Who had an epidural and could you have gone on without it?

[JeuxDEnfants]

On the back of news that epodurals are being rationed... I was in last star labour for 4 hours when contractions stalled and I needed oxytocin. Without an epidural... I think I would have experienced torture. I had to beg for one. What do you think? Aibu?

I don't get this

It was only last year they made it so any woman could ask for a caesarean. Now they don't even want to give pain relief and epidurals?

But of a turn around that.

As someone who wants to become a midwife, i belief it should be the choice of the woman. Who the hell are we to deny her

It's not just about physically coping but mentally coping. I hated using gas and air, I felt like I had no control whatsoever. I had no concept of time or how things where progressing. I couldn't remember why the midwives had said to me. I wouldnt have pethidine because I'm usually quite sick with those types of pain killers so last option was epidural. I instantly felt like I had control back over what was happening to em. For example with wrong facing Dd they wanted to use keillands forceps. I was going to refuse and ask straight for c section (in actual fact she shifted herself at the last minute). If I had still been on gas and air I couldn't have understood what was going on and don't think I could have made an informed decision about this.

I didn't need an epidural as I only had a short labour and was shit faced from the drugs.

Delivering the placenta (sp?) was a whole different story.

If a woman feels the need to have a epidural, then she should have one.

ELCS is a reasonable, safe, and not too expensive option.
VB is a reasonable, safe and cheap option..
EMCS following 24 hours of labour is (relatively) dangerous and expensive - it is the worst case option which everybody wants to minimise.
Unfortunately, by giving women in agony really effective pain relief you'll up the EMCS rates.

If you restrict access to epidurals then some women will have intervention-free births, quicker recoveries and healthier babies, but at the cost of ignoring their wishes and a risk of PTSD. Other women will end up with an epidural and EMCS anyway, no matter how much they squat on birthing balls, but will have to have hours of unproductive pain beforehand. It's genuinely tough.

I actually feel really strongly about this. I think its shocking that epidurals are being rationed... if this was any other medical procedure or accident or whatever pain relief or lack of it wouldnt even come into it.
I had one with my 1st labour which I think is fairly standard as alot of 1st time labours can last so long. My 2nd 3rd and 4th were all just gas and air despite me stating to the midwives long before I was due that I really wanted an epidural. Each and every time I was talked and coerced out of it when the time came. By the 4th I was adamant that there would be no question of it being too late or any other excuses being made and so I went to the hospital as soon as I knew labour was on its way.

Once again it was too early, not enough cm etc yet 15 minutes later it was too late as would take half an hour to get the anathethist (sp?) then another half an hour to work etc etc etc. I was and still am livid 7 months on. I feel like women are made to feel weak and a nuisance if they request an epidural. Maybe it isnt as bad for everybody but for many women, labour with just gas and air is a very painful and traumatic experience yet this is completley unnecessary if proper pain relief is offered and not witheld.
To paraphrase a favourite comedian of mine...Yeah you could do it without an epidural...shit, you can drive a car with your feet if you want to but that dont make it a good fucking idea!

I was adamant i didnt want an epidural..... after 4 days of slow labour and no sleep i was begging for a lethal injection to put me out my misery, id only just asked for 1 when the doctor arrived, apparently he'd been on standby incase i asked for 1, and the midwives told me it was too painful to watch me suffer in the way i was.

it must of been so distressing for them to watch me have contractions for soooo long

I had one with my 1st, through shock and fear really - I was REALLY shocked and panicked by how painful it all was, and with the mws telling me I wasn't really in labour yet, I thought 'nfw can I go on without'.

Whereas I was actually 8cm or so, they gave me one, and it did slow things down, ds1 was OP, and it was a good 7 hours from 8cm to him being born.

My other 3 were born at home with no pain relief, partly because I knew what to expect, and so I didn't panic at how painful it was.

stubborn with DD I was induced with Syntocinon and was offered an epidural after 7 hours with no progress. MW said I'd be another 12 hours (she was right) - finished up with episiotomy, forceps 3a tear, and MROP.

I probably would have soldiered on with the G&A had she not offered as I'm a fucking stubborn sod and had put no epidural on my birth plan.

DS was meant to be a home water birth, but the sod refused to budge so I ended up with a spinal and forceps.

I don't think they should be rationed though - if you need one, and understand the risks, you should be able to get one. I don't know anyone else in RL who had one and I know lots of women with babies.

Very like VIX four day long induction and labour extravaganza. I coped and coped and breathed and coped. Finally I couldn't stand, sit, lie, anything without almost passing out with the pain. The high point was the projectile vomiting of cranberry juice which goes a lovely shade of pink on the walls. The MW (who was a total no-drugs hippy) waited until DH went out of the room and strongly advised me to have one. I could have married the anesthesiologist. She is a Goddess. Hours later, still at less than 3cm, I had a c-section. The most perfectly posterior baby the surgeon had ever seen.

