Should women have to PAY for********epidurals********....................watch the ITV1 news .............NOW

[RTKangaMummy]

now

Depends what you mean by "normal", Senora P. Of the 8 women in my NCT class, 4 of us were in labour for 24 hours, and one for 56 hours! There's only so much pain you can bear without anaesthetics. Of course if you have an easy birth lasting a couple of hours I can see why you'd want to go without an epidural, but it should be the individual choice of each woman.

kdinas - you mentioned about having a forceps delivery without an epidural. I had one. I am still having nightmares and flashbacks 15 months on. The pain was horrific, even worse than the excruciating contractions I had. I sometimes wish I had died during childbirth so I would not be suffering the way I am now. The emotional and physical injuries I have sustained are horrific.

Hi i also had a forceps delivery with NO pain relief at all (bas>"%*s). Is that maybe why i'm still having severe groin pains 8 months on? not pelvic floor more like SPD pain.

some horrific stories here - I'm so sorry some of you had such torturous experiences.
vnmum - a friend of mine had a great experience with her epidural in Austria, it was a mobile one and she could stay active the whole time. I don't know why they don't seem to do those ones in the UK
I coped Ok with my vbac (whole labour was only 5 hours though so I was lucky)with tens machine but the obs thought I was mad - I was so worried it might slow up the labour and I'd end up with another c section. what enabled me to get through it was the obs doing the breathing with me. It's such a shame the midwives have to be present if you have an epidural but not if you need other kinds of help. with 1:1 help on breathing etc I bet loads more women in the UK would be Ok without epidurals.
I can't believe this debate has been started by midwives!!