Too late for epidural?

[theprecious]

Did anyone have experience of asking for an epidural then being told it was "too late" ? Three of my friends had this happen and it seems weird. Can you ask to be warned when is right time, before it gets to late?

Yes you can ask to be told when it's the right time.

I was told it was too late when I was 7cm dilated - but I still had two hours or more to go - so it wasn't really too late. I was glad in the end not to have one.

I have a couple of friends who had epidurals at 9cm and their babies were born within the next half an hour , therefore the epidural didn't really work until after the baby was born - and that's very annoying.

they just say that
cheaper for them if you dont

cheaper for them and better for their statistics - that's very sceptical - but probably true in some cases (I live in Belgium where health care is private, so you get what you ask for, because you pay for it. That's also not always a good thing).

I had a mobile epidural at 8cms. I said at the time I didn't want to be allowed to go beyond the point of not having one without being warned, but in the end, as I hadn't slept for 48 hours, it all got too much and I asked at 8cms and they were fine. I have heard people being denied after 8 cms, though - so perhaps this is the magic number?