out before I knew it."
Emily's are concerned that she couldn't seriously hurt herself without realising, and are encouraging her to get a medical diagnosis.
According to a study carried out by clinicians and scientists based at Addenbrooke's Hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge, one in 100 women have a gene which acts as a natural epidural during birth.
This rare gene - called KCNG4 - produces a protein that controls the electrical signal that flows along our nerve cells.
It's this process that stops the women from experiencing the same level of pain during labour, research says.
We've heard of women having higher pain thresholds, for sure - but finding child birth "relaxing" takes it to a whole new level.