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've aware of what the NICE guidelines are. I'm also aware of what the actual policy is in a lot of hospitals and the reality of a lot of women who do ask for one.

Nope. Had all my three with no painkilllers at all. Hardcore.

Hi, we've moved this into Childbirth. Thanks.

SOZ I was only saying. If you ask for a section before you start giving birth, ie in your birth plan, they can't refuse can they?
genuine question.
I don't mean in the middle of labour by the way.

Thanks for that MNHQ, now no one will read it. The really good thing about this thread being in AIBU was that it was attracting a wide pool of thought and interest.

not impressed

Well said Digestives!

I didn't have an epidural with either birth but I begged for one with my first! With my second the pain was never anywhere near as bad as it had been with my first and I was fine on gas and air. No one can know exactly how it feels for someone else and no two labours are the same, even for the same woman!

I was induced and had the epidural at 1.5cm, I was in a fair amount of pain at that point and wanted the epidural as it was obviously going to get worse. Even if I hadn't wanted it for the pain I would have had it for the examinations which I found appalling.

I had a really good experience over all (baby came less than 12 hours after starting the induction process) and don't regret the epidural at all. I gave birth in France and epidurals are routinely offered. The hospital I was in said they don't give pethadine at all because of the side effects. I heard gas and air was available but the staff never mentioned it.

It's interesting that in France epidurals are the norm, offered as a matter of course, but there doesn't seem to be the fuss about intervention being too high or too high rates of EMCS.

People who don't want epidurals over here are very much the exception. Yet people still manage to havd uncomplicated but pain free births. I wonder why that is.

I had one, and couldn't have not. DS had late decels, so from the moment I got to hospital I was stuck on a bed with cfm, which progressed to a clip on his head, and then to fetal blood samples, which was the single most excruciating experience of my life - until the epidural. Thankfully at that point, I no longer felt them.

Before I had it, and they took the first sample, I blacked out, and came round to my mum and husband sobbing because it had been that bad for me to endure, and for them to watch me endure.

It also meant I got a few minutes sleep during a 36 hour labour, which ended up as an emcs.

Disgusted by the thought process behind rationing them, tbh.

Shame the thread was moved. Interesting and wide ranging discussion.

I had one; went from zero to fully dilated in ~7 hrs on 2 codeine tabs and gas/air (DC1). Hurt like hell but I could have coped. Examination at 10cm revealed she was stuck in poor position and contractions slowed so was put on oxy drip and had epidural. Still felt the pain/contractions (and could move my legs) but as it was then another 5hrs until she was born, it made it manageable.

In my case, the epidural combined with v good MW saved me from a theater forceps or EMCS delivery so it v much depends on circumstances. No episiotomy or instruments.

Wonderful staff/care at the Rosie in Cambridge.

casserole this is where the luck comes in. I did say I think a huge amount is luck. I'm sorry you didn't have the experience you planned.

I think each labour is different. My first was excruciating with what felt likevno gaps between contractions, plus very long and I simply became exhausted. The epidural was essential to me and I am no wuss! With my second, each contraction was painful but NO WHERE near as bad plus I had short gaps between them which made a difference to me coping. Baby was very high up for most of second labour (although very big) so maybe it's about where they are positioned? Long painful labours are v hard and no ne should ever feel like they have wimped out by asking / screaming for an epidural IMO. I have had 2 very different experiences and each one so different. About to have my third and have barely written anything on my birth plan this time....I will wait and see what I need at the time!

Well, I gave birth in 1965 - 36 hours of agony and the midwives had no scans in those days and had no idea that the baby was delivering on her back until she popped out face upwards. The pain in my coccyx was torture and I felt as if I was on a torture rack being pulled apart for all that time. Gas and air did nothing, injections of whatever it was in those days did nothing, and I screamed the hospital down. Just recently learnt that babies born on their backs are the most painful births, but I got no sympathy afterwards from nurses after they had constantly reprimanded me for screaming for 36 hours. There were no epidurals in those days, and how I wish there had been!!!!!! Some women are lucky, I know, and don't need epidurals, but I think they are in the minority. Excruciating and long labours should not be forced on women giving birth, it should be their decision as only they know the extent of their pain

I had a 4day induced labour and an epidural towards the end, which ended in a c-section (would have been quicker but they were very busy in theatre and neither baby nor I were distressed) the MWs & consultant suggested it as I had just about been coping with the pain (baby bouncing off cervix + displaced arthritic hips - really not much fun) but I was so tired that I was starting to lose the will to live.... Epidural was fab. DS's birth was never going to be normal or completely natural due to my crappy body (pre existing medical condition) so I don't regret it one bit and it couldn't have slowed down labour any more. I had that fabulous combination of strong close together contractions & a cervix that was refusing to dilate more than a few cms.

I had one with DS and it was lovely. The doctor was called Dr Martin and he was the most gorgeous human I'd ever seen and I wanted to call DS Martin. :o

We don't have gas and air here though.

