How painful / traumatic is vaginal birth with epidural?

[User7567]

Giving birth vaginally without epidural is out of question for me due to too many negative experiences among my friends and family, and I know that I’d panic (even with all the hypnobirthing I’ve been doing). I’m booked for an elective c section due to my fears, but I start thinking about what I should do if I go into labour before that date.
If I arrive at the hospital in early labour and ask for an epidural instead of the section, and if this epidural works well for me, could I just roll with it? I’m aware that this might lead to further interventions, but presumably if the epidural takes the pain away, would forceps, episiotomy etc still be painful and traumatic? And if it doesn’t progress as it should or if there are any signs of complications, could they just top up my epidural and take me for a c section as I had planned it anyway?

Don’t know about the C section and complications, but I had an epidural and literally ate a full meal and then slept for several hours during established labour. Didn’t feel a thing when giving birth (pain wise, just pressure) even though I had a substantial tear that needed stitches.

I was told the biggest risk with an epidural was difficulty in pushing due to numbness, but I didn’t have that problem.

That’s a survey of one of course. DC2, I didn’t have time for the epidural.

I had an epidural with all 3 DCs (all inductions). It was only painful up until the point they gave me the epidural (iirc around 4cm dilated) and even up till then it was bearable pain. Once the epidural is given you can’t feel any pain at all.

Epidural and then I dozed for a couple hours before I was ready to give birth. Completely pain free and all I could feel was a pressure down below when a contraction happened.

2 DC on epidural here as well. Both inductions. No pain, just pressure. Go for it!

It's good to be prepared for all eventualities. I have no experience of epidurals because both of my births were too quick to be able to have had one.

One vaginal birth with epidural here and two elective sections. How long is a piece of string? duration of labor, size of baby, position of baby, how tired you are etc can all affect outcome and will differ between everyone. I had a very long 1st stage which meant by the time they would admit me I was knackered. Baby was large and back to back. Had forceps and ended up with a significant birth injury that led to infection, catheter for two weeks and surgical repair 11 months later. Others may have sneezed a baby out in under two hours.
On the other hand, my elective sections were bloody marvellous and far easier to tolerate and recover from

Every baby and birth are different. It doesn’t have to be traumatic. It can also be fine. Yes, it hurt a bit, but no forceps, no episiotomy, no trauma. Your body was made to do this, have some faith in it!

A few things happened to me:

• In my 50+ hour labour, they wouldn’t give me gas & air until about hour 45. They wouldn’t give me an epidural until about hour 48. (I had to be dilated to a certain measurement.)
• In my second labour, the anaesthetist got called down to an emergency in A&E, so he couldn’t do mine. When he finally made it to me, it didn’t work, so he had to come back and do it again.

Both worked fine once I got the proper treatment, but for me it wasn’t a matter of me telling them what I wanted, and them giving it to me. It was on their terms.

My eldest was a spinal epidural and vaginal delivery. Bloody godsend after hours of contractions. Really though, someone should have had me upright and moving, not strapped to a bed. That would have probably done the job just as well. Good luck, it's well worth it at the other end.

For an epidural you’ve got to have a big fuck off needle! That was my biggest fear 😧

OP, I had an epidural with DD, it didn't work. They then re-sited it, it still didn't work and I was only numb up to my knees. The epidural doesn't hurt getting it in at all. It's not a guarantee so if you are dead set on a pain free birth then a C-section is probably the guaranteed option (obviously recovery isn't pain free).

Epidurals are amazing. They are given as standard in the US and I can’t understand why women in the UK cling on to antiquated gas and air as if it’s some sort of indicator of a superior character. The main reason why the NHS encourage women to grunt away just sucking on a gas pipe is that it’s cheap as chips. And epidurals aren’t.

I had 2 epidurals - didn’t have time for one with my second birth and although it was the quickest, I’d rather it had been slower and with an epidural.

There was no trauma - I think I had a bit of a stitch with my first but I can’t remember. All I remember is the sheer relief of NO PAIN whilst giving birth. And with my second epidural, I hopped off the bed for a bubble bath and was home in my own bed with baby 8 hours later. Bliss.

I can’t recommend epidural enough. The ‘horror stories’ you hear are from women who’ve had an epidural as a last resort and left it late in the labour. Have it early and you’ll be tickety boo.

I had an epidural with my induction and it was great, them contractions from the drip were brutal. I still needed gas and air because I could feel quite a bit of pressure while the epidural was kicking in. It took a while for it to balance between my left and right side so I kept rolling from one hip to the other, I could still move my legs a bit too. I had a nice little nap once it had kicked in properly though, it also helped keep my BP where it should be.

