Do epidural benefits outweigh the risks?

[princessmumy]

Hi girls, I'm 25 weeks pregnant and starting to think about a birth plan. I know that they sometimes don't always go to plan and to have an open mind about it.
I was just wondering if epidurals have given anyone back pain for life or if the risk of having an emergency c section gets greater with an epidural? Are there any benefits that outweigh the risks?
My mother in law was trying to convince me to have a natural birth as I'd apparently get back pains the rest of my life and to just go natural. Personally this doesn't appeal to me as I'm terrified of the pain that's going to come with labour

Hi, congrats on your pregnancy.

I've got 3 dc, had and epidural with my first 2, and I've had no back pain, nothing that I'd associate with the epidural anyway.
Not long after the epidural was administrated I was able to rest, relax and even have a snooze after 14 hours of labour. Only down side is not being able to keep mobile, but I was so tired I didn't want to walk around anyway.
With my third I was begging for one but my labour progressed very quickly so didn't get a chance.

I had an epidural with my dd. I was glad of it as ok said you could relax and snooze. I didn't have morphine in mine as i am allergic to that and codeine. But I'd say that the benefits of using it for pain relief out weigh the possible risks of any further troubles

I would say keep an open mind as you don't know how your labour will go or how you will react to the pain. Tell your MIL to keep out of it!

I had an epidural but a mobile one so I could still move around. I had a backache for a few weeks after but no long term effects.

I loved mine! I had a mobile one so could still get up and could feel where to push. The only way I'll have another baby is if I have an epidural, because labour made me realise just how crap I am with pain!

3 children, 3 epidurals here. No back pain whatsoever. My labours - post epidural - were actually quite an enjoyable experience (apart from the end of the first one, which ended in EMCS (epidural related). Having had an epidural was possibly a good thing as they needed to move so fast in the end they would have had to knock me out if the epidural wasn't already sited).

Ignore your mother in law, do your own research and read up on the statistics before you make your decision. The majority of people have no problems whatsoever.

Hey. I started a thread about epidural experiences a while ago. A mix of responses.

You might find it interesting

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/2993591-Tell-me-about-your-epidurals

I had a mobile epidural and while the short term back pain was awful DD was a long back to back labour and the other option would have been tragic for her. No long term effects.

I'd say do hypnobirthing so you can feel calmer about managing your own reaction to pain, don't believe the horror stories,as some births are easy (my middle one was), don't plan for an epidural but don't reject it if it becomes necessary.

Dsis has had 3 epidurals. No back problems whatsoever.

Sorry, typo - that should say 'not epidural related' ! The EMCS had nothing to do with the epidural.

The benefit is not being in pain
I haven't had any long term complications from the epidural I had. It did take away the pain which I needed at that point as I was exhausted (long induction process) but I did get some more immediate unpleasant side effects and chose not to top up the epidural when it started to run out, which is fair unusual apparently but I'd had my break by then.

I've had four epidurals and one birth using gas and air. I much preferred the births with an epidural because I really don't like to be in pain. None of the births with an epidural resulted in assisted deliveries, complications or slow recovery times and the birth with gas and air was the same. The epidurals didn't slow down my labour as the gas and air birth took just as long so really not having an epidural just resulted in six hours of unnecessary pain for me. Definitely not something I'd want to repeat.

I had an epidural and could not have survived labour without it! My epidural stopped working which is rare so needed to be done a second time as topping it up didn't work.

My advice would be to not worry too much about having/following a butting plan. My DS was late and induced, I was exhausted from the induction and crying in pain. When offered an epidural I gladly accepted it as fad & air only helped somewhat. I ended up having an ECS which terrified me at the time but was absolutely fine as the safest option

Every labour is different and what important is that you and your DC are safe throughout

Thank you all for your answers! Really put my mind at ease! I'll definitely be looking into my options more.
All the horror story's terrified me! It's great to hear all of your experiences!

