mum's who've had epidurals - would you have another one?????

[liznay]

I'm having my first baby in 12 weeks or so and having watched around 100 births now on Discovery H&H i'm convinced that I'm going to have an epidural.

Why is every (wo)man and his dog trying to talk me out of it though? I don't understand why someone would want to be in that much pain when you can choose not to?
I know there are risks attached to having an epidural but some people have said I won't be able to push the baby out.
I was under the illusion that women have given birth whilst in a coma, so why wouldn't the contractions ease the baby down the birth canal?

If you've had an epidural or if you had both a natural birth and an epidural to compare the two - would you have another one?

liznay, probably most of this has been covered but thought I'd reply as I'm one of the people who has had both. DD1 was an epidural, I was in hospital and the temptation to have the pain taken away was too strong So when the TENS maching stopped being effective I got an epidural. It only took in my left leg initially so I think they made it stronger, and tipped me on my right to get to go over!! It did take away all the pain and I managed to deliver without assistance thanks to fab MW who kept me going when Dr wanted to go for ventouse, but I had no feeling in my lower half for about 16hrs (so was hard to push) and then when it wears off the soreness comes as a bit of a surprise! Also I kept nearly passing out, apparently this is because it lowers your BP which is already low on me. But, I was glad I'd had it. My friend had one not long after, totally different, she could feel everything except the pain (as a a test the MW put some ice on her leg, she could feel it was there but not the coldness) so pushing was no problem. It wore off much more quickly and she had no side effects - perfect pain relief.

I had DD2 at home so no option of anything but G&A (got to 10cm even without that as MWs have the key to the box it's in, and they didn't arrive!) so just got on with it. Nothing had prepared me for pain of transition but I got over it and I'd do it again any day, I bounced back so much quicker.

To sum up I would play it by ear. They're not without side effects for some people but they do stop the pain and when they really work they're ideal. But then again you might get by without it, plenty do. Best of luck.

Liznay,

I had complications because of my epidural which had a knock-on negative effect on breastfeeding...

I was almost fully dilated when they found my dd (now 18months) was breech! I decided quickly on emergency caesarean and all went fine. I hadn't had an epidural until then, but clearly needed one for the op. It went fine and she was born without any problems.

However, after 2 days I had hideous headaches and couldn't sit up as the migraine like pain was so bad. I couldn't hold my dd or feed her - just had to lie down in bed and not move a muscle. It was a rare side-effect where the anaestetic has leaked out into the spinal cord and causes several side effects (can't remember the name).

It meant my milk supply really almost dried up and it took a combo of about 15 pills a day and frantic expressing and seeing a breastfeeding councillor to get my supply up to feed my dd again.

In the end, after 2 weekds of damned hard work, my milk came back properly and I breastfed for 9 months.

Next time I'm def. either trying for a fully natural birth, or an elective caesarean - don't know yet - but I'd just say - go as far as you can without epidural and just see how it goes.

Things are so different when it actually happens and we write a birth plan carefully which never even made it out of the folder!!!!!

Just have your plan in your head, but go with the flow. You'll know what's right when it happens.

I had an epidural first time round - and although it was most welcome after a 72hour labour, I did feel it slowed things down (even more!) and I found pushing really hard because I couldn't feel anything.

I decided to try it without second time round - and did (despite a 9 hour labour and 10lb baby) and was glad I did. Not for any nonsense "lets do it the hard way reasons" but just because I thought the after effects were much less. I saw an osteopath afterwards and he said that having an epidural does have quite negative effects on a woman's body and they often recover quicker without.

Third time round, I intend to do without (not least to avoid paying for the anaesthetist!). Would rather have an extra day's rest in hospital for the same amount, lol.

YES YES YES!
( tho at 44 is unlikely!)
had one with dd1 and it was wonderful - absolutely NO downsides. Had it early as I knew I wanted one ( had failed to be convinced that the pain would be wonderful!) and sat chatting to midwife for a few hours ( had it at 9pm - gave birth at 4am after 45mins pushing). NO complications - was walking around within an hour of giving birth.
With dd 2 I was induced and I managed till about 30 mins prior to birth ( would have managed whole time if I'd known how close I was but nobody bothered to examine me as they were busy...!!) then gave in as they kept saying nobody could give an epidural. DD2 was out in 2 pushes - but I felt drunk and 'out of it' and physically unable to hold her - HORRIBLE!

ps
should have said 'gave in and had a shot of pethadine'

Yes Yes Yes, fear i would have climed a wall or two if i did not have one! If you feel like you need it then have it if it's an option (if you have a bad headache you take a tablet!) It is pain relief and nothing wrong with having it and no shame. (I had few friends made to feel like failure for having, ridiculous!)

