Pros and Cons of an epidural?

[MrsRose2018]

Hi ladies,

I’m 30 and expecting my first baby In July.

I think ideally I would like a natural birth and stick to gas and air as much as possible.

I’m not keen on the idea of having pethadine or diamorphine as I can make you sick/baby dunk/affect first feed but would be interested to hear your thoughts/experiences on epidurals!

Thanks

X

The only cons for me was that it wore off and couldn't be topped up again so had to endure the pain - with dc2
Worked a treat - dc3
Only had pethidine with dc1 and had a traumatic time.

Best wishes

Long term they can cause back problems. That's what makes me wary......

Pros - didn't feel the pain after the excruciating contractions. I'm opting for it again this time round too!

Cons - none for me. 5 years on and my health is still the same. No back problems.

Just take whatever they offer you! There's no rewards for having no pain relief.
Having said that, I didn't want anything that made me feel sick or be sick. I had epidural for DC1 after 50hrs of Labour I was so tired I needed something extra. Had just gas and air the the next 2 births, although they were about to put the needle in with DC3 and my waters broke and out she popped!
Just say in your birth plan that you will be guided at the time x

Pros for me- no pain & could still move my legs

Cons for me- had some site bruising

Almost 3 years later and no lasting damage

Air and gas was awful for me, made me dizzy, confused and high. No way would I give birth again without an epidural.

Seriously you don’t get a medal for a natural birth!

Take what you can - air and gas won’t make much difference for the pain and personally it ruined my birth experience for me. I was out of it for ages after the birth.

Pros - took away all pain. Allowed me to sleep after 24 hours of already being in labour. Allowed me to be very relaxed for a few hours, read, chat to my other half and not be completely exhausted at the end (although I was pretty knackered just from a lack of sleep!).

Cons - my first one failed, so I had to have two! I did find not feeling my legs really peculiar at first, had a minor freak! But zero regrets, I’ve had no lasting issues from it. I’ll def be having another!

My advice - don’t over plan or over think it. No-one knows how they’ll handle the pain when it comes to it. Keep an open mind. Labour is so unpredictable. I did not intend to have an almost 3 day labour. I was so tired & drained. I found gas & air fairly useless & it made me vomit & very queasy. But your experience will be totally different. Have an idea of what you def don’t want such as pethidine (I also had this as a no on my birth plan as I’d had it before and had a bad reaction) and a lose idea of what you would like & then roll with whatever happens at the time!

Mine took 44 mins to place!! The crap anaesthetist!! Then she went too far and went in and I ended up with a severe rural headache - took them 2 days to work out what was wrong - I vomited a lot - couldn’t move - passed out - has the worst headache in the world - baby was in NICU. Anyway long story short they eventually worked it out and I went back into theatre for a quick procedure - they take blood from another site and inject it into your spine to stop the Dural leak. Look it up! Not recommended by me!

*dural headache not rural

I only had one with my third baby as was looking like we might be heading for a section.

For me personally, I wouldn't have one again (unless I needed a section). I had the post dural puncture headache which was the worst pain I had ever felt and landed me back in A&E. I also didn't like the fact I couldn't feel anything so had no urge to push.

However, I think I was just unlucky and many have had positive experiences.

Pros: took all the pain away
Cons: couldn't feel to push so ended up with a forceps delivery. Had a splitting headache for a while the next day.

I had just gas & air with my next two. Oh, how I loved that stuff!

You sound very similar to how I was thinking- I only wanted gas and air, pool and an epidural if needs be! Nothing that would make me feel out of it or sick for a long time.

When it came to it I had a last minute induction at 37 weeks- completely unforeseen. After three days of the pessaries and gels etc not working I was still less than a cm dilated and my cervix was really far back- they said they could break my waters but that it would be extremely painful so they would only do it after an epidural - so my lovely pool birth plan went out of the window!

Anyway, the point of my answer is that the epidural went very, very wrong. The anaesthetist immediately said he had done a 'dural tap' where the needle went in too far. It meant that my spinal fluid was leaking out (this was how he knew). I was warned I would have a bit of a headache after delivery. They then administered a test amount of the epidural drug and my blood pressure and subsequently my baby's blood pressure plummeted so they had to press the alarm button and everyone came running. Luckily they fixed it but would only give me tiny doses of the drug thereafter. Cue several hours of labour feeling nothing for 30 minutes, then the drug wearing off and feeling everything until another anaesthetist became available to top me up.

After I had my baby I developed an excruciating headache, but more importantly I couldn't move my neck- at all. This meant they had to keep my catheter in as I was completely bed bound (and flat, unable to sit up even slightly) for nearly two weeks afterwards. I had to formula feed my baby as he was losing too much weight as I couldn't feed him effectively in the situation I was in. I couldn't cuddle my baby or change his nappy or even feed myself for days and days afterwards because of that epidural. Yes the pain relief (when it was working) was immense but quite simply it wasn't worth it. They eventually fixed me with two more procedures in an operating theatre (the first attempt failed). Because I had been bed bound and catheterised for so long though even when I got home I couldn't move from the sofa as my body was in so much pain and I had lost all bladder control.