Good luck princess. Honestly it can be fine, dd1 was hard but the epidural got me through, dd2 was so easy I nearly slept through it and didn't make it to hospital! Yours may be an easy one.

Epidurals were bloody marvellous. Can't think of any downside other than it was a bit unpleasant going in the first time. I felt relaxed and in control.

I had one with my first DC but not the next two children.

Advantage: no more pain! Bloody brilliant. Had no problem with pushing out DD (4 pushes) and no tearing, DD was healthy and roaring. I was being induced on drip so very 'full on' contractions and the relief was heavenly.

Disadvantages: felt removed from the whole process, couldn't be mobile at all and still felt tremendous rectal and back pressure which was more unpleasant than the pain in some ways. Sore back and headache afterwards and it made me shake, feel sick and my blood pressure tanked.

I decided to keep an open mind for my next two births (was very set on the epidural for #1 and I still think that was the right decision!) and it ended up that I didn't use any pain relief at all, but both were quick births (one was another induction). The key pro of having no epidural was being able to move about really easily after birth, lack of shaking / nausea / plummeting blood pressure that I had with my first and felt like more of an active participant in labour but that was just my personal preference.

I think playing it by ear re: pain relief and trying to keep mobile and distracted during early/ latent labour were the best bits of advice people gave me

With my first I had a birth plan which didn't go to plan so with this birth I'm not having a plan just going to go with it.

Please look at the website www.labourpains.com for information leaflets and videos about epidurals, written by anaesthetists. Epidurals do not increase your chance of needing an emergency caesarean and most postnatal back pain is caused by pregnancy/labour/carrying a newborn rather than epidurals.

I think it's important to keep an open mind and look into all options rather than setting your heart on one particular thing.

The main benefit of course of epidural is the pain relief :) Of course there are risks, there are risks with everything, but the long term ones are really unlikely so what you really want to look at is the short term: For me the offputting part was the lack of movement and the needle, which I was desperate to avoid, but I think once you're in labour as long as you know what each pain relief option involves you can wait until you're there to make the decision.

I forgot my birth plan entirely when I arrived at hospital and the midwives said it didn't really matter and all they needed to know in advance was whether I wanted the injection for the placenta (not unless necessary for me - needles!) and whether I wanted my newborn given vitamin K.

What I'd put in my birth plan for next time are things that are likely to be under my control and/or a few important if/then statements. Everything like pain relief, positions, waterbirth, relaxation techniques etc might be helpful to keep in a separate document as a reminder for you/your birth partner when things are getting tough but if you have a bullet pointed birth plan with instructions on things you're likely to be able to control the midwives will appreciate this.

For example I'll do something like this if I ever get pregnant again:

• For the pushing stage I don't want to be on my back. If I can't move please help me to lie on my left side unless I've had an epidural

• If I'm not in water for the pushing stage, counterpressure with a warm washcloth on my perineum would be appreciated

• I want natural management of the placenta + to wait until cord has stopped pulsing to cut, unless medically necessary to intervene

• I want skin to skin immediately after birth with no dressing/washing the baby until later if possible

• If the baby needs to be removed from me for any reason I want my husband to go with them if possible

If anything in your birth plan is likely to already be hospital policy (e.g. "I don't want an episiotomy unless strictly necessary") don't include it. If anything is subject to change at the last minute (e.g. "I want to avoid all pain relief and use hypnobirthing") don't include it. The less the midwives have to read and remember, the more they'll be able to concentrate on it which means it's more likely to be followed. It's a waste of time and space to include things they'll be doing already or which you can't predict. If anything you want directly contradicts usual practice, that's something important to put in there. Plus any special information like "I'm deaf and I lipread" or "I'm autistic and I need you to ask before you touch me" or "I'm VERY ALLERGIC to opiates.

I have no idea why most books/websites/antenatal classes encourage such waffly birth plans TBH because they can be a really useful tool when used properly.