I had an epidural with ds1 as was in labour 48 hours. However Ihad the epidural just 4 ours before i gave birth and needed a ventoiuse delivery and episiotomy.

With ds2 I had no pain relief. BY the end I was asking for an epidural but was almost ready to push so my midwife made excuses and held off and I could not thank her enough. Yes, I felt everything as i pushed him out but it was a good pain, I felt in control and empowered. I am so glad I didn't get an epidural and I thanked the midwife profusely! I tore and had stitches and was numbed with an injection for that but for me, it was fantastic not to have an epidural.

Everyone is different

havent read the whole thread - sorry - but as an answer to the op - no problems with having an epidural if you want one - i chose not to cause i hated the idea of a needle going into my back more than i hated the idea of the pain of contractions.

i totally loved gas and air and although it stopped working evenutally, that was when the pushing stage started, so i coulodnt have had an epidural at that stage anyway.

I had one after 48 hours of labour with DS1 - they were about to induce me and I couldn't stand anymore. It was a good job as 2 hours later I was having a section so they just topped it up and off I went.

Had VBAC for DS2 and was horrified when they told me at 8cm I was too late for an epidural which I blame on them as they left me screaming in the waiting room with no pain relief for an hour and a half before examining me. I was begging for a bullet but I got some diamorphine which I'd also had first time around and it was great - can't recommend it enough - it's like being really drunk but in a nice fuzzy way and I'd missed that feeling after 9 months of sobriety.

With hindsight I'm really glad I didn't have an epidural with DS2 as he got out all by himself after 40 mins of pushing with some tearing but no forceps and cutting (plus got anesthetic for the pushing bit). Feel if I'd had an epidural I may not have got off so lightly. If I have another then I'd like to try to get through without one again.

However as a midwife once told me 'why get the bus when you can take a taxi'! It's a very personal choice.

I have had 2 DC's, 1st with epidural & 2nd without, and I really don't think you can make the decision until you are in the situation.

DD - induced at 37 wks due to pre-eclamsia. Took best part of 3 days, and by the end of it I was begging for drugs! Consequently couldn't feel a thing, had forceps delivery, but boy did I suffer afterwards. Did not feel right for ages, and certainly could not get around very easily for weeks after the birth!

DS - born naturally at 37 weeks, no drugs except g & a and felt totally normal a week after the birth.

I felt I definately needed the epidural with DD, but certainly wouldn't recommend one as a matter of course. IMO you will know if you need one, and don't go for one otherwise. The weeks of pain after an instrumental delivery far outway the benefits of the laour pains (if you are able to have a nornal delivery!)

Just to add my story -

I chose not to have an epidural because I was keen for an active birth. I've now done this twice (ie 2 births with no pain relief) and it worked so well for me that I'm aiming for the same with DC3, due in November.

Amazingly, I'm not a martyr, not into pain, not a member of some weird sect or anything - I just did a lot of reading about the side effects of pain relief in labour and was completely underwhelmed at what was on offer.

If I'd got to labour and felt the pain was unbearable I'd have asked for an epidural like a flash. I've no hangups about suffering being good for you.

But in the event - both times - I found that walking up and down made me feel so much better that I didn't want anything that would interfere with that. The one or 2 times I had to get on the bed to be examined I nearly went out of my mind from the pain.

Another great thing (for me) was being clear headed and aware of my body and what was going on. It meant for me that although the pain was horrendous, it never got on top of me and I could feel how the contractions were working to move the baby down. That didn't take the pain away, but made it something I could deal with.

Then when it came to the delivery, both times, I was upright and felt in control.

Oh, and dd2 was OP for most of the labour (then turned). I've no proof, but I have a strong instinct that if I'd been lying down she wouldn't have turned and the delivery would have been much more difficult.

So you see, for me, having an epidural would have stopped me from having the labour I wanted, and looking back, I'm very happy with that decision.

I haven't had an epidural so obviously I've no idea what it's like and could never advise someone else whether or not to do it - just thought I'd tell my story as a description of a "good" labour without one.

I gave birth 5 weeks ago to my first DD and I had an epidural. It'a bit hard to explain until you get into the situation yourself - I am not into pain at all but I would rather have not had an epidural. I am convinced it affected my DD's ability to bf as I hav read that it can affect it and she would go nowhere near the breast in the first week - screamed every time (funnily enough, until now - she latches quite easily).

I had to be induced as my waters broke before labour started and I had strep b.As a result, i had to have constant monitoring which meant I could not move and was flat on my back on a bed. As a result, the pain got very intense, very quickly and I could not move to cope with it, so asked for an epidural early on. Took the stance that they would not remove the monitoring, so there was no way I'd be able to try different things to cope and so best get one in early.
I truly believe that had I been free to move around, lean, walk etc I would have coped much better with gas & air and maybe not hd the epidural.

