Will you be having an epidural?

[tacosplease]

My mum had an epidural when giving birth to me and has always maintained that when I have a baby, it's something I must do because the pain is unbearable otherwise.

As a result I always assumed that it was a very common thing to go for, but when I mentioned this to my midwife she seemed a bit surprised. According to the Babycentre website only around 30% of women have them.

How many posters on here will be asking for an epidural and what are the positives/negatives of having one? If you don't opt for an epidural, is gas and air literally the only pain relief you get?

Your mum is smart as epidural is amazing

My first labour was water and whale music. My second was so painful I would’ve traded my first born for someone to beat me unconscious with a baseball bat. The epidural ended my nightmare!

Don’t worry too much about availability. Yes technically the anaesthetist might be busy but you’re still very likely to get one even if you have to wait a bit

Does an epidural mean you're likely to stay longer in hospital after the birth? I know it's different for everyone and it's impossible to know what will happen on the day, but I've read that post-natal facilities at my hospital aren't great, so I'm hoping to get the hell out of there as soon as possible!

Not really. Not in my hospital anyway. There are plenty of other things that could keep you in to be fair

I had pethidin with DC1 and just gas & air with DC2. Always assumed I'd have an epidural, but did Hypnobirthing and that was enough to help me not need one. Worth a try as nothing to lose!

I thought pethadine was crap. Hypnobirthing doesn’t help proper pain believe me. It was amazing first time round, second time it could fuck off.

I really like the sound of hypnobirthing as a way of keeping calm - I will definitely be looking into that.

Bad cross-post with Passthecherrycoke, lol!

There is an increased risk of needing intervention eg assisted delivery or c section. I had one with DD and ended up with a c section.

DD2 I was able to get in the birthing pool and managed with that and gas and air. I had to get out to deliver. I used TENS machine out of the water.

I highly recommend the positive birth book and the positive birth company hypnobirthing (completely different people) to learn more about labour and birth.

I hope you don’t get the proper pain tacos. My first was fine

I had two epidurals. REally glad I did. I had one birth that went too fast for one the pain really messed me up. I think playing it by ear and seeing how you get on is the best bet.

I had one last time.. two actually. The first one failed and they came back & gave me a spinal block topped up by epidural. The spinal block was bizarre. It was like I had no legs! But it was the worlds biggest relief!

I know I’ve got a low pain threshold so I put it on my notes to give me one if I wanted one. I’ll be doing the same this time. I’ll always try without as I’d rather not have a massive needle in my back but we’ll see!

It wasn’t the epidural that kept me in hospital, it was my daughter not feeding so well & being jaundice. I was fine. One of my legs felt like lead for a couple days but it wore off. If she’d have been fine, we’d have been home after a night.

I can’t recommend hypnobirthing enough. I didn’t even need gas and air!

Sorry OP the other thing I meant to say is pethadine/ morphine can only be used in early labour so won’t see you through to pushing. Paracetemol is obviously crap, I mean you take that for period pains right? I’ve heard mixed reviews re gas and air. I didn’t rate it much personally

Now I'm thinking about the birth, I'm feeling a bit scared that this baby is inside me and the only way for her to come out is through some sort of immense pain one way or another. It's a frightening thought

It's not really about opting to have one or not. If there isn't someone available to do it and labour is going smoothly, the option won't really be there. They wouldn't send someone to give an epidural to a woman that has been in labour for a couple of hours and has other pain relief options over someone being prepped for a c section or someone that has been in active labour for a long time or someone that doesn't have other pain relief options due to reasons such as allergies etc. I was offered one after 12 hours of labour and a c section looking likely. Even then there was a wait as there was emergency cases that tool priority over me

I think people are being a bit negative. I rocked up at 4am on a Monday morning and had my epidural within 20 mins of arrival. oP could easily have the same. It’s not always busy.

I had one, I was induced, on day 4 of being in hospital I actually started to labour with the drip. I was exhausted from lack of sleep, I’d been nil by mouth for 24 hours when they started they drip, I managed 7 hours (tried gas and air but made me sick) and the mw said I could be another 12-24 hours like that. That’s when I chose the epidural.

Expecting my second. Would like to avoid an induction this time if possible. Will be open minded as it’s impossible to know how it’s going to go.

Oh and I asked for an epidural expecting a wait but I was able to have one within minutes.

I took the epidural.. quicker than the midwife would’ve liked but after she agreed if I’d waited it’d have been too long. Honestly paracetamol did sweet feck all.. same with codeine.. morphine made me very tired (so if I had that near pushing it’d have been pointless) and I tried gas n air for all of 5 minutes while waiting for the epidural.

I’d heard of women not getting them if it’s “too late” so once I’d went from 2cm to 5cm in the space of 5 minutes I wasn’t winging it any more (had been at 1cm-2cm for 6 hours previously) i shot to 8 by the time it was in and working, it was also a button which helped as I didn’t need to wait on someone else to top it up. And I’d have needed one regardless as I was taken to theatre in the end.

I’ll probably have another this time if I’m honest. Unless I’m slower progression wise then I might try gas n air with a little more enthusiasm

My labour was similar to yours Yoohoo16 but ended in a c section. Induction (3 times) didn't work and I was 42 weeks. I think if they never physically pulled my DS out, he'd still be in there!

@Passthecherrycoke I agree. Obviously others have had difficulty obtaining one but that doesn’t mean they’re not accessible.

When I had my daughter fourteen years ago, I was prepared to have any pain relief going but when it actually came to it, I didn't need it. I expected I'd have an epidural but I stayed at home as long as I could just using a TENS, and by the time I arrived at the hospital I was fully dilated and it was too late for an epidural or pethedine. I had a bit of gas and air and she was born an hour later.

I'm 33 weeks pregnant at the moment and it looks like they'll have to c section my little man early due to complications, so it looks like I'll be having an epidural! The bit I'm dreading most is having to have a catheter in for at least 12 hours afterwards.

My waters went on their own but I needed to be put on a drip to speed things up as there was meconium present. Diamorphine did the job initially (and made me drowsy so I got an hour or two's kip), but as the hormone drip really kicked in it got way, way worse. I was clock watching and knew at 10am the diamorphine would have worn off and allow me to get an epidural, so at 9:30 I was asking the midwife if she wanted to call the anaesthetist to make sure he got to me strangely I wasn't examined before I was given it- perhaps it's only some hospitals that require you to be 4cm.

It was great relief at first, but DD was back to back and I still felt very intense pain during contractions so was puffing on gas and air as well. After eight hours I stopped progressing, again because of DD's position, so was offered an emergency c-section. I had no pain or issues after the epidural or section and was out of hospital 36hours later.

Basically my recommendation would be to go in with an open mind and just see how you cope on the day. If you need an epidural

I've had epidurals with all 3 of my births. I have a very low pain threshold and 3 back to back labours so the pain was unbearable for me personally.

All my births have been very positive no interventions or damage to me (tears etc) but I know that I'm lucky that was the case. Epidural doesn't mean a longer stay in hospital. For me I was up and showered / walking around about an hour after births 2&3.

I had an epidural at 7cm even though I was kinda coping but it was getting a little tougher. It makes you paralysed though and longer stay in hospital. With next baby I am undecided, I may have some other pain relief instead.