I think you have to weigh up the pain of vaginal labour vs. the pain of a C-section recovery. Labour and delivery are short-term and no matter how bad the pain is it's over within a relatively fixed period. C-sections on the other hand are pain free during but recovering from a major abdominal surgery is nothing to dismiss easily.

I'd recommend having a chat to your consultant about the possibility of early epidural, what this would mean for your labour and potential outcomes. You can always write a birth plan with several outcomes - "if this happens do X" to best suit your preferences?

Personally my first vaginal birth didn't go the way I would have liked it too, but it was over within 7 hours and recovery was fairly straight forward. Even with a giant baby, episiotomy and assisted delivery, I was up and walking a few hours later and recovered easily.

Best of luck with your delivery either way!

I had an epidural which worked very well. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to push with though, so they let it wear of a little towards the end to give me enough sensation to feel the urge. It still wasn't painful (just exhausting!). Towards the end, they thought that I might be subconsciously holding back because I was scared of tearing and injected some kind of anaesthetic close to the vagina. I didn't feel any pain with baby crowning and I did get a 2nd degree tear, which I didn't feel at all. So maybe with further interventions like forceps, you would feel something without the additional anaesthetic if they thought I needed it?

No pain at all during the epidural. Could feel pressure to push and could still feel contractions. I had a device to control the level of drip going in if that makes sense. I had a tear and didn’t feel anything when they sewed me up or passing the placenta. The only thing that I wish I knew in advance was how long the epidural lasted for. I still had some numbness for days after but it didn’t impact me too much. Best of luck!

oh also I was given an epidural as I was induced but labour wasn’t progressing as expected so I might have needed a c section. Epidural meant last minute c section could have been performed if needed.

I had my first vaginally with no pain relief.

I had an epidural with my second
(induction).

It took a very long time to take affect but once it did, I couldn't feel a thing, not even the urge to push. The midwives had to tell me when to push as I had no feeling or sensation.

My third was born at home (planned).

Epidural after being induced.
Felt nothing for ages. Epidural going in didn't hurt at all.
It had worn off quite a lot by time to push. Dd was back to back and they had to use forceps. I did get a local for that as they'd realised I was moving my legs. It was more odd and uncomfortable than painful.
You do get a catheter with an Epidural.

I was induced & had an epidural just before they put me on the drip to start the contractions. Getting the epidural was fine, I had gas & air when they put the needle in my back & could hardly feel it.
I'm glad I had the epidural, I felt a lot of pressure from the contractions which were more uncomfortable than painful.
I had to have an episiotomy with forceps & I couldn't feel that all.
The hardest part was the recovery & healing from the episiotomy which took longer than expected, but the birth was a positive experience for me.

It’s not painful once you have the epidural, assuming it works (which it did for me). The recovery was painful because I had an epistiotomy and the stitches got infected, and once the epidural wore off there was pain and discomfort. Insist on codeine for the recovery, don’t be fobbed off with paracetamol.

Epidurals are fantastic.

I had one during my first (induced) labour but my baby was very small and not in the right position and so in the end they decided to do a C-section. The epidural just needed topping up to make sure I was properly numb.

My second labour was spontaneous and I got the epidural when I was about 3cm dilated. I lay down and had a nap for a couple of hours and then when the doctor came back to examine me I was fully dilated and almost ready to push. I still got a very strong urge to push and my second stage was only 5 minutes.

Genuinely hated my epidural so definitely didn’t want one with my second and third babies but I had them at home anyway.

Thanks all, it’s really good to hear experiences. I feel so confused by what midwives and consultants are telling me. The NHS midwives very much discourage an elective c section and say that there are so many pain relief options available, it will be fine (well, not what I heard from friends). Then I went to see a private consultant and considered going private because I didn’t feel heard by the NHS midwives, and this private consultant pushed for an elective c section because it’s safest, straight forward and 40% of births end up in a section anyway. Now I don’t know who to believe…

I think you’re a bit off with that plan as if you’re in early labour they won’t give you an epidural at that point, you’d need to labour at home and go in once established. So if it’s pain you’re trying to avoid then that probably wouldn’t work.

if you go into Labour, you just go straight in to triage and say you’re in labour and have a c section booked and you get re categorised as an emergency

I didn’t have an epidural with either births and no painkillers on my second. I absolutely wouldn’t want to have one as routine, I didn’t like the idea of being numb in my legs or the huge needle. There’s a lot of women I know who absolutely didn’t want one either, and like me, hated the idea of not being able to walk around during labour. It’s definitely a very personal and individual decision, and not a standard thing. All births are different. I had great births without an epidural. Some women need them