Gas and air is epic. You'll feel the pain but will care about it less. Please seriously consider the risks of an epidural before having it. People think it will never happen to them but it happens more than you think and it was honestly horrendous. There will be lots of people on this thread who had epidurals which didn't go wrong and will understandably trying to sell it to you- I'm not trying to put you off- just to make you aware of the very real and considerable risk you take when agreeing to one. You have to make a fully informed decision!

Pros: It felt DELICIOUS the moment it started working, seriously I still recall the utter relief from the pain. It was bliss. I had a button to press every few hours when you feel its effects waning. Allowed me to sleep and rest overnight. I still felt the pressure to push, just no pain. I was lucid, not high like on gas and air. No after effects at all except very woozy and quite numb down there.

Cons: I didn't like that I was lying down all passive, hooked up to machines and not active in labour. But given the prolonged labour and that I had a drip, epidural was really the best option and I've no regrets.

When I was given mine with ny first it was very late on and I could already feel him coming out. It took away the contraction pain, but I still felt the actual birth. Was absolutely terrified with my second as I didn't have time for an epidural so thought that the actual birth would be 10 times worse with no epidural. It wasn't, it was the same 😂. I still don't know if that's normal with epidurals, I've never really asked anyone. Excellent for taking away contraction pain though, and apparently you can still move your legs now, and your not confined to the bed after the birth? Sure my friend told me she was straight up after hers recently.

Oh how could I forget- the catheter. You have to have one with the epidural. Very unpleasant but likely only kept for a few hours after birth.

Thank you so much for your responses!

My hesitation to an epidural is the being numb from the waist down, not feeling my contractions/need to push and the risk of forceps. Tbf an instrumental delivery is my BIGGEST fear as I haven’t had a single friend who hasn’t had some kind of complication for her or baby...

Hands up, my pain threshold is ZERO and I’m not going to be a hero if I need pain relief just every option seems to have the same amount of pros and cons...

x

Gas and air was awful for me. Made me wail like a baby, lost all control of my emotions and made me sick. Tried it once with ds 1 and gave them it back, refused it with ds 2, told the midwife it made me sick, and that I had been sick during my last labour, so she went and put some, I think it was lavender on a tissue 😂 apparently to stop the nausea.

I wanted an epidural in advance, never got it as labour progressed too fast.
I was adamant no Pethidine but had 1 shot as needed some sleep after a disastrous failed induction. It was the right decision as I had panicked and breathing had gone to shit. The brief respite enabled me to get back in control (ish). I trusted the midwife who gently recommended it.

My advice is to read up on all the options and be prepared to change your mind.

If I’d known how good my birth would be in the end I’d not have wanted the epidural but I was expecting an induction and thought I’d need it. You won’t know until afterwards really what was best as nothing prepares you.

Pro: no pain
Con: didn't experience anything that I can call a con. I really loved my epidural and will take one again. Having said that, I know it has risks.

Check the Positive Birth book by Millie Hill - it gives loads of good info about the pros and cons of all sorts of pain relief / coping mechanisms, not just the ones you listed here.

Hypnobirthing or breathing exercises can also be a huge help, it keeps you in control until you need something stronger (if you do need it - not everyone experiences birth as particularly painful).

@paintfairy epidurals do not cause long term back pain. Being pregnant and pushing a baby out do.

OP please have a look at www.labourpains.com for good unbiased information about all forms of pain relief in labour.

Good luck!

I kinda wanted an epidural but knew if I did I would have to move up to the labour ward and instead of spending our first night together in a large private room with a double bed dh could share we would end up on a ward with a chair for dh to use. So I tried without to begin with. Turned out she came too quickly for me to change my mind so only had gas and air (also was in the water bath - not planned but worked out ok). However in a cruel twist of fate I had a third degree tear so ended up going upstairs anyway and getting a spinal to get it fixed.

Moral is you can't really plan for anything, just do what seems right at the time. I had no ill effects from my spinal and it wasn't too long before I was up and about, it actually meant I could get a little rest as i physically couldn't get up!

(For those who don't know (I didn't before) a spinal is similar to an epidural but instead of putting in a tube so they can keep topping it up they just inject the medicine straight in. I was completely numb from waist down).

Two births and two failed epidurals. My second one, I was up on my feet and having a shower three hours after the epidural was given which goes to show what little affect it had on me.

The actual insertion wasn't a problem and for the first hour, having no pain was absolutely bliss and I can imagine if it works for you then it would be amazing.

Given that my two labours were exactly the same (waters went, I didn't go in to labour after 24 hours so was induced on a drip) I've been advised that since the epidural just doesn't do the job with me that if I was to have a third (which I definitely won't now), it would have to be an elective under general.

The first time around I'd planned to be as natural as possible, but after hypnobirthing for 18 hours, I was exhausted and tortured myself about having the epidural but needed a rest. Second time, I didn't even think twice and practically begged for one (and was assured that it would definitely work this time).