Epidural

[lozzy1982]

Ladies, i know this has prob been done to death on here. Im 27 weeks and starting to think about labour. I watched a video online with a women who had an epidural and she didnt seem to feel a thing. What do you all think? What are your experiences/feelings on an epidural?

I believe epidurals to be the most amazing invention of all time. Ever. Amazing.

I was induced and it took 7 hours of frequent contractions to get to 1cm so the epidural was a gift from God but to be honest, I'd take it even if I knew I'd only be in labour for an hour! I went from thinking only about the pain and the short rest before more pain to bring able to relax, think about the fact I was about to meet my baby, chatting to the midwife etc. I couldn't feel anything but midwives were brill at telling me exactly what to do. Some people don't like the fact that you can't get up for 5 hours afterwards but to be honest I don't know where they want to go, I was happy to cuddle in bed with my newborn for that time, ring family etc.

Wow thanks thats a really positive experience to share.

Wow thanks thats a really positive experience to share.

I've posted on your other thread.

Posted on repeat thread - maybe delete one?

I think epidurals are amazing and whoever invented it deserves a medal!

I had my ds 2 weeks ago, it was a rough labour and having the epidural was a sense of calm. I was nervous about having it, but I didn't feel anything when they inserted it. After it was in I could think and was generally calmer throughout. I would recommend personally.

I loved mine. Days of slow, painful labour. Got a drip to speed me up and an epidural.

No pain, still able to push and focus on meeting DS.

I'll be honest, I'm thinking of going natural this time round, purely to get out of hospital sooner. However I will not be discounting it.

Agree about the excellence of epidurals!

I spent a very long time labouring at home because I wanted a home birth, I spent the active labour in water which worked well and I was coping fine - could have kept going fine if things had gone well. Then, however, all hell broke loose! Baby went into distress, flipped back to back transverse, my cervix just was not dialating anymore despite hours of contracting after I reached 5cm and I was ambulanced to hospital where I was put on a syntocinon drip and had my waters broken. In hospital my body went into shock (I was shaking and spasming about) and the pain became unbearable, I think I can truly say I lost my mind during that time! They gave me an epidural and oh god, I remember the relief so well. It was like feeling a wet drip go down my spine and after that the horror lifted. My DP laughed in disbelief when one moment I sounded like a dying lion, the next I just turned around and started making jokey small talk. I topped it up as often as I could, the pain was inching back by the time each one came around and I had no time for putting up with it by that stage!

I then went on to have a pretty violent forceps delivery. At the pushing stage it started to hurt again, after two hours you could barely see the head and they were going to transfer me to theatre so they gave me another one. It helped but I could still feel the immense pressure of the delivery, which I felt was painful.

I now say that I would either have a normal delivery in water again, because that bit was fine, but if I had to have interventions or the baby was back to back again then I would go in demanding an epidural pretty much! So I am pretty polarised about it!

I had gas and air which did nothing (I did stick with it a while) apart from make me feel mildly high but still in pain. I really didn't want pethidine because I wanted to be mentally present during the birth of my child.

I did go on to have a rocky start with breastfeeding which epidurals can cause, though that could also be because of other issues like trauma to DS from the forceps, his tongue tie and the fact that the support on the postnatal ward was awful (delivery suite were fantastic though). Cracked it after a couple of weeks anyway.

I had an epidural which only worked on one side. That's a known risk, but I would probably push for it to be fixed earlier, instead of having the MW tell me how useful it was that I could still feel the other side.

I had to have an epidural as I was contracting for over 24 hours , due to the strong contractions I needed a spinal as well. It was such a Relief that I actually feel asleep. They had to top me up quite a lot and frequently but by 10.30 the next day I still hadnt dilated and had a emcs.

Hope all goes well. x

Totally agree with others. I was 15 days overdue in the end and induced. Had an epidural and it was the most amazing thing EVER! Couldn't have coped with the 3 day induction and 19jr labour without it.
My memory of it now is a pain free, stress free labour ( until delivery but that's another story!). I also had no side effects whatsoever from it so highly recommend.
My thoughts are - you don't go to the dentist and not have pain relief so take what you can!

Hope it all goes well for you!

Agree with everyone else, epidurals are amazing!

I had to be induced and that bought on ridiculously painful contractions which were making me pass out. The epidural was incredible at taking away the pain. It didn't hurt when they put it in either. I had a mobile epidural so could still walk around during labour, could feel everything when he was being born minus any pain. Best thing ever :)

Yep another positive epidural story. My contractions were so painful I lost over 4 hours of time where I can't remember a thing. I think my mind just blocked it straight out of my memory. Then I had an epidural and I was able to read, listen to music, and even sleep a little until it came to pushing time. It did slow the labour down quite a bit but I didn't care. I don't remember having it topped up, and had no side effects afterwards.

I had two epidurals. As a result I was calm, pain free and completely unfazed by my babies deliveries. I am a big fan but my best friend cannot bear me to even mention them as she is so anti having been brave enough to go through labour with nothing. Each to their own - I'd be tempted to book my next one the very moment I get a positive pregnancy test!
I had no issues afterwards and was able to get up and walk as soon as they removed the catheter.

Another fan here! For DD1 I managed to sleep a little which was great. Whole thing start to finish was 7 hours so good going for a first birth and I don't think the epidural slowed things down.
Got the epidural later on with DD2 but she arrived 2hrs later and again a very positive experience.
With DD2 I had some problems delivering the afterbirth. Because of the epidural I avoided having to be sent off to theatre and be totally knocked out. So I am very grateful that I didn't have to let go of my lovely little bundle!
As pp have said, I didn't really think about or want to get up and run around so I didn't feel the temporary loss of mobility to be an issue

Loved my epidurals! Currently terrified that number 3 is going to be too quick for me to get one!!

Another fan! Having had a failed inducement with dd1 and difficult prolonged labour my epidural was a blessed relief. It was fantastic . It took away the painful contractions but I was able to still feel the sensation to push when the time came and could feel pushing dd1 out, just more of a duller ache rather than full on pain. am currently 21 wks with dd2 and will def be requesting an epidural again. Like pp have said the temp loss of mobility wasn't an issue as by the time the midwifes gave me a bed bath, cleaned me up and dd and I were wheeled up to the ward after her first feed it was prob only anther hour before i had full feeling back in my legs. I found it a really positive experience.