Epidurals - tell me your stories

[Ididivfama]

I’ve been reading another thread about natural birth and now my interest has been piqued by the whole topic and the reality of them in the uk.

Does anyone regret getting one and if so, why?

Yes I had one both times, didn’t plan to but I needed it at the time. First one worked well and used for my CS although wasn’t as good as a spinal would have been. Second time worked okay, but by the point of delivery stopped working. Was topped up in theatre for my 3rd degree tear and I could still feel needles, ended up using gas & air, IV paracetamol and as much fentanyl as allowed.

pregnant with number 3 and hoping I will get through without.

didn’t regret having it previously

I had been induced and it progressed rather quickly....and painfully. After several hours, even with gas and air, I was finding it unbearable so resorted to having an epidural.

Best decision ever!! I could totally relax and just found it all so peaceful. Baby arrived around 12 hours later with around 45 mins of active pushing with no interventions.

Such a positive experience. I had no real birth plan so no expectations really other than wanting a safe delivery and for us both to be happy and healthy ☺️

I named my first born after the anaesthetist who gave me an epidural. That is all I have to say on the topic!

I was induced on the drip at 9am. By 10am the contractions were really intense so I had some morphine and managed fine on gas and air for a couple of hours. The contractions felt so intense I couldn’t move off the bed though and unknown to me, what was actually happening was my body was pushing involuntarily. Labour stalled at 4cm and my cervix started to swell so I had an epidural at the recommendation of my midwife. The epidural was great and gave me an even block on both sides of my body (I was told by midwives that the anaesthetist on that day was quite good), I stopped pushing, the swelling went down and 90 minutes later I was fully dilated and pushed my baby out in 40 minutes. I could not feel any pain at all when I was pushing but it didn’t seem to impact the effectiveness of my pushing. I do have some altered sensation to my bladder now and urinary incontinence when I sneeze etc which I think may be partly due to being in a poor position on my back when pushing. But then again I haven’t done my pelvic floor exercises as much as I should have!
I would love to experience spontaneous labour and deliver without an epidural this time, but I am more open to having one again if needed. I definitely would not recommend the morphine though because it made me feel hazy afterwards and then sleepy as it wore off.

I was induced, went from 0-4cm on paracetamol. Was moved to the delivery suite at 4cm. I asked for an epidural and got it. I was informed of the risks and complications and thought "it will happen to me." Had a nap for a while, then it stopped working on my left side (which was exactly one of the complications i was warned about). So I started using gas and air in the meantime. Midwives got me to lie on my left to try and drain the epidural from my right side to my left. Didn't work. The anaesthetist was in surgery and held up, by the time he came to my room I was 10cm and it was too late and started pushing. DH had to lift my right leg up as I couldn't feel it, but I could lift my left leg up into the stirrup thingies. 15mins of pushing and DD arrived. Next time I'll just go on gas and air as I don't want to have "half" an epidural again

That was meant to say "It WON'T happen to me" 🤣 I can't even type correctly today

This was basically my experience too.

With my first baby, I'd managed the drip on gas+air and diamorphine, and was expecting to do the same, if not with less, with my second. Unfortunately, as with a fair few others on this thread, I had a back to back baby. Tbh the contractions didn't feel any different on the drip to my first (felt them all in my back there too), but progress was ^sloooooowwwww. I went from 2cm to 5cm in the same amount of time I went from 1cm to 10cm with my first. I couldn't go on any more. Eventually I had a C-section, and it was handy then to just top up. Overall I was glad I had it, but I do have ongoing (18 months) back pain now that I didn't have before the epidural. If I were to do it again, I would try to do it without an epidural, but I would consider one earlier.

As for timings, I had drip start at 10am, requested epidural at 8PM (hand over time on a Friday night was a bit of a mistake on my part), epidural inserted 9.30pm, C-section confirmed sometime after midnight, went to theatre + epidural topped up ~1.30AM, and baby was here 2.15AM.

I had one with my first. I was on the evil pitocin drip and hadn't slept for 30 hrs at that point so it was absolutely the right thing to do. I got a couple of hours of sleep and gave birth without pain. DS1 was in a bad way when he came out but that was probably due to the lengthy, shitty labour.

I didn't have one with my second. I was on the drip of doom again but decided to see how long I could last without proper pain relief. During my last contraction I suddenly decided that I was being idiotic and that it was time for an epidural... then DS2 arrived. I'm very happy with my decision in each case.

