How painful is childbirth with epidural?

[Snisel]

Is it still really bad or does the epidural mean it barely hurts at all? Honest answers and details please. I have never given birth so would like true stories of exactly how painful it is before considering pregnancy. Any personal experiences welcome, I would like realistic accounts of what to expect. TIA

Im pretty sure i never said women who dont want a baby are selfish.
And i never said how the impact would affect them is selfish.

If you go back and reread what i said, i said you cannot choose whether to have a baby based on pain alone, yes ask for experiences, but you either want a baby or your dont.

Having a baby is going to be painful regardless of how you do it.

Theres still going to be the 'after labour' as people say, you have the pain after having the baby when all your womb is once again contracting.

So again my point stands, ask for experiences yes, but dont question whether to have a baby because of the pain you'll have to go through.

Many many women have had babies, thats how we all came about.
And many many women are having babies. Theres nothing wrong with no wanting one, i have a friend who has said she doesnt want to have babies, thats absolutely fine, thats not an issue. Its down to personal preference.

Just dont choose whether to have one because of pain, everyones pain threshold is completely different, and labour times are different, my niece was born after 73 hours in labour and contracting to be then born by csection.
My other niece was born after 35 minutes, naturally.

Yet my sister who had my niece in 35 minutes said the pain was horrendous.

(To my brothers ex girlfriend) My niece who was born after 73 hours said it wasnt what she was expecting.

I felt nothing when I had a epidural but with my second birth there was no doctor available to come and give me one.

Once you are in labour you just get on with it.

I didn't feel anything and wished I'd had it sooner. Lots of increasingly intense pains that all melted away on epidural. Good luck!

If you go back and reread what i said, i said you cannot choose whether to have a baby based on pain alone, yes ask for experiences, but you either want a baby or your dont

I don't see why you can't, if you aren't pregnant.

i said you cannot choose whether to have a baby based on pain alone

Of course a woman can choose not to have a baby for this reason. I used to work with a woman who was petrified of going through childbirth so she chose not to have children. Her body, her choice.

I gave birth without any pain relief and it wasn't really painful. Trick was to walk about and rock on a birthing ball. It was also not very long, just 6 hours and 4 hours respectively. Not everyone is going to be like me but if you have been scared off by watching dramatic movies etc I think you need to know that for many women there's no drama at all (but that doesn't make good tv or stories to tell in the pub!)

@LER2023

Just wanted to say I'm so sorry to read that
But you said what I really wanted to, labour is one day, motherhood is a lifetime.

Hope you get your family in some way one day, my dsd was after 6 miscarriages, miracles happen

If early enough I found zero pain was great with my first 2 DC. My last I was very close to end at 8cm and it took away the contraction pain but not the pushing unfortunately. I was so chilled with my first 2 very easy no pain

Once it started, not painful at all. Just had sensations of pressure. I would 100% have another one

But you said what I really wanted to, labour is one day, motherhood is a lifetime.

The trauma of childbirth including the pain, can impact women for far longer than a day. It can affect your physical and mental health, how you bond without your baby and your relationship with your partner. Others dismissing it as ‘just a day’ or calling women selfish and telling them they can’t not have a baby due to pain of childbirth, are really inappropriate.

My epidural went really well. I could feel it going in my back, it was a bit uncomfortable but nothing bad.
I was induced so I asked for the epidural before they gave me the drip to ramp up my contractions.
It's a strange sensation, I could feel the pressure of my contractions which were not entirely pain free but manageable.
By the time it came to push I couldn't feel a thing. I'd definitely have one again if I go on to have more children.

I had an epidural. I went from pure agony to absolutely no pain at all. It was wonderful.

with my 4th I had to have a spinal for emergency c section and it was horrible couldn’t feel a thing and it made me anxious felt like my legs wasn’t my own! My other 3 were natural and I’d rather have the pain of that.

Doesn't hurt at all once the epidural is on board. You can still feel sensation but no pain. Wonderful things.

