Epidural yes or no?

[BabyAlfie22]

Hey girls,

For my first baby ( just hit the 3rd trimester) I'm just thinking about pain relief options.

Would you get a epidural again? Have you had one before? Are you thinking of getting one ?

Negatives and positives please?

🙏

Due in 7 weeks. Not planning to have an epidural.

Humans have managed thousands of years without that intervention, as uncomfortable as anticipate birth will be, the moment will pass.

God yes. I planned a very relaxing water birth by candlelight.

4.5 days into labour waters broke, meconium, needed an induction, had the epidural - bliss! I slept from 2cm (which was all I’d dilated despite contractions every 3-6 minutes for days) to 10cm and woke ready to push.

I did end up with an episiotomy and ventouse extraction which wasn’t ideal and I understand is more likely with an epidural but the recovery was better than I feared and the sleep was worth it.

If I have another I’ll play it by ear and see how it goes but if it’s not going quickly I’ll take the epidural.

100% yes - couldn’t see any point in any pain or discomfort. I slept, watched Wimbledon and did my nails.

I hung off till the last possible moment before opting for an epidural and it's from that point onwards that things went south. Baby in distress, I got a fever, needed an episiotomy and assisted delivery with a ventouse cup. Read up on it and apparently epidural can cause the maternal fever/baby distress, so shan't be having an epidural this time around!

Play it by ear. If it's too painful and it probably will be have one. There's no reward for a drug free birth - the outcome is the same.

And yes women have been giving birth without intervention for millions of years. Many women and babies have died as a result - so ignore any fucking eejit that says that.

@nee22

I didn't want one, but I ended up being in early labour for 5 days not progressing and eventually was induced. The drs strongly recommended epidural and in the end I think I would've ended up with a csection had I said no. It gave me a chance to rest before pushing, and I was able to walk to the loo once he was out. I think if things had progressed normally for me I wouldn't have needed it, it was just the sheer length of time I was in labour...I needed a break!

This was almost exactly my experience too except I had a catheter and didn’t walk to the loo afterwards.

Didn't plan on having one but I was so thankful when I did.

No epidurals here. I didn't have or really need pain relief with 4/5 of mine. All my labours were spontaneous and relatively fast (between 8.5 hours and 20 minutes).

One thing I'd be wondering, given the state of the NHS, is will an anaesthetist/epidural be readily available?

Keep an open mind about everything that might happen or be needed...

Not for me.
First was a high risk labour, they said it meant if c section I could be awake. It went wrong, ended up with lumber puncture and a general for c section. The next week was a terrible headache and two blood patches.
Next birth, no epidural, up out at supermarket in 24 hours

I had one but it only worked for a couple of hours. The anaesthetist tried to top it up or something but nothing worked; it was definitely in the correct position. I had back problems about 10 years prior and the Obstetrician did say this might happen.

It was so disappointing to look back and see that I was delirious with pain for hours and hours and when DS was born I was so off my face with pain that I couldn’t even hold him for long initially.

I got one, although it took three attempts to get it in and when it finally did go in it did absolutely nothing for me 😭 apparently a 'rare' case where it doesn't work

No.

When pregnant with DC1 I had planned not to. After the contractions really kicked in I was begging for it and cried, screamed, wailed for an hour until someone was available to do it. The relief is undescribable. It worked perfectly for me. Let me sleep for an hour while I dilated and I didn't feel the episiotomy when I was struggling to push. I was smiling and talking normally. I know I'm very lucky as it was almost textbook.

Hi! I absolutely hate needles, it took them 36 weeks just to get my blood tests and i didnt have any vaccines.

I begged for the epidural

Really painful labor and it was the best decision i made. Apparently it feels like a bee sting but i didnt notice anything, the blood tests hurt more personally!

Its your choice overall but if i have another bqby I'm 100% having it again!

A hard no from me.

I didn’t have one or want one for several reasons -

• I thought being able to remain upright and active during labour was important.

• I wanted to avoid continuous monitoring if possible. If you have an epidural this is generally required.

• I placed value on being able to feel my contractions and respond to them accordingly.

• I didn’t have any Vaginal Examinations. I didn’t think they were needed. I would of had to have them if I had an epidural.

• I was concerned about the cascade of interventions that could happen after an epidural.

-I have back problems anyway and did not want a big giant needle going into mine!

• I didn’t want to be reliant on others saying if it could or couldn’t have one. Or asking me to wait for x more hours or x more centimetres. Though you can’t plan for everything in labour, mine was very much on my terms.

I had a waterbirth and using the water was lovely.

Contractions were painful but it was a productive pain that came and went. Not a constant pain for however many hours I was in labour for. Transition was hard but that didn’t last very long.

I had a low dose epidural (walking epidural).
So no pain.
BUT
I was able to stand, go about my life, use the bathroom, bounce of my ball etc.

And feel each contraction (pressure) and push by myself when i wanted to!

Was super efficient. First baby 3.5kg out in 20min! The ring of fire was abit sore but that's it!

Would recommended.