I had one, I doubt I could have gone on without one. I spent 36 hours in early labour with contractions that lasted over 2 minutes and were every 3-5 minutes, standing up (the only comfortable position), not eating, not drinking, and vomiting copiously. It was charming - and they barely agreed to give me codeine. After 36 hours they deigned to examine me in the light of giving me morphine, found I was finally 4cm, and I demanded a transfer to the CLU and an epidural. Luckily they were quite quiet and this was done quickly. I honestly was so exhausted that if it had taken another few hours to get to the pushing stage, there was absolutely no way I would have been able to push and I would have been those women half-passed out from pain and exhaustion who refuse to push. Even more luckily, going for an epidural meant someone actually bothered to listen to my baby's heartbeat and examine me properly and found that my baby was distressed, my waters had been leaking a tiny amount for days and so were infected, and she was so poorly she was taken straight to NICU. We lodged a formal complain with the hospital about the lack of examinations of me or my baby on the pre-labour ward, I feel sick thinking about how long it might have taken them to realise my baby was so poorly and how much worse she might have been

I genuinely believe that a woman in long early labour with long, strong contractions, or serious vomiting, or just having been awake for a few days, will be almost beyond the point of actively pushing and this increases the risk of the baby getting distressed because pushing takes so long, and thus increases the chances of an emcs. An earlier epidural in a lot of cases would actually be a benefit. If my baby hadn't been poorly, I do believe that a few hours rest and being able to keep fluids down would have put me in a position to actively labour.

Having an epidural is one of the only ways of guaranteeing continuous one to one care from a midwife in many consultant led units.

The fact that 1 in 5 labours is induced, and a massive number of women have neither mobility (because of CEFM) nor one to one care from a known midwife (something which is known to increase the ability to cope with labour pain) makes plans to limit availability of epidural a very grim thought.

Why create conditions which make labour unbearable for so many women, and then hold back the one thing which makes it possible to cope with?

It used to be almost a given that first-borns often died during birth after very long labours. And up to one in three husbands lost a wife in childbirth in Victorian England (getting through three wives was pretty common).

I went into labour naturally, but after 14 hours and being made to get out of the pool as apparently that can slow things down, my SPD that had me in a wheelchair already managed to get so bad that I was screaming - the contractions were fine. I'd had bad reactions to pethidine so it was epidural time despite me being terrified. And it was wonderful - especially as even with max syntocin I had another 24 hours of labour to go, and meconium in the waters resulting in a ventouse delivery (and prepped for CS if that hadn't worked).

I think it's most likely that without epidural and syntocin that eventually I'd have given birth to a dead baby and probably my pelvis would never have recovered and I'd never have walked without pain again. Dd's birth was similar but faster - she'd probably have lived but I'd probably have been unable to walk.

Admittedly 100 years ago I'd probably have been lighter, less sedentary and hopefully not had SPD so badly, but equally might have had other medical issues that would have made birth problematic.

The NHS needs to look at effects (including cost, yes) of epidurals versus the whole-life effects on mother, baby and rest of the family if one isn't available.

I know I couldn't have managed without an epidural second time round. Having had a lovely, relatively pain-free, natural first delivery, I was totally unprepared for the horror that was number 2.

I was sick between all my contractions right from the start and I still don't really understand exactly what happened or why it was suddenly so painful but I only very narrowly avoided having a CS and I screamed so loudly and for so long that I couldn't speak for a day afterwards. The epidural made it only just bearable. I am totally not a wimp about pain but it wasn't manageable beforehand and without it I really don't think that I would have been able to deal with the trauma afterwards.

I understand that women have managed to give birth for ever without the aid of drugs but I don't see why, given that we live in the 21st century, we should make it any harder than it has to be.

I had a similar experience to Digestives on page 1, was in complete agony, the labour wasn't progressing and I was completely incoherent. I just wanted everyone to go away and was bellowing with pain. When the MW did finally check me, I thought I would die when she said I was only 6cm!! If they hadn't given me an epidural, I think I would have passed out anyway or started hallucinating or something.

It's such bullshit to try and ration a helpful, benign form of pain relief out of some weird idea that women in the past coped with labour without epidurals so women nowadays should as well.

It's like saying that in the past, soldiers had their legs amputated with a blunt hacksaw and nothing but a swig of brandy so the govt should save on defense spending by not allowing any pain relief for field medical operations and then saying that any soldier who complained isn't a real man. That's the equivalent nonsense to what women are made to deal with by the penny-pinching sadists that run maternity services in the UK.

Napa, that is the same argument I always use. People have been dislocating their shoulders since the word dot, no one suggest that they should have it popped back in without pain relief just because that is how it 'used to be done'!!

Honestly, the people who want to limit epidurals must be either a) childless, b) men, or c) had a relatively easy labour. I swear a labour can't have been that bad if you didn't have, or beg for, an epidural (obviously I mean during the earlier stages, I know in the latter stages you might be too late or have emergency intervention and I am not even going to begin to contemplate how awful that must be).

Loved my epidural. I knew I wanted one from the start, indeed had always been terrified of labour so would literally not have decided to have a child if I hadn't known an epidural would be an option.

I had to wait until 7cm or so, but I had one, and would definitely have one again. The very idea that they want to ration them makes me .

DD had an epidural with a 26 hour labour and I bloody needed it - would have been agonising going on for that long without one, as it was gave me the opportunity to sleep and so be quite fresh for the hard work of psuhing.

DS came along in a little less than an hour - was bloody agony and I begged for an epidural but I couldn't have one and got through it fine.

I do think it depends upon the woman and how she is labouring and should not be available on request - I work in the NHS and things we have to say no to are heartbreaking - they have to keep hold of the purse strings somewhere and as much as I agree with choice I do think some women do go on to labour without an epidural and realise that it wasn't needed.