Epidural or not???

[cinnamongreyhound]

I recently went to my antenatal class where we were asked what methods of pain relief we had considered. Everyone except for one woman said that they would not want an epidural. My dh believes that most women have one in their first labour and that there's a stigma attached to having one so when asked people say they don't want them.
I am interested to know how many women said in their birth plan that they did not want an epidural but ended up having one once in labour.

With my epidural, I wasn't in pain but when it got to the pushing stage I could feel the contractions. I did have to 'concentrate' though.

I didn't plan to have one with my 1st birth, but after 20+ hrs of labour I'd had enough and didn't feel i'd have the energy to push if I didn't get some relief.

I understand why it's demonised (increased risk of complications) but I'm sure there's ways of minimising the risk. I insisted on sleeping on my side, not my back, after having the epidural and then had to force them to haul me into an upright position over the headboard to push. She was a large baby, and I'm sure I'd have needed ventouse/forceps if i hadn't made them put me in that position and allowed them to leave me on my back.

One thing I would say is that I remember the pain I experienced before the epidural much more vividly than the pain i experienced with the totally natural birth I had for my 2nd. It was like the natural birth experience wiped out the memory. Wierd!

Agree with everything everyone has said about an open mind .. but also bear in mind the classic line... 'always have an open mind ... but not so open that things keep falling out of it...'
With my first, I went in knowing the reasons I would prefer not to have an epidural, but open to the idea that I would have one rather than kill myself . In the end I managed fine with gas & air - and the pain only got so bad that I thought I couldn't manage for about 10 mins in transition (although those were the longest 10 mins of my life!)

Second time, I knew I'd be fine, & didn't actually need anything (other than when they were stitching me up again afterwards ). For me (and I know I'm v.v lucky, the pain was never as bad as I had imagined it could get - it was certainly never as bad as it gets on Holby .

I think with your first, one of the hardest things is you never know how much worse the pain will get/how much longer it might go on - and being afraid of that makes the pain harder to bear, iykwim... Although that may just be me and my magically expanding fanjo talking

Like others, I had syntocinon and frankly the pain was intolerable, so had an epidural, which certainly made things more bearable, although didn't remove the pain entirely. I've had friends who, like Bibi, had it work on one side and not the other and that sounds grim indeed. Particularly as it means, I assume, they can't ramp the levels of syntocinon up as high as they would want to (my mw put it straight up from 4 to 12 once the epi was working) so you are getting the worst of both worlds really!

Ultimately I think most of us choose only that pain medication which we feel is necessary for us to get through labour. It's not worth stressing about the detail in my view; the end game is what matters.

I didnt have one - but my sister, who was induced, had to have one as her pain threshold got severely tested when they increased her contractions with a hormone drip. Dont worry about it too much, just wait until your experiencing it, and have one if you need one, there's no point in being a martyr.

i had syntocin with no bloody epidural they wouldn't give me one. unsurprisingly i ended up with a cs. i hadn't want an epidural beforehand either, but certainly did later! i think it is worth finding out whether they do mobile epi in your hospital, it does seem to make a lot of difference.

with dd1 i had an epidural when i got to 8cm, threw up on gas & air, didn't want pethidine (i am a puker so it is not advised!) and the epidural was fantastic. The pain went away totally - i had a sleep, woke up, totally dilated. MW told me to wait an hour for the epidural to wear off, i started to feel contractions again (not really badly, just pressure), pushed the baby out. No stitches, was brilliant. Felt fine after.

With DD2 i got on with the gas & air, didn't have an epidural (was open to it, just was doing fine with the gas & air so didn't need it). The pushing bit hurt a lot! But only 3 pushes then she was out. With DD1 and the epidural i was pushing for nearly an hour.

Either way, a healthy baby is the desired end result! As others have said, keep an open mind and let the MW guide you. They know how much longer/further you have to go at different stages.

I gave birth on Friday - laboured under my own steam for 18 hours then the pain was SO severe and I was only 6cm I decided to have an epidural. It was THE BEST decision I could have made, I managed the rest of my labour by sleeping and then woke up to push. Pushed him out in 15 minutes.

The only thing I didn't want was Pethadine and despite the MW recomending I took it - really glad I didn't as I wanted to feel in control which I still did even with an epidural.

Good luck!

I was determined not to have one, hated the idea of a needle in my back,

was induced as 11 days late, so had a horrid drip-powered brutal labour, with lots of gas and air (which is awesome) and pethidene, which just made me dopey and struggle to keep my eyes open, tbh
I made it and delivered naturally even though dd face first and 7lb 15oz 1st baby = 3rd degree tear, but whatever, jobs a good'un
or so I thought...

Then my placenta wouldnt come out.
So I was rushed down for emergency surgery, and, yes you've guesses it...a spinal block.
(a type of epi.) I was gutted I didnt just have one at the start, and a nice, chilled out labour.
Just be open minded, it doesnt hurt to have it done, and if the pain gets too bad, it is a good option for avery long labour.
the chances of forceps/venteuse are higher as it is harder to push at the right time,,,but if you need surgery, it is already in place so ????????

be mentally ready for anything, is my tip.
You will be fine, best of luck