A classic epidural where you are bed bound and numb I am not sure..

Here a better description.

Don't know why it's not the norm tbh

www.verywellfamily.com/walking-epidurals-2752787

Abso-bloody-lutely.
Both my births were induced, first was back to back.
On both occasions I could stand up and move around and still feel contractions as it was turned down a bit for the pushing stage.

Not sure about the 3cm idea mentioned above. I got to 2cm dilated unknowingly, going about my day. At 6cm it really was unbearable, so had the epidural then with the first.
7 hours after having it in, baby arrived and 6 hours after that, I was home.

Personally, an epidural was a sort of no for me (midwife in our antenatal classes said it can slow down labour which can lead to further interventions like forceps etc/they don't always work/because you can't feel as much you're more likely to need coached pushing which increased chance of tearing/the way they are administered sounded worse than giving birth to me haha.)

However, my advice is do your own research and kind of ignore other people's opinions. As you can see on this thread there are women who are 100% for it and 100% against it. You're going to hear horror stories from women who've had them and 'You'd be crazy not to/no medals for doing it without pain relief' stories too. Think about the pros and cons and weight up what you're comfortable with, keeping in mind that you might not even be able to get one - where I gave birth, at least, we were told in our antenatal classes an epidural wasn't always available as it depends on if an anaesthetist is available to administer it.

Oh, and I said a sort of no for me because if it's your first time giving birth, you won't really know what it's like until you're doing it! I went with 'I'd rather not but if I change my mind, I change my mind'. Whether you do it or not, you've got this!

It all just depends on your baby and your body. Baby could be a nice size, in a great position and be cooperative and you don’t need one. Baby could be too big or in an awkward position or just take a long time coming out and you find yourself needing one. I think it’s best to go in with the view of being open to one but seeing how you get on but it can take a while sometimes for an epidural to be administered.

I was pretty certain I was going to have an epidural. I had an induction, which thankfully worked with the pessary. I had no pain relief on the antenatal ward and so the midwives kept saying I was struggling and they were trying to get me to delivery to help me out, they thought I wasn’t even 4cm - I was 8cm when I finally got to delivery and some gas and air. I thought to myself that if I got to 8cm with nothing, I’d see how I got on. I was bargaining for an epidural and pethedine at the transitioning stage, telling the midwife I wouldn’t cope, baby was never going to come out, I definitely couldn’t do this (this is normal at transitioning phase but I think I was a bit more dramatic than the average woman). Midwife gave me some codeine and I slept at 10cm, just using gas and air for contractions, then pushed without using gas and air but just gripped the mouth piece and screamed.

Listen to your body. Listen to the midwives/doctors but also don’t be disheartened if they think you aren’t coping.

100% yes!

To be honest i was in absolute agony and when I got to the hospital and when they checked me I was only 3cm, they was going to send me home but instead told me to have a walk around the hospital, I could barely do it, I remember being sat in the cafe having these intense contractions just wanting to cry.
When I got back to the delivery suite I was 4cm and they gave me gas and air, which just made me feel pissed, I didn't like it but also got strangely possessive over it lol.

I kept saying I want an epidural but they were telling me I didn't need one etc and kept that going for ages. They had to break my waters and oh boy did things ramp up then, I was actually considering chucking myself out of the window 😆 looking back I was transitioning !
My midwife told me to start pushing too early which meant my cervix swollen, so I did eventually get an epidural because of that. The senior midwife was a witch and she said "oh well she'll have to have one now won't she"
Got to say it was bliss. I was lay on the bed sending my partner off to get me a snickers !! Like a different woman. I just needed the rest. It didn't take all the pain away but it made it bearable.
I Managed to push ds out in 45 mins, I tore but it was apparently like a graze.

Absolutely, yes.

Like many others I had a long latent labour and back to back first baby. They said I couldn't have anything till I was 4cm, by the time I was 3cm I was already at my wits end and when they examined me again I was 10cm. Too exhausted to push effectively so still got an epidural & induction drugs. I remember just coming back to myself as the pain went away. I needed ventouse help to get DD out but I was so exhausted that was happening anyway, not the epidurals fault.

I had my second on Wednesday! I rocked up in hospital at 6cm & a lot of pain so I opted for a dose of pethidine while they sorted the epidural. It was amazing. I SLEPT! And woke up at 9cm, once 10cm I opted to give it an hour for the dose to die down so I could feel to push. DS was out in 50minutes with coached pushing (but TBF, I liked the help as I didn't have it first time round and was losing my mind with pain & exhaustion).

I had a catheter afterwards for a few hours both times. It was no big deal and meant I just chilled in bed holding & feeding baby. Recovery is going ok 👍

Have all the pain relief you need. If you can handle water, breathing and tea lights then go for it. But lots of women need more & do really well with it.

@RelentlessForwardProgress I obviously mean in the context of this topic.

Was that anaesthetist a man?

How an earth could anyone suggest that 3cm is the peak in pain and intensity.. they get more frequent and more intense from there so suggesting that 3cm ‘awh you’ll be fine then’ is simply absurd’.