Epidural- how does it feel?

[Kardelen]

Hi guys!
for anyone who has had epidural how did it feel when they were putting needle? Also how many cm were you dilated when they did?

how was the recovery? How many hours after birthing were you able to mobilise?

i heard horror stories of epidural- in fact when I had my first baby, the lady opposite me couldn’t walk even after a few days, but eventually the sensation came a little and they gave her crutches to be discharged with.

This is one of my worst nightmares but I can’t go through that pain again!

When I had mine they had trouble giving it to me,I was facing the wall and my mum and husband told me afterwards their was heaps on people in the room trying to give it me

It got working in the end, I had zero feeling in my waist down as in absolutely no feeling at all

They had to tell me when I contracted and when to push it was surreal

It was the best thing ever I could have fallen asleep I was that relaxed

I had one with my second. I was really unsure about having one but the midwife recommended it because the induced contractions were just so intense and exhausting. My baby had some health complications that meant I had told myself I would trust the recommendations I was given. I don't remember any pain at all when it went in. And then it was the best thing ever - genuinely at the time it felt like a miracle!!! I could rest a little before pushing and it really helped me stay calm and focussed. I had some sensation of the contractions and also watched/touched the top of my stomach as I could see the contractions that way and push with them. I found pushing so much easier with the epidural as I was so much more relaxed and focussed without the pain clouding it. It may well have helped me that I had been through a previous (also induced, also painful) labour without one so I kind of knew what I was meant to be feeling and how to push if that makes sense. No problems afterwards. Feeling gradually came back without any issues whatsoever.

It is really excellent. I was very lucky as it was a quiet night on the labour ward and mine was in twenty mins after I asked for it. This was nearly eleven years ago - not so sure it would happen so fast these days!

It hurts like a motherfucker!

I've never had one with DS and I have newborn twins.

Because I was having twins and having a vaginal birth they said it'd be in my best interest to have the epidural incase I need to be rushed down to theatre.

I was 3cm dilated when I had it and sobbed like a baby all the way through. It hurt so so much and it was hard to stay still. To top it off waters broken whilst having the needle put in.

The anaesthetist did say that it will hurt more for me because most people who have the epidural are having it for pain relief and further on in labour. I wasn't having it for pain relief. I quite happily give birth on gas and air.

The epidural didn't work for me and I felt everything. So it was a waste of time really! I was up and about my whole labour too. I did find my back hurt for a few days afterwards as where the needle went it was quite sensitive on that part of my back for a few days after birth.

I gave birth on gas and air for all 3 of my babies. The anaesthetist did bed side checks about two days later and asked if I'd ever have one again to which I replied absolutely not 😅.

I got the electric shock too but she warned me it'd happen before it did. Horrible,

Waters broke*

Never had one, put hundreds in. Definitely would have one if I was in labour (it's rare that you find an anaesthetist who wouldn't have one). They're very safe and if you can get someone from screaming/crying/swearing/uncontrollable to sat smiling chatting and reading Facebook, oblivious to contractions its one of the most rewarding things ever.

If you know you want one, get it relatively early as there's no point suffering unnecessarily and especially out of hours there's often only one of us covering Labour ward so if we are doing a csection you may need to wait a little while. It's better to have some pain before having one as it helps us know its working, which if you needed to go to theatre allows us to decide if happy to top it up with stronger medicines or alternative options.

You need to be in active labour in most hospitals (4cm) or on a pathway to delivery ie induction to have one

Theyre uncomfortable to have put in but shouldn't be painful. There's a numbing injection to start with which is the same local anaesthetic that dentist use, stings a bit then the rest shouldn't hurt. We use a syringe of salty water to find the right space in your back which gives a pressure/pushing sensation most describe it as. You can get a tingling or pins and needles sensation whilst thr plastic tube is threaded which lasts seconds.

Takes 20mins to notice a difference in pain then another 20min to be comfortable.

1 in 10 don't work perfectly, normally one side of the body is more numb than the other, we can usually fix this by rolling you onto your side and stronger meds. Sometimes we have to redo them to resolve it

Most units use patient controlled devices, the more you click (they have safety lockouts so can click as much as you want) the more numb you will be. Numbness and leg weakness lasts 4-6h after epidural is stopped. If you deliver normally doesn't tend to change time to discharge. Csection tend to be limited by the section/feeding etc but some units if have early section they'll be home by time we go to check on them the following late morning (some trusts have minimum times to be in for post op)

Me either , and was fine the next day.

People describing numb chests/torsos will be those who have had them "topped up" by am anaesthetist for forceps of csections. We have to numb you to nipple level for this as there's more tugging and pulling involved vs labour. For labour just need numbing to mind abdomen. With higher blocks for interventions it's normal to feel heavy chested or slightly breathless

Epidurals can totally numb pain but not sensation so touch/pushing/pulling etc is totally normal during sections

I didn’t feel my epidural go in as my contractions were so strong & painful.
It worked almost straight away at relieving the pain. So in that regards - it did it’s job. Initially , I didn’t like how immobile it rendered me - I liked being able to move around prior to that and couldn’t even lift myself up off the bed. I did manage to get 2 hours sleep ( I hadn’t slept in 2 days at this point so was exhausted)

Unfortunately, and this is the big one for me, it slowed my labour right down and dds heart rate dropped which resulted in us being rushed to theatre for forceps delivery. If that didn’t work, it would have been a EMCS. I felt very much out of control of the situation and it was pretty scary.