I needed one. But then, the MW told me that so I assume I wouldn't have been rationed.

I had pethidine, which I wouldn't have again as it made me feel really trippy. By the time they we're dragging DS out with forceps, I was begging for an epidural. I would rather set myself on fire than go through that again.

Saying that, I didn't regret not having one,as I was able to get up and about straight away. I would have likes a bit more pain relief for the decade long repair job the consultant had to do on my poor vagina.

I had a duff epidural late in the labor (induced). I wish I hadn't bothered as I was so close to the end and the epidural hardly worked at all. Even having the stitches after was a nightmare and only the gas seemed to take some edge off.

LiquidCosh I agree. The more I think about this the more angry it makes me. Are there any other circumstances where you would left in absolute agony? Where medical proffesionals wouldn't accept how much pain you were in or try to withhold pain relief from you? I had an operation several years ago which was unbelievably painful, I had the nurses constantly asking me my pain score, as soon as it got above 5 they pumped me full of pain killers. Practically told me to have morphine and sorted out the highest amount of different pain killers I could have to keep the pain low. When in labour though my pain score was off the chart but I was being persuaded not to have decent pain relief in case I needed intervention. To be honest I would have happily had any and all intervention to get rid of that pain. Maybe they should be looking in to offering more Mobile epidurals but these aren't available at all hospitals.

I wish I hadn't had one tbh. I had ds2 quick and was refused pain relief and it was loads better.

I went without any pain relief during my first (fast and furious) labour. Second time around I treated myself to an epidural. Best decision I ever made. I could habe 'gone without' but, given the choice, and knowing exactly what the alternative was, why would I???

Oh god, I wish I hadn't read this thread. I'm expecting my first.... the horror stories on here have terrified me.

I had one after two days in labour. Don't really remember being in that much pain at that point, but was having twins and had previously been warned that it was 'hospital policy' to do epidurals almost automatically. NCT bod who informed me of this, also told me that I could refuse, but to be honest after that length of time if they had told me I had to waddle around the car park in nightie singing Spice Girls songs I would've darned well got up and tried. Two seconds after it kicked in I fell asleep, waking briefly to top it up and finally 6 hours later to delivery the two half an hour apart.
Don't think I would've managed without it and would hate to think where we could've ended up.

panicnotanymore I have loads of stories of friends who had great births. Close this thread and don't believe this is the norm. It isn't. Giving birth is hard but the human race is at 7 billion. It works out

panicnotanymore please dont let the thread panic you just be firm and stand your ground if an epidural is the choice for you. Just be prepared to keep repeating that whilst you appreciate and understand that you could cope without one that you want one anyway and repeat and repeat.

by the way, epis can very greatly - my first one I was totally numb, didn't regain feeling until next day; second I could feel the contractions but not the pain so I knew when to push - might depend on skill of anaethesist...

I think it's a bit unreasonable to compare it with other medical circumstances. There's normally no downside to pain relief so of course you should get as much as you fancy. But epidurals do have serious risks, and the question of where to draw the line between "encouraging patient to push a bit further" and "trampling all over patient's autonomy" can be tricky.

well of course you could manage without an epidural.many thousands of women the world over do.whether you want to or not is entirely down to you. i has a very different experience to many on here by the sounds of it though.i was actually encouraged by my lovely midwife to have an epidural! was induced by drip and the only thing i was adamant about was no episiotomy.midwife gently warned me that induced labours can be relentless and that the anesthatis was on standby should i need her. my ds came after an agonising but very quick 2 hours.no drugs.sadly had to have cs with my other kids. am glad didnt opt for epidural as my sis had one and has had complications. but i think if a woman cant hack labour then of course she should have one.

I had one, had to after 28 hours of labour with not much dilating going on, had waters broken for me with the big crochet hook, still not much, then they put me on syntocinon and asked of I wanted the epi at the same time. Dd ended up being born by ventouse, though they we're about to do an emcs on me, she was back to back and completely stuck.

The thought of not having an epi next time actually puts me off ttc #2

I was given a drip to strengthen contractions. So I bloody screamed for an epidural until I got one. I had an EMCS so it was fortunate the line was already in there for the spinal so they got a distressed baby Arthur out very quickly.

I had one following an induction due to pre eclampsia. The MW said it could help with the PE and I liked the idea of not being in pain.

However, it didn't work. Not one bit. And I still ended up with an EMCS.

I'd definitely like to be given the option to try it again having seen all those birthing television programs where the woman has it and experiences immediate, total pain relief. I do wonder if I was given some kind of placebo as the epidural had NO effect on my contractions whatsoever (they were so bad I physically couldn't breathe out whilst having one) yet the spinal block they give me before the EMCS worked perfectly.

Is it actually true that they're going to ration on financial grounds though?

I can't find a reliable source for this, can you?