Epidural - positive and negatives please

[lucybrad]

Hi All

I am currently pg 30 weeks, and previously had twins by elcs.

I am getting worried about labour now, but have been assured I can have an epidural if wanted.

Now I was wondering, if an epidural takes away all the pain, why doesnt everyone have one? I take paracetamol for a headache so why not get rid of the pain of this? Can anyone give me real life experience of the good and the bad points please...

I had an epidural which was then top up with Fentanyl to a spinal again not going to bore you with details - suffice to say DD is our one and only child, but I would not change it we are both alive and well.
However, I did suffer three years of lower back pain afterwards and was no longer able to lift my daughter regularly after about the age of 2.5years. After alot of research I found that Astanga Yoga could help and it did after about 9 months.

I had an epidural with my second baby. Wish so much I had with my first, but I was too far along by the time I was begging for one! His birth was really traumatic.

The increased likelihood of assisted delivery is true but NOT the chance of an emcs.

Ironically I had ventouse with both of mine, one epidural one without. The birth with epidural was better in every way!!

IMHO epidurals rock.

BTABODS - there have been a couple of studies IIRC but it was anecdotes rather than science that put me off. I didn't think the risk was worth it. Managed OK without so would do the same again (barring necessity obviously :) )

1st birth with epidural after induction in hospital, pain was just too much after three hours on the drip.

2nd birth completely without pain relief, water birth with independent midwife at home.

Two very different experiences. My advice would be if you are in hospital, with long labour and a lot of pain with no-one giving a damn about who you are and what you want, go for an epidural! But giving birth can be a very different experience with the pain being just a natural and bearable part of it if you are properly supported. I know very few people believe it is possible, I certainly didn't after my first birth experience.

I had epidurals with both my babies - both born in France where epidural is the cultural norm (it was that or nothing). It was an absolutely fabulous experience - no pain, but I could feel to push. I had short labours and speedy deliveries in an atmosphere of calm and peace. Can't reccommend it highly enough in fact if I was pregnant again I'd jump on the Eurostar in a flash!

I actually thought the biggest drawback of epidurals was the risk that they can in rare cases crash the babies' blood pressure and heart rate, causing the need for a c-section pronto. That's why I never had one, the drawbacks for the woman are very minor in comparison.

My epidural only worked on one side and did not stop the pain in my back which was excruciating. I went on to have an EMCS because labour wasn't progressing but this was due to a failure to dilate and the position of the baby not the epidural. Unfortunately the spinal block for the EMCS also didn't work on one side as I found out during the operation and i had to have GA.

N.B. Despite the epidural, the spinal block and the EMCS we breastfed just fine.

I would also add that my friend gave birth to twins a couple of weeks after me with the aid of an epidural and required no interventions.

Mine worked very well. I couldn't even feel contractions. I was so worried it would wear off because they kept sayign they would let it wear off at the end. So, I asked for a top up when I knew the "last call" was close, even though I couldn't feel a thing.

I could move around, though. Ended up with ventouse. It was a horrible labour but for reasons other than the epidural and preceeding it. They took 29 hours to get around to giving it to me, despite me begging for it as soon as I entered.

Now that I know what I know...
I'd have an epidural again.
But I'd refuse internal exams.

Actually, my first choice would be an ELCS. I'll get flamed, I'm sure.

i had one with DD1 and didnt with DD2.

As a pain releif it obvouisly is fantastic, however- labour takes longer, cant feel when to push, takes ages to feel 'normal' again after you give birth, felt sick and dizzy and also fainted 1 hour after birth, was out for a few hours :( and they said it could have been due to this.

After an epidural your also not able to go home the same day - which is why i was so determined not to the second time as i wanted to take DD2 home so i could get back to DD1 asap

yes of course it was horribly painful, but felt great after i had DD2, i could walk properly, look after myself, get myself clean and off home within hours!

it is of course a personal choice, but from 2 birth, 1 with 1 without, i would definatly try without again :)

Sorry another bad story- I had an epidural with ds (my first baby) He was back to back and was having very painful contractions every 3 mins but not progressing for 3 days so had the epidural on the third day hoping i would be able to get some sleep.

For me it was the worst thing i did. It only worked on patches of my body but my legs were totally numb so was in agony still but couldnt move to get in better positions.

The anaesthatist (sp?) also punctured my spinal cord. I ended up having an emergency section as ds was distressed however when they tried topping up the epidural the drug went into my spinal cord paralysing my muscles meaning i was wide awake and aware of what was happening but couldnt breathe or talk and i couldnt tell anyone what was happening to me. I was petrified! ended up having a ga which in itself is not a nice experience. (However I have not heard of this happening to anyone else so maybe im this was just my bad luck)

Also had the most painful headaches after the birth and a blood patch and iv antibiotics due to injecting infected blood into my spinal cord.

The birth was very traumatic and mostly due to the epidural.

'Actually, my first choice would be an ELCS. I'll get flamed, I'm sure.'

Not from me! :o

I've had 2 epidurals and 2 different experiences: both positive.
My first worked like a text book: I could feel everything except pain. Pushed my baby out without any help plus no stitches as I was in complete control.
My second only worked on one side but he was a big baby giving me hell so it was still worth it. (pushed again myself with no stitches)
With both, just before my babies were delivered I gave my husband a kiss and we both smiled. Epidurals let you do this.
The numbness wears off pretty quickly and I could take myself to the bathroom/ have a shower etc quite soon afterwards.:)

awww expat, you're lovely :)

I'm a big fan of the epidural myself.

