Epidural question about pain

[buttonmoon78]

OK, so some of you may remember me asking about sections etc as we're ttc#4 after nasty pg and nasty birth with #3.

I've got my head round not wanting a section, and making sure that consultant knows I want epidural as soon as I get to hosp (last time I asked 5.5 hrs before ds was born but it never happened).

But reading that thread about the most painful part of labour someone said that she still felt crowning etc.

Is this right? I had been thinking that once epi was in, you felt no pain at all?

Am I being horribly naive? If I am, please don't laugh or be horrible to me!

I still felt pain in my back after an epidural. That wasn't a failed epidural as such, but DD's bad position meant she was crushing my actual spine. So it is possible, even with a very topped up epidural, to still get pain I'm afraid. The good news is that I got the gas and air back!

For most people, whether you feel any pain or not is more to do with how many top ups you have though, I think.

button, I felt nothing after I had mine, but my midwife made sure I was kept topped up.

I had one with both births, didn't feel a thing. The second time rund it wore off towards the end & only worked on one side & I still didn't feel anything, even though I could still push. Had to ask both times if teh baby was out!!!! I always wonder why they can give you a numbing injection in that area before stithced but not before crowning!? I am due my third in 8 weeks and going to try to do it without an epidural, eeek!

That was mean to read stithces, not stithced!

stitches even

They can fail too! A friend had one and it worked a bit on one side, enough to mean she coudn't walk but that was it for pain relief.

I had 2 epidurals with ds and neither worked, Im not saying this to scare you just so youre prepared.

I think that an 'ideal' epidural would wear off just as transition happens, allowing you to feel and push effectively with your contractions.

Also some epidurals are only partially effective (I could still fell pain on parts of my right side).

There could be any number of reasons why an epidural would not give you 100% pain relief from start to finish.

I'd suggest having a chat with either your consultant or MW to see if your expectations are reasonable and what they can offer to help you.

The best epidural is one which removes the pain but leaves sensation so that you can move your legs etc. However, they can sometimes fail completely, sometimes work down one side only (in which case you should lie on the side where it isn't working to get the epidural to move into that space), leave 'windows' of pain or very commonly, take away the pain but leave a sensation of 'pressure' esp when baby's head is sat on the sacral nerve. There are lots of tricks the midwife and anaesthetist can try to get to to work properly but nothing is guaranteed! Good luck you can always use your entonox at the same time if you need to.

I had an epidural and it took the edge off the contractions but I could still feel them, was still sucking away on gas & air too. That said, it was not a horrible pain iykwim, it was quite nice to know it was a level I could cope with and that I would know when to push etc.

I don't think it's naive to ask that either. I thought it would just take all the pain away too .

I still felt the crowning but it wasn't scary, it was...um, I dunno a bit odd. I'd had pethidine with dd1 and was too in and out of it to really notice if I felt anything (I don't remember feeling the crowning). The epidural (and the g&a) meant I could focus on breathing and just let my body take over with the pushing. It was nice, I guess you'd say.

Sorry probably a bit of a mixed up post but really trying to say I still felt stuff but it was a good experience.

TheUnmentioned makes a good point: a small proportion of epidurals do fail or only work partially. Apparently, failure is more common in someone who has previously had a failed epidural. The fact that yours worked last time may stand you in good stead.

My mum had 4 failed epidurals, one with each of us. I think she must have a wonky back or something. However, she still describes 3 of her 4 births as "not that bad"...

I had an epidural that only worked partially. I moaned about it until the midwife had a look and saw that it had become dislodged. It was re-sited and then I had no pain. However, this was part of the problem for me. I had no idea when to push and no pain to actually push 'away' which resorted in my pushing being basically crap = forceps, epis and stitches etc.

My friend has epidurals at the start of labour then lets them wear off for pushing so that she actually feels herself give birth. I think this is prob the best way to do it.

Thank you all for your help.

Last time I was pushed towards a section and refused (even went to the trouble of having ds turned as he was breech and turning with spd is no joke). I know my body and I know that after a natural delivery, I'm up and about really quickly.

So I know that if we're lucky and I conceive I'm likely to get spd again and get pushed towards a section again. Again, I'd like to refuse but a back to back labour with spd was horrifically painful.

With all three previous labours I've had G&A which was great and a shot of pethidine with DD2 (which made me throw up even more than I usually do in labour) so was determined not to have that again.

TBH, I think I'm going to have a long chat with my consultant at the first opportunity. If she can't do the deal on an epidural then I think I'm going to have to go down the section route. I really can't face another labour with spd without the guarantee of proper pain relief.

I needed diamorphine for them just to turn ds for goodness sake!