Did your epidural slow down labour or affect pushing ?

[VioIetMoon]

Thinking about pain relief. Currently 3cm and waiting for space on labour ward to have my waters broken after induction.
I'd rather hear someones experiences as opposed to reading off Google sites. This is my first baby.
Estimated 7-8lbs now based on last scan 2 weeks ago .I'm dreading pushing it out.

Did you find epidural slowed down labour ? I've also read its more likely to end in assisted delivery forceps ect or emergency surgery
..which I'm really hoping to avoid as this would rule out having ivf again before I'm 40 as clinic would make us wait 18-24 months.
What weight was your baby ?
Was it a first or subsequent child you had epidural with?
Any thoughts and advice at all I'd really appreciate it.
I don't want to have one too early if it slows it down but if I wait to late the anaesthetist might not perform it as they only do ocassional rounds. Apparently pushing a human out of your vagina isn't seen as a priority 🙄

I had one in Feb for fourth child. I was only four centimetres but induction and wires limited pain relief with water or positioning. I had the epidural around 11pm and went to sleep. I woke around 4pm and asked the midwife what was happening with contractions as really couldn’t feel anything. The baby was due to come so she suggested not topping up and then I could feel a little when pushing out. All fine, no tears or intervention. Legs stayed asleep for a few hours afterwards but all fine after that. (6lb baby)

I also had one a bit further down in labour with baby 3 and he was born three hours after the epidural. Very quick and I tore with him, but minor and healed well. (7and half lb baby)

first two were natural births. (9lb 11oz ans 8lbs 5oz) I think chemical induction is so unnatural and painful. If you need an epidural, take it. I loved the epidural (know we’re not suppose to say that) less trauma and pain. Good luck!!

I had an epidural, as I was only 1cm, contractions were overlapping and they didn’t think I would be able to push ds out as he was 9 pound. They gave me the epi at 11pm and I went to sleep expecting to have a c section in the morning. Woke up at 6am 10cm and ready to push had him at 7am.

I had an epidural at the earliest opportunity with both DC (who were both induced for different reasons). With DC1 it was before the drip, for DC2 I can’t remember, but it was early as I knew I wanted one.

DC1 was 7lbs 8oz and DC2 was 3lbs 10oz. Both were born within 8-12 hours of the epidural, neither were assisted deliveries.

With DC one I slept after the epidural and I was woken up when it was time to push. He arrived around 15 minutes later. With DC two I was too anxious to sleep but no problems when the time came to push and it was over very quickly.

Good luck OP!

No to both. Got an epidural with both of my children. Labour wasn't slowed down and pushed them both of in about an hour. I could feel pressure so I knew where to push, which i hear is common.

I had an epidural with twins. They are super keen on them then just in case they need to whisk you into theatre for twin two. Honestly it was fine and just the pessary for induction. had them within six hours

My daughter had an epidural where she could monitor how much she had . She turned down the dosage when she was fully dilated..it was a beautiful manageable birth .

I had an epidural with DC1 as my labour was taking forever. I always said I wouldn't have an epidural but I was desperate for one in the end.

It did slow down labour, for sure. It also affected my ability to push as I couldn't feel what I was doing and I was tired. Then my waters went and they realised there was meconium so decided to use forceps. It sounds barbaric but it really wasn't, it was fine.

DS was a healthy 6'11oz at 39+2, spontaneous labour.

I didn't need an epidural with my second and third babies.

Best of luck, OP!

I had one a 4cm and didn't slow labour down. Knocked out my contractions when I was dilating but I could feel them to push. Epidural went in at 8am, pushing at 4pm.

As another side, I DID have to have forceps in the end but choice was mine and they were in room to help instead of in theatre. I don't regret that choice either at all. It was right at the time and I trusted the Drs. My baby was IVF and I've never heard of waiting 18 months after assisted birth to go back to the clinic? We were hoping to go back 13 months after and had our first consultation and sign off but became pregnant naturally before starting meds.

Good luck! If you feel like an epidural would allow you to enjoy the birth then honestly do it.