The forceps delivery was surprisingly quick and pain free, as they topped me up. I had an Episiotomy too and again, didn’t feel a thing as the doctor stitched me up.

I reacted quite badly to the after effects of the epidural though and was shaking for a good 2 hours afterwards & felt abit out of it.
I’m due baby no2 in a few weeks & I won’t be requesting another one for the above reasons.

Hi destiny,
so basically I have a condition called vaginismus so that’s why the doctor recommended to have this approach rather than having c section. Last time I couldn’t stand any examinations, so she said I can with this as the sensation would be there but won’t be any pain. So does this mean it’s a bit like spinal? I had spinal and could feel tugging etc but I couldn’t really feel pain.

also received a letter today saying that having epidural can mean that I have c section. Is this something that happens? Why is this?

thank youu

OP there are some useful patient info leaflets about epidurals/other analgesia options on the labourpains website (run by the obstetric anaesthetists association). Generally, having an analgesic epidural in labour doesn't increase the risk of needing a c-section, but a particularly 'dense' epidural can prolong the pushing stage/be associated with a need for instrumental (ventouse/forceps) delivery. Most people don't get a dense block these days as the epidural mixes used routinely are pretty low dose, it's probably not common for the epidural to be the culprit behind needing an assisted delivery. It's probably worth asking whoever made the comment about c-sections to clarify why they think that. HTH

Theoretically if your epidural works well, you shouldn't experience pain, pushing/tugging/touch type sensations don't get eliminated with epidurals though. 1 in 10 don't work perfectly, normally one side is more numb than the other. Sometimes no relief at all, we can get most people comfortable with either extra doses or redoing it again

Epidurals are like spinals in a sense, just significantly weaker drugs used whilst labouring, so won't be as numb as a spinal

It's hard to say without reading the letter what it means. If a lady needs theatre for a csection or forceps delivery, and the epidural is working well (ie we go in the room woman's laughing and smiling, not needed us to give topups, not used any gas), then we "topup" the epidural in theatre with stronger versions of the stuff making you numb in labour to make you much more numb, and increase the height of the block so you're now numb to your nipples to stop you feeling pain whilst baby comes out. As with a spinal you will still feel pushing tugging pulling stretching.

If your epidural hasn't got you smiling at us when you needed to go to theatre, we take the epidural out and do a spinal instead (next door space in the back, different meds) so we are happy you'll be comfortable during the interventions. If it's a super super emergency (not common) then sometimes we need to give you a general anaesthetic instead

There is theoretically an increased risk of instrumental delivery (forceps, suction cup, section) with an epidural, but as I tell mum's when consenting, we don't really know if it's cause or correlation. It may just be baby is in funny position and you'd be destined for that epidural or no epidural. Similarly people who give birth at home or before hospital, don't have epidurals and also hence don't have forceps/csections so it's difficult to tell from the data if its genuine association or not.

I had an epidural with dd1. 3cm dilated. No pain while it was being administered. Was then pain free and fell asleep for a couple of hours. Dd delivered by ventouse. Had stitches but obv couldn’t feel a thing. Worked well for me.

Mine didn't hurt at all and felt like heaven will 1000% be getting one this time around too 😂

I felt nothing with my first one. Felt the scratch either the second to numb me and a bit of prodding do the procedure was painless. Up and showering unsupervised within the hour. Walked to the loo with it in situ both times.

I don’t remember any pain when the needle came in. There was no pain after epidural, could feel the contractions to push during the last stage, but was too exhausted to do it, I asked for epidural very late.

I showered after feeding baby, so within a few hours. Had no problem to walk, shower etc, just that I still didn’t feel my legs much, kinda numb. It all went away by morning. So I I was mobile straight away after giving birth, no issues.

How far up does the numbness go? Is it past your chest?

Did you have to have instrumental delivery as you couldn’t feel contractions? How does it feel when the baby actually starts pushing out? Burning? Or no pain

Did you have to have episiotomy? Ventous was in theatre ?

It felt amazing when it started to work. But I hated the feeling of it first going in and the awful feeling you get in your legs

I didn't find it painful at all, I probably had it at around 4cm I think? But they do it so you can top up when you need it I didn't use much till later on as was using gas and air.

I had a very long birth... so baby was born just before midnight. I was up walking in the morning.

The next morning I had a big bruise on my back and my leg wasn’t working properly. I kept tripping over it. It was sort of dragging behind me and not doing what I thought it was. I didn’t tell anyone because I was desperate to leave.

I have pain at the injection site 11 years on.

No. It was my third so midwife was feeling my tummy and told me when to push. Felt absolutely nothing and that was fine with me as I had already giving birth without pain relief twice before so already experienced that. Fourth baby only partly worked and really should have been resigned. I felt the burning pain and as baby crowned

That’s the scary part! Don’t want to feel any pain at All