One of the reasons we stopped at 3 is that I did not want to experience vaginal birth again.

expat that's an enormous reason for me stopping at 1

I chose to have a water birth at home, I wanted a natural birth as I don't see birth as a medical event. Water is a natural pain reliever anyway. I was concerned about the chain of intervention. I prepared as much as I could with hypnobirthing, cutting out wheat for last 3 months and perenial massage.

Obviously if there had been complications I would have wanted ALL help available but it never occurred to me to have an epidural just to take the pain away. Having said that i found the pain bearable, contractions were very similar to one of my IBS bouts.

I found the pain unbearable at 1cm dilated. I am a mega-wimp. :)

It doesn't really matter how you choose to do it or end up doing it (no pain relievers, epidural, cs...etc.) as long as you get a lovely healthy baby at the end of it. That is what is important. :) And it is the most amazing and magical moment you could ever imagine.

I found it unbearable with my 1st and 3rd. And the psychological scars DD2's fast, drug-free birth left me with were so strong, I quite literally used my mind to stop from delivering DS until I got the epi those cow midwives didn't want me to have and that I'd travelled over an hour by ambulance to get.

I just never wanted to feel that disemboweling (to me) pain I felt delivering DD2.

Ever.

Haven't read all the posts and my story's a little different. Both my babies were very quick deliveries, DS1 was 3 1/2 hours from waters breaking to delivery (DS2 1 1/2 hours!). I didn't have time for any pain relief during delivery but unfortunately had 3rd degree tear which they repaired under epidural. I hated the whole process start to finish. I felt incredibly sick, cold and incapacitated. However to be fair this may well have been because I had just had a very quick baby! Not sure my post is any help actually! Although I didn't like having a catheter and having to stay in bed for 12 hours after birth and I couldn't get my baby from the cot myself, had to call a nurse to do it

I have a positive epidural story. It's 8 years ago now, but I can't remember any pain at all, though I suppose there must have been before the anaesthetist came. The midwife monitored everything well and I knew when to push from her. I didn't tear or need any further intervention and came out of hospital the next day and was back at work the following week.

In fact the only negative thing about it was that when I had a cuppa and biscuits afterwards, they came straight back up again because it did make me feel nauseous.

Some people don't want one. I expected pain in labour and wanted to experience it. Not to say I didn't change my mind during the process and whimper about wanting an epidural! But by the time I got into the hospital it would have been too late anyway.

For my second baby, I decided I definitely didn't want one (really hated the thought of the needle in my back and not being able to move) and as I'd had a short and straightforward labour before, knew there was a good chance of it happening again so I had a HB.

For me, the trials of my, very textbook, labours were preferable to the epidural procedure, the lack of mobility and the risk of ventouse/forceps/episiotomy. But had my labours been longer/complicated, I would probably feel differently.

If you have high blood pressure in pregnancy, definitely ask for an epidural. If you have high blood pressure and are being induced absolutely ask, ask and ask again for an epidural.

I was induced due to low liquor levels, history of high BP. 2nd dose of drugs for induction started incredibly painful contractions and sent my BP sky-high. Asked for epidural - eventually got one 4.5 hours later.

Epidural is not a treatment for high BP, but can have side-effect of lowering BP, and the removal/reduction of pain will help your BP anyway.

Just as well I had the epidural - even after it my BP reached 232/198 and doctors were shouting at each other to get more Magnesium Sulphate into me to prevent a stroke.

Had an EMCS because baby's heartrate was down to 40. No time to top-up epidural for EMCS (top-up takes 15 mins), so had GA.
Epidural topped-up sometime after GA - so had numb legs for at least 12 hours.

Would definitely have an epidural if ever having another child - v unlikely. The epidural worked much better than G+A which did help a lot. I was much calmer after the epidural instead of being in a complete panic with every contraction - so I would have had it just for that.

I had to go on oxy drip because of green waters. This made contractions sooooooo painful and no real break between them once turned up to full. Only thing they could do to relieve painw as epidural-great!!! my labour was slow to progress but not sure if this just coincidence. I ended up having about 5 top ups as went on a while and eventually a ceasarean but next time I will just book in for one as don't want to go through it all again. Worst feeling in world when it wears off and contractions come again after you've been awake 3 days! But, if you could have one and give birth before it wears off, I'm pretty sure in my mind that this would be the best way!

For me, it was horrid.

Had epidural with DS because I was exhausted (was managing pain well on G&A but was only 4cm after 30 hours of labour and needed to sleep). It didn't work well at all - could feel pain within 5 minutes on one side. Each top up caused my blood pressure to crash and me to get cold, faint, sick and shivery. I was immobile so couldn't move which is not ideal when you feel nauseous and faint at each top up and wnat to shift position to feel better. It slowed everything down so I had to be in this horrid state for longer than I had hoped (12 hours in the end). And I didn't get the rest I wanted because I was so uncomfortable at best and in severe pain at its worst. I was then numb in my lower back for the next 2 weeks. I did manage an unassisted delivery but it was an hour of exhausted pushing with threat of intervention hanging over me (got him out 8 mins before their deadline!)

With DD I was adamant I didn't want an epidural. At one point in labour I got worried I'd need it and started to panic but DH managed to calm me down. In the end I did it all on G&A, delivered very quickly, felt in control during and felt bloody fantastic afterwards and am still on a high about it 6 weeks later as it was such a positive, wonderful experience - very healing after the tough time with DS.

It may work brilliantly for you, and I really hope it does if you have one :), but be aware that it could cause other problems - it's not a no risk decision - you're putting a drug in your body and all drugs have the potential to cause side effects, and you have no way of knowing whether you'll suffer them or not.

My epidural made my blood pressure drop dangerously low (known side effect, that's why they give fluids IV) my baby's heart rate dropped to 50 beats per minute.

It recovered but after that his HR dropped with every contraction so I had emcs.