Had an epidural with ds1 and hugely regretted it.

I believe it slowed things down massively. After epidural it took 9 hours to get from 5cm to 10cm. I then pushed for 2 hours and had episiotomy and ventouse delivery - just avoided a csec by the skin of my teeth. I them haemorrhaged and had to have two blood transfusions.

The ONLY thing in my birth plan for dc 2 and 3 was NO EPIDURAL. And I thoroughly warned dh before hand that he had to advocate for me and essentially not allow me to have one under any circumstances - because I didn't trust my judgement when in pain and wanted to make that decision ahead of time with a clear mind.

I don’t think my epidural slowed down labour but I do wonder if it impaired my ability to push. Having said that, DD was 9lb7 and in an awkward position. They attempted ventouse and forceps and still couldn’t get her out, so had an emergency section.
That aside, I’ve never felt better than when under an epidural! Best few hours of my life 😂
Good luck OP!

OP you might find the labourpains.org site helpful answering some questions - it's run by the Obstetric Anaesthetics Association and has lots of objective info about pros vs cons of epidurals (and other pain relief techniques).

Epidurals are associated with assisted deliveries (ventouse/forceps), but it's not clear that that's a causative relationship (it may be that labours that are always going to need assisted deliveries are more painful and therefore more likely to need an epidural for pain relief, rather than the epidural causing the problem). There isn't clear evidence that epidurals alone increase the chance of needing a section.

Assuming you're in the UK, anaesthetists don't 'do rounds'. There is 24 hour anaesthetics presence on labour wards, but if the anaesthetist is already busy in theatre/doing another epidural then there may be a delay in attending. It's not unheard of though for the delay to be in the midwife actually telling the anaesthetist a woman is interested in an epidural! There are standards for the time in which we should respond to a request and there should be an escalation policy if the response is going to be way outside of the normal timeframe. HTH.

I firmly believe epidurals are far more correlated to than causative of the need for assisted delivery. A malpositioned baby (even if only slightly) is more likely to cause a lengthier and/or more painful labour, both of which you're far more likely to request an epidural for.

I had two inductions. Both on the drip for the same amount of time. I went into both trying to get as far as I could on just gas + air, then going for stronger pain relief if/when I needed it. That point happened at 5cm both times, which was 6 hours in with my first, and 11 hours with my second. I had diamorphine with my first, and an epidural with my second. Eventually, my first ended in a vaginal birth, and my second in a C-section. Guess which one was back to back and for good measure tipped their head back so they were undeliverable vaginally? Seconds come quicker and easier my ass.

I have no regrets about either the induction or the epidural. It was important to me to attempt to have a vaginal birth, and the epidural was the needed. I was done, and with progress having been so slow who knew how much longer labour would last. All you can do is make the decisions that are right for you at the time.

Best of luck with the rest of your induction.

I had an epidural at 3cm, I still felt contractions and had an unassisted vbac. I have no regrets as I had such a long and slow progressing labour which was back to back. I don’t think I could have mentally taken another 12 hours of pain without the epidural. I was up and walking 2 and a half hours after giving birth.

I had an epidural with my second. I have no idea if it slowed down labour as I don't know how slow labour would have been without the epidural! Before I had it, labour was slow and difficult anyway. Contractions kept stopping for ages.
It didn't affect my pushing. The midwife had her hand on my stomach and could feel contractions and told me when to push.
My epidural experience was very positive and I'd definitely do it again.

@Greybeardy I met with my anaesthetist before I had DC2 and he told me to ask for an epidural as soon as I was admitted if I was sure I wanted one as the midwives can be slow to pass along the message. He also put it in my hospital notes to call him as soon as I was admitted for the same reason. The impression I got was midwives really don’t like epidurals. Shocking really!

No to either.

Had my waters broke at 7.30pm (wish i had my epidural for then, have it as early as poss is my advice!)

Epidural at 8.30pm.

Started pushing at 1.10am

Out 19 mins later.

First child, was 8lb8 when born, didnt need any forceps etc, i could still plant my feet and new the pushing sensation so had no issues.