Having said all that, I was able to feel my legs and wee, so if you do have one I'd guess you'd be able to push still.

I spenr about an hour being stabbed in the back while some woman tried to get an epidural into me. It didn't work and I ended up having dd with gas and air. The failed epi was by far the most traumatic part of my labour.

There's no way of telling if you are able to have an epi until the time comes so, while people like me are probably a small minority, don't pin all your hopes on one form of pain relief.

TOTALLY! Oh my GOD, there's NO WAY i'd do that again without pain relief heh. I found out one very important thing when I went into labour with my son... I get violent when i'm in pain.

I got an epidural after about 12 hours of unestablished preterm labour, I was in AGONY and nothing was working for me. I'd originally intended to try different positions etc before resorting to medication but I wasn't coping at all and my birth notes had requested that if I wasn't coping, could the midwife please bring up the topic of epidural.
I didn't feel pressure at all, I felt relieved. I was going to be induced because I wasn't progressing and in order to do that, they had to give me decent pain relief for fear i'd kill the midwife (ahahahah ahahahah)
I was seriously vicious with her, lol.

Anyway, it was scary but after it took effect I was in bliss. I assumed I wouldn't be able to feel a thing but despite being numb from the chest to my toes, I could still feel my muscles contracting and oddly enough, I could feel the baby's head in my pelvis and pressure "down there"
I had to inform the midwife of this, convince her I could feel something and she finally after some argument checked, sure enough.. the baby was COMMING so HAH!

I felt no pain, no panic, after 20 minutes of pushing my little boy was born. A month early but totally healthy. The epidural made the whole ordeal much more manageble for me and a actually a positive experience. I'd definintely do it again though I might press for one earlier.. before I start trying to kill the hospital staff lol.

I think I was lucky though, the epi I got didn't take absolute full effect so I could feel things but didn't have pain. Which was perfect. only thing they DON'T tell you is the ITCHING. Oh god the itching. I itched all over as a reaction to the injection, oooo it was horrid and because you're numb you can't really scratch it properly!

I wanted a mobile epidural but my hospital didn't offer them. I suppose I got the next best thing. Maybe next time i'll be at a hospital that offers them and I can give it a go. Hehe.

I couldn't walk afterwards for several hours but that wasn't too bad.

The total numbness began to wear off as the midwife was finishing stitching me (I was cut due to biological reasons, i'm apparently not built to give birth to big headed babies lol)
I could feel tiny pinpricks as she stitched which scared me a little. I kept thinking the pain relief would wear off totally and i'd feel each stitch ew. But it didn't happen and to be fair, she did spend about 40 minutes trying to stitch me because apparently the thread kept breaking (NOT what you want to hear when you have stitches near your private bits!)

So in summary:

YES i'd have another epidural and hope it was as awesome as my first.
2 1/2 hour established labour with drug intervention, 20 minutes pushing, Episiotomy but no other intervention.

i have never had an epidural but i have had one all too natural birth and i would never do it again! the pain was unbearably awful and a terrible experience. also i couldn't walk for two weeks afterward so not being able to walk for a few hours seems alright to me!

Haven't read other pages,
but YES YES and more....
Best invention ever...
Mine was a mobile one, no after effects, was up and walking around 25 minutes after birth.
Just no more pain.
Bliss.

i'm planning a natural birth mainly because i want to remain in control and be in tune with my body so that i am better to tell the midwife if there is anything 'suspicious' or of concern during the birth. with an epidural, you lose that control and birthing is not in the best of positions. i am realistic about the whole thing though; i understand that birth will hurt but the great thing in natural birth is the 'transition' period, the time when you just think you can't do it anymore and want to stop the whole process... thats i when the baby pops out. with an epidural, you know because the doctor has told you... well, i suppose really you know because your new baby is crying.

everyone talks of risks of childbirth. blah blah blah. as a species, we wouldn't be at 9 billion (i think that is what the world population is) if the risks were that risky. go with what you are comfortable with. most times people push a particular way a women should give birth due to trends. although i am an advocate of natural birth for many reasons, i would never condemn someone's choices... i myself would love to have that tummy tuck after though.

I had one by accident, was supposed to be a semi-emergency VBA2C but the baby came out on the operating table. I'd been adamant I didn't want a VB - once the epidural kicked in though I didn't much care either way, was just so relieved the pain had stopped! Very surreal pushing when you can't feel a thing - felt like an actress in a soap opera and was very surprised that it worked.