I was induced because of reduced movements, i was so worried about a long induction and the drip after hearing horror stories so asked for an epidural at the earliest opportunity.

It didn’t work for me!
It wasn’t bad getting it put in, done quickly but it only numbed me one leg from the mid thigh down which was strange! We tried repositioning and getting me to lay in bed different ways but nothing made it work more than numbness in one half a leg! If anything it was annoying because i wasn’t able to get up and move so had contractions whilst stuck in bed.

The drip didn’t end up as bad as i thought and i managed the rest of the labour and birth with no extra pain relief, i did have a fast labour though.

I regret getting one. I was told I need one in order to have my waters broken during induction because having them broken was excruciating. AFter that it did nothing for the pain so was as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

The combination of epidural + induction meant I had to spend the whole labour laid down propped up on the bed as I was being constantly monitored and immobile. It did nothing to deal with the pain of back labour. Labour was prolonged and then stalled at 8cm for hours - because that's the point at which baby hit the wrong angle and needed to work harder against gravity. I wanted to try different positions but I was told I wasn't allowed.

So, if you have one a I strongly recommend you do everything in your power to stay mobile and use different positions to help labour progress. Do NOT accept "not allowed" unless there is an actual risk to you or your baby's health and wellbeing.

It might not delay labour progression in every woman (it didn't for lots of women in this thread), but there is a link to ECS due to labour stalling.

I was induced with prostaglandin gel and was expecting to need to have my waters broken and a drip, but flew into very active labour after my second round of gel instead.

I had done hypnobirthing and had hoped to manage labour with gas an air, but personally found labour overwhelming. Like other posters, my baby was back to back and to me it felt like being pulled apart with intense diarrhoea-like pressure even in between contractions, there was no break, no chance to right myself. My contractions remained irregular the whole way through my labour. The gas and air wasn't effective from me (but it can be for lots of people). I was 5cm just before I was wheeled down to delivery and got my epidural, and when I was checked immediately afterwards I was at 9cm.

The minute the epidural started to kick in, I felt like myself. I was able to control my thoughts, and speak to my husband instead of just groaning. The relief was immense. I had about an hour to rest, and to allow my baby to finish turning while I finished dilating. I looked at my hypnobirthing board, voicenoted my mam, chatted to my husband and the midwife, and when the time came, pushed my son out in 7 pushes across 2 contractions - he was out in 7 minutes. The delivery of my son was a great experience, and when I think about it, it makes me feel warm and safe and full of love. I was properly present for it because of the epidural. 100% would have one again.

I'd add to this that they have mobile monitors now in many places - but might have a mix of them so you might need to be a bit insistent to get one!

What’s a mobile epidural btw? Can you walk around?

It's a low(er?) dose epidural. Supposedly you retain feeling and mobility in your legs, but numbs the contraction pain. It's a bit of hit and miss, as not everyone is affected the same. I'm not 100% sure if I had one or not, but with my epidural I could move my legs. I wasn't allowed out of bed to test if I could stand or walk, but I'm confident I could've at least stood.

My epidural birth was horrendous. Hated every second of it. Didn't feel that euphoria everyone tells you about when you first hold your baby. Recovery time was much longer.
My natural birth was easily the best experience of my life, I practiced breathing techniques and only felt pain when his head was coming out. It was incredible I would do it all again (and I will be in 7 months)

I had one after hoping to follow hypnobirthing in the midwife led unit with pool but instead I was on labour ward, my 'hind waters' as they called them were broken by the midwife at 0-1cm and I was put on the drip, after a few hours I asked for gas and air and after 6 hours and with 3-4 contractions every 10 mins I wasn't getting any break in-between I was really disappointed to be told I was 2-3cm! I'd been admitted 24 hours on no sleep at this point so was given option of c section or epidural so went with epidural which was done 2 hours later. I felt huge relief and I could still move my legs but I wasn't allowed to move much anyway as I had iv antibiotics one hand, the drip in the other and the stomach monitoring constantly so I was quite tethered to the bed anyway, mobile monitoring was broken apparently. I had a little snooze and woke up to huge pressure feeling and found I was involuntary making a lot of grunting noises and bearing down, pressed buzzer for the midwife and she said I was 10cm but give it another hour, I gave it 15 mins and pressed again as could feel burning and more pressure, midwife came in saying her head was being born! Few more pushes and she was born, no problems and I was stitched for internal grazes nothing major. Up and about going to the toilet straight after so a good experience for me. Was just under 4 hours from epidural at 3cm to baby born