Water birth or straight to epidural?

[CharlieAndMoose]

At this week's antenatal class, birthing options were discussed, and in 2 weeks time I'll be starting to have the conversation with my midwife about birthing plans (I'm due early June). The class was insightful, but I've come away from it even more unsure what I want. Pretty much every mother I know has said "go straight for epidural", and before the class I was fairly certain that's what I wanted. But I don't feel as confident now.

I love to be in the water. I spend half my evenings in the bath, it's my go-to activity when I need to relax and have downtime. Swimming is my go-to exercise. I'm really intrigued by the concept of a water birth, but because you can't have any medicalised pain relief other than gas and air, that worries me slightly (my tolerance for pain is highly variable). But equally, the idea of an epidural and having less mobility/increased risk of needing an assisted birth, doesn't enamour me either.

FWIW I don't currently feel hugely anxious about giving birth overall, just enormously undecided. So I'm hoping for feedback from anyone able to answer the following questions:

Has anyone who's had multiple births ever experienced both water birth and epidural? If so, which did you prefer (if either) and why?

Has anyone ever started out planning on a water birth and switched to epidural part way through labour?

I would also value positive epidural and water birth stories, if anyone is willing to share! TIA.

I will say if you choose a water birth make sure you have a back up plan as there are many complications which will eliminate it as an option. I would have chosen it for both of my labors but couldn't because DC1, my water went before labor started and DC2, the meconium situation.

Whatever you decide, do remember that giving birth is a very dynamic situation and the best thing you can do is to prepare yourself for the very high possibility that things might not go as you have planned. Have more than one birth plan. Be very clear with your partner/DH and midwives about what you want and what kind of support you will need because you might need assistance in speaking up during labor. And it is temporary! Once baby is born the agony is immediately over, you feel like you've been in a collision and then someone gives you a tiny squishy yowling baby to deal with . It's the best!

I thought this had been disproved. Although anecdotally this is my experience. But me and my mates gave birth in the freewheeling 00's where the NCT ruled, so noone would have actively choosen an epidural.

My sister was raving about water births, but when I got into the bath in labour it made my skin crawl. Planned on trying without an epidural but found labour too painful and long so got one in the end, it was heavenly getting it in and all the pain disappearing. I wasn’t bothered by the lack of mobility, it wasn’t that long before I was up and about. However my baby was born by ventouse and I had an episiotomy which I blame the epidural for. I had no pain whatsoever but no real urge to push either. I want to try without one this time but I’m not going to have a plan set in stone.

I was hoping for a water birth but ended up in a highly medicalised birth via EMCS due to the cord being wrapped around the baby's neck amongst other things. We were both fine in the end.

The midwife at the time said only about 10% of births are suitable for water anyway, so you just have to go with the flow really!

It sounds like you have a realistic attitude from your posts and are prepared for different options. I have really worried for friends who have done hypnobirthing classes and end up bring very set on giving birth in a particular way and I think a lot of hypnobirth course providers are irresponsible.

I heavily bought into hypnobirthing and detested the idea of pain medical pain relief but was humbled within an hour of getting to hospital. It wasn’t for me.

Birth is a very individual experience and what I thought I would/wouldn’t want went out the window at the time so think it’s good you’re keeping an open mind.

I never contemplated the idea of a water birth until I spent 6 hours in early labour in the bath at home because it turns out the water really helped me. When I got to hospital and mentioned this they told me the birthing pool was available and offered it to me so I said yes however never made it in as I had a temperature that wouldn’t