Have never had an epidural.
I gave birth to DD with no pain relief at all because none was on offer.
I won't say it didn't hurt, it did, but it wasn't unbearable.
I'm due to give birth to DC2 next month.
Having survived the experience once, I would prefer to give birth naturally this time again.
You can always start with no pain relief and ask for some if you need it. You don't necessarily have to have an epidural right from the start.

i had an epidural 1st time, not that i asked, but apparently i was a screaming hysterical mad lady and they were worried about ds... it was great!

contractions did stop for a while, but got going again... labour was short... did have a ventouse delivery but only a small tear and was up and walking about!

2nd time, no epidural ended in a crash section... awful

i wish i'd had an epidural... maybe i would have had a bit more control maybe i would have been able to express myself and my wishes better, maybe people would have remembered i was in the room and spoken to me, maybe i would have been able to be awake when my ds2 was born!

no time to read the rest, but
YES YES YES

I had two posterior babies and it was agony, my epidural allowed me to sleep, relax, get the energy to push, breathe properly, and as the last dose was wearing off a little with DS, I could get up on my knees, against the MW "advice" and push more effectively holding onto the back of the bed.
Do it.
Especially if they are posterior. I really wanted a baby to be blissfully easy to push out by deep breathing and all that jazz, yeah right, epidural was a bit of a lifesaver.

Interesting.

I've had an epidural. After three days of inducing and pre labour and only getting to 3cm in the pre labour ward with one shot of pethidine (bad idea - didn't provide pain relief, just made me feel out of it), I had an epidural when I got to the labour room and they had me hooked up to oxytocin drip.
Believe me that anyone who says they have had a baby with oxytocin and without an epi has an absolutely amazingly high pain threshold. I haven't and I was glad to have one at that point. I was sucking the Gas and Air like I was an addict.

What I didn't like about after the epi:
he doctors were a LOT rougher with my bits than before - I ended with my fanjo down to my knees because of the attempts of fetal blood sampling. They were rough, and I mean veterinary rough - no offense to any vets but I think we all know what those long gloves are for.

second thing I didn't like about it was that my feet felt very 'flat' afterwards for months and I'd trip even when walking on the flat - I just couldn't lift my feet as I used to, and would catch my toes when I was walking. Going down stairs was a nightmare.

third thing I didn't like was that my back felt numb and weird where I'd had the needle - still does 4 years later.

And I suppose the final thing I didn't like so much about my epidural and the augmented labour was that in the end I had to have a spinal block for a crash cesarean anyway!!

Best of luck with it anyway. HTH

Liznay, I've had both an epidural with my first and just gas and air with my second. If I ever have a 3rd, without a shadow of a doubt I will try to just have gas and air and not an epidural.

With the epidural my pain stopped immediately the second the drug got to work but the birth was long and drawn out and there were quite awful niggly bothers (tiny internal cuts that couldnb't be stitched) afterwards. I also felt traumatised after the birth (no exaggeration).

With my second, I went into labour very quickly, had gas and air and let my uterus do the pushing. The contractions were acutely painful but the pain stopped the minute dd was born. So for me, I would defo go down the no epidural route. But, first time births are usually much harder than second time ones, so I would say, you just have to do what's right for you at the time. The thing wiht epidurals is you can't feel the contractions which makes it harder to push, hence lengthier labours, but you must do what is right for you regardless of what people tell you here or elsewhere.

I tried to keep an open mind with a view to having as natural birth with DD as possible....
Started off on friday night in Midwife Led Unit bouncing on birthing ball for hours... finshed off in Delivery suite at 04:43 on the sunday morning with Gas & Air, Pethidin x2, Epidural, Syntocin drip, Ventouse, Forceps and Episiotomy...
not so natural... but a beautiful healthy little girl.
What I'm trying to say is that IMO I didn't really care how much intervention I had, as long as she was ok.
Labour hurts, alot, I knew that much, but the rest I just dealt with as it progressed because I knew that until I was experiencing the pain I wouldn't really be able to make the decision about whether to go down the epidural route.

I had DS with no pain relief for 4 hours of fuly dilated pushing, finally had an epidural and a ventouse. I'm not convinced about the epidural slowing things down- I slowed down and they gave me oxytocin with no pain relief at all, prior to the epidural. I had no probs afterwards, it was glorious. With DD I was so afraid of a repeat of that terrible pain, I demanded an epidural as soon as I got to hospital. HEr borth went very quickly, I rea the paper for 45minswhile I dilated to 10cm then 3 pushes and she was out. All very civilised! I could feel the contractions, they were like shivers across my stomach, and the midwife told me when to push. It was so much better, calmer, less brutal.