I was very worried about pain, tearing leaving lasting problems, and something happening to the baby during childbirth so I chose to have a c section which was pain free and my recovery was smooth, I was out of hospital the next day. I know it’s not like that for everyone and it still definitely wasn’t easy but for me c section was the best option for many reasons.

I have heard great things about epidurals from friends but I know it’s not guaranteed - if there’s no anaesthetist around or you’re too far gone into labour you can’t always have one.

I really admire all women who go through a vaginal birth, I know I couldn’t do it as my anxiety about the baby and pain is just too much.

I didn't have any pain relief with second. Contractions hurt so much but when it came to pushing it felt pleasurable

@5YearsLeft out of interest, just to qualify your comment about 'hitting bone verging on incompetence', how many epidurals do you put in? Do you never look for the scar in in women who've had an epidural before when you're siting one for their next labour?

@Snisel you've probably already grasped that there's a range of experiences with epidurals (and that mixed in with the responses here you've got some women who've had epidurals for labour, some who've had epidural top-ups for surgery/forceps and some who've had spinal anaesthetics, all three of which are different techniques that give different results). There's some really good objective information on a website called labourpains.com (the Epidural Information Card) is really helpful at explaining the process/advantages/side-effects/risks of epidurals. We normally quote that 1:8 epidurals doesn't work well enough to be the only mode of pain relief in labour.

I didn't feel a thing. In fact, I slept through most of my labour much to the annoyance of my eager husband who sat next to me awake and waiting the whole time.
Only issue is that they had to tell me when to push because I had no idea when to

Same - I didn't get pain relief due to everything happening so quickly but I found it very manageable with breathing and keeping mobile and upright. It's not necessarily the agony on your back you see on the tv, everyone experiences it differently.

Me too 😁

My recoveries from my sections were very quick and painless and I couldn't get a thing for the surgery. I wouldn't personally want to birth any other way. The idea of vaginal birth terrified me.

I am shit scared of any pain.

didn't feel a thing during child birth x 2 with an epidural.Brilliant!

Mine went from 10/10 pain (I would say 11/10 pain really) to 0/10 pain. It was fast and effective. No lingering side effects.

It did cause my blood pressure to drop and was probably related to decelerations in my baby's heartbeat which were very scary to me in the moment but medically not a problem. So be aware of that!

After my epi labour, I had two natural deliveries without any pain relief because I felt on top of the pain all the way through both of them. But I wouldn't say no to an epi if I felt I needed it! It was brilliant.

Induction for both my babies. First was a long one - about 36 hours- I was exhausted as couldn’t sleep through the contractions so had epidural and able to sleep for a few hours. Couldn’t feel a thing. Unfortunately the epidural was dislodged by the night duty midwife so it started to wear off at the end, but as it meant I could feel to push overall it worked out for the best. I was not keen to have an epidural but I was desperately tired and took midwife’s advice - she was right. It was wonderful.

Second induction was faster - I was really fit and did hypnobirthing techniques and walked a lot in the first stages of the induction. I got to 10cm on two paracetamol without realising so I had missed the window for an epidural. I was utterly terrified but I got through it on gas and air, the worst bit was stitching me up at the end (not gonna lie, it stings worse than anything I’ve ever experienced, even worse than when I got bleach in my eye!)

But either way - epidural or no, it’s ok. It’s really ok. You are bound to be nervous but it’s not pain like anything else - it’s pain with a purpose and a big dose of hormones to boot. There was a thread recently where we all agreed a really bad toothache is more unbearable!

You can’t assume you can have an epidural.
I was insistent I wanted one but didn’t get one. They were too busy and I progressed too quickly. I was still arguing about it at the pushing stage.

I was absolutely terrified about birth, very nearly didn’t have a baby because I didn’t want to do it. But I somehow managed a quick vaginal delivery with just gas and air. I realise now it was a daft thing to be worried about as it was the most empowering thing in the end.

I’ve had with and without, honestly don’t know if there was any difference tbh. I think the epidural made things more difficult with my first in the circumstances, as it was quite an emergency and I couldn’t feel anything, was drowsy and confused and needed a lot of help. Would I still take an epidural now? I wouldn’t say no, but I was fine without it too.