Epidural or not

[LolaBumble]

Hi all,

I am a way off giving birth yet, only 24 weeks, but just wondering what people’s experiences have been!

On one hand like the idea of a water birth, and on the other hand I think I’d rather have an epidural. First baby and really have no idea what to expect!

I had a water birth, no pains meds. My personal experience is labour is very much a mental battle rather than a physical one. I found breathe work and not letting my brain tell me I can't do it got me through all of it. And don't read all the horror stories people like to tell. Your body is made for giving birth just remember that and drink a lot of water! I think you'll be amazed at what you're capable of

See, when I read phrases like "getting through it", that seems like a horror story to me.

Each to their own, I guess, but after I got the epidural I just had a nice nap until it was time to push. There was nothing to get through, other than the half an hour or so between deciding I wanted the epidural to actually getting it.

No horror story here, I wasn't in pain just uncomfortable at times but what heavily pregnant woman isn't. I had an amazing experience, wouldn't have changed anything and would do it again

My first born was a hypnobirth, second was epidural. I would do either one again in a heartbeat.

I went into my first with the thinking that pain is just pain, but if it turns into suffering then I'd ask for pain relief. As it was, I never felt I was suffering and he was out in 4 hours.

During my second pregnancy I almost lost the baby at 30 weeks so I didn't practice any hypnobirthing exercises as I just wanted him out safely - I opted for epidural in case he went into distress and OBGYN needed to operate.

I didn't need a c and he was out in 6 hours - I slept through all but the last 15 minutes when doc woke me up to push at 6am. Baby arrived 5 mins later.

I found the best way was to approach with a see how it goes attitude. Labor is different for every baby, even for the same mother.
I had the same level of pain when I was 4cm with #2 as I did at 8cm with #1! DS1 was textbook birth, perfect position, head well engaged, my body dilated quickly etc.
Ds2 was a slower burn, head not as well engaged, not as far down in the birth canal etc.

Plan for the best possible outcome, try not to fear the pain, and go with the flow. And yes, absolutely demand pain relief as and when you feel you need it.

I've had a birth with, and a birth without.

The birth without was my first. While I am not in the slightest bit needlephobic, and I've seen literally hundreds of spinals being inserted, I wasn't keen on having an epidural. I know it's likelier to be correlation rather than cause (i.e. those who are likely to end up having an assisted birth are more likely to ask for an epidural), but I felt I already had enough risk factors for an assisted birth already (BMI, first baby, early induction). If the pain was too much (and I have a pretty good pain tolerance) I would consider an epidural then. As it happens, the pain was a bit too much, but I was given an alternative option of diamorphine, which I opted for instead. I now see how people get addicted to that stuff. I was as high as a kite until shortly before baby was born.

My second I did have one. I went into labour in similar circumstances (early induction), expecting it to be quicker and easier than my first. Oh how wrong I was. Labour was a little easier, but it was far and away from quick. I spent the same amount of time on the drip as my first, but only progressed to 5cm. I had the option of opioids or epidural, and this time chose the epidural. If it had taken so long to get to 5cm, how much longer was the rest of labour going to be? Knowing that I wouldn't want multiple doses of opioids, it was an easy call. A few hours after the epidural was inserted (made the mistake of requesting it at handover on a Friday night, so had to wait an hour an a half) the call was made to have a C-section. Turns out baby was badly positioned and was never coming vaginally. Hence my belief it's correlation, not cause. It wasn't in long enough to affect baby's position before he was extracted.

The epidural was ok. Handy for the C-section as it only needed topping up. But I do have niggling back pain that I didn't have prior to the epidural. I felt the needle during insertion too. It didn't hurt, but it was very unpleasant feeling it. I just wanted it over with, so told the anaesthetist to continue.

If I were to have another baby, I would stil attempt to go without. But I would never say never to having one

Wow thank you for all the replies, have enjoyed reading. Interesting to hear so many people’s experiences. I will definitely go with the flow.

It wasn’t something I considered an option as it would have changed absolutely everything about how I gave birth and the hours and days afterward for both me and my partner.

In what way?

I had DD with an epidural and it was such a positive experience because most of my pain was gone and I enjoyed every moment of giving birth.
DS came too quickly and there wasn't time for an epidural . Contraction pain and the burning when he was coming out were the dominating emotions.