Epidural for first birth

[Hann376]

Has anyone had a good experience with epidural for first birth? I have a very low pain tolerance and am very anxious so know I would find the pain even worse being anxious but I’m really worried about the epidural meaning it’s more likely I’ll have an intervention which causes me long term damage (e.g forceps or episiotomy).

has anyone had good experience with epidurals for first birth and still been able to push without a really bad tear/episiotomy/assisted delivery?

Lol the anaesthetist will be v grateful I'm sure... I totally empathise and get it with those in pain that swear at us "just f*ing do it" but I do find it somewhat upsetting when I've come the second I've got out of theatre to try to assist asap, having often not drank or peed for 9h as its been so manic, to then be sworn at when trying to help

Op it's normally 20min to put an epidural in, 20min after the first bolus to notice a difference in pain, another 20min to be comfortable "the smile sign" when you come back to check on them and they grin at u

If you know you want one, ask early, particularly at night as there's often only 1 of us covering Labour ward so if there's lots of sections that need doing there maybe a bit of a wait. During the day we meet national guidance of provision within 30m of request but sometimes longer out of hours

You have to be in active Labour (>4cm) or on a pathway to delivery (being induced) to have one

We recommend you don't have one before feeling some element of pain as they don't seem to work as effectively... we think because they won't eliminate pressure sensations so if you have one when in pain... being in pain>comfortable is seen as amazing vs zero pain >some discomfort/pressure sensations (which is often misinterpreted as pain) leads to lower satisfaction rates

@DarlingClementine85 and @Destiny123 Me too! With my epidural I walked around, bounced on the ball, squatted, laboured on my knees, and didn't have a catheter as I walked to the loo several times during labour. However it wasn't completely pain free, but it was great. The anaesthetists in the two trusts I gave birth said it was a 'walking epidural' and lower doses than a normal. But I'm not sure, I've had a spinal also, and could not move my legs at all for hours (emergency c section)

I did have an episiotomy but honestly it was fine. I would of probably ended up with a c section if they couldn’t bring my blood pressure down, so it was the right decision for me.
I still felt contractions and needed gas and air, I felt the pressure of the baby coming out and I could still move my legs so it wasn’t as numbing as I thought it was going to be - but it wasn’t painful, like getting a tooth pulled where you can feel pressure but no pain.
Best of luck!!

I didn't say a word I was too busy trying not to move 😅 I can't imagine how hard it is to do that job, I would not want to incase I put the needle in the wrong place !

I had one OP, I was having a very long and painful labour and it really helped to calm me down. Pushing was still doable, I did tear though. I felt the pain after it had worn off.
I didn't like the after effects though. I had a very weak spine for months after along with numbness and tingling.
I will be aiming to avoid it second time around however, if its another long labour I may have it again if offered.
My midwife mentioned something called a walking Epidural, might be worth looking that up. Sounds a bit less restrictive than what I had.
Congratulations on your pregnancy

seconding @Destiny123 low dose ('walking') epidurals are the norm for labour analgesia these days, but actually walking with them is unusual. There's a significant amount of witchcraft involved in epidurals and the amount of numbness/muscle weakness you get is surprisingly (/disappointingly) variable.

OP, there's a really good website called labourpains.org which has loads of objective info about epidurals and other pain relief techniques - might be worth a look if you've not come across it before (it's run by the Obstetric Anaesthetist Association).

Had one for my first after 2 1/2 days of labour. I fell asleep, and then delivered a few hours after that. Oxytocin drip but no other interventions.
I could push but I couldn’t walk around. But it was essential as I wasn’t coping at all. The negative, which personally deterred me from doing it again was the emotional detachment I had from the birth. I disassociated and it took me a while to bond with baby after. But I haven’t heard anyone else describing that.

I love doing them, they're the most rewarding thing ever to do, to be able to completely transform someone's labour from agony to smiling away is such a fantastic job..love if we go to theatre, have my own little photoshoot routine giving the parents about 50 pics, cheesy music of their choice, it's the best job ever :)

If I'm struggling as they're not sitting still I just apologise and say I'm going to have to wait until its safe to do so. We can do low dose spinals in the room which is quicker pain relief which I'll do if someone's moving around too much for it to be safe to continue

I had an epidural with my first birth, although it was a while ago now. I had no other interventions, no tearing or stitches and I was able to go home the next day. No on-going issues for me or the baby. The epidural worked as expected and I felt no pain at all. I asked for an epidural as early as possible and didn't attempt to try to go without it. The midwife told me when to push and I just followed her instructions. It was all very straightforward.

I was induced with the drip and was struggling with almost back to back contractions, but I was scared the drip and epidural would further increase chances of intervention so I tried gas and air but was really disappointed to be told I was 2-3cm after 6 hours of 3-4 contractions every 10 mins. It was recommended to me as I was getting quite worked up at that point, or a c section as it has been a long time since my waters broke and I had group B strep, anyways I agreed to epidural and it took a couple of hours before it was in place but I didn't really notice the time passing at this point (I just saw it on my notes). Instant relief pretty much for me! I could move my legs although I fell asleep very quickly so I didn't move around, I woke up to a huge feeling of pressure and rang the buzzer, examined and told I was 10cm but give it another hour for baby to move down..I waited 20 mins but then found I was pushing and mooing away uncontrollably so woke my partner and he pressed the buzzer and the midwife came back and said she could see babies head! Guided me through the rest and she was born 3 hours after the epidural and a 20 min pushing stage, only internal grazes which I did have stitches for but very smooth recovery and I was able to walk straight after birth, didn't have a catheter in (my bladder was emptied with a catheter once I had the epidural but wasn't left in place). Best of luck

First time mum here. I asked for an epidural as soon as possible due to fibromyalgia and had a really positive experience with it. They put it in within two hours of being admitted to labour ward with no problems (it only took three minutes which the anaesthetist said was a personal best haha) and it completely took away the pain. It starts to wear off so you just ask for it to be topped up when you begin to feel contractions again. They didn't put a catheter in and I did wee on the bed without realising but that was the least of my concerns. I ended up having a forceps delivery and episiotomy due to fetal distress but we thought that might be coming as there was meconium in the waters when they broke, so I'm not sure if the epidural was a factor (baby is 100% healthy). Having the epidural in for the stitches was definitely a positive for me as well, the consultant was stitching for about 45 minutes 😭 I started to have a panic attack when they told me they needed to do an instrumental delivery so I asked for a minute with my husband and for some gas and air and that calmed me right down so that might be worth considering. I found the gas and air didn't get rid of pain for me but it made me not care about it, if that makes sense? I went from wild panic mode to "Sure go ahead, let's do this!" within a few puffs of the stuff 😂
I remember being in your position and reading all sorts of things about worse case scenarios and in the end it all worked out grand. Even if it doesn't go quite to plan, the staff will take good care of you and nothing happens without your informed consent so you will be in control as you go along. Wishing you the best!

I had one for both of my births.. i'm not going to lie, neither worked properly, but they worked enough to take the edge off. 1st labour was 8 hours from first pain to last push.. i suffered a minor graze only and embarrsed to say that baby was just short of 9lb (no judgement please). 2nd labour was 6 hours under the same circumstances.. 6lb baby and i didnt even graze that time. i think i got to 8cm on my own and to be fair they got it in just in time... part of me wonders if i could have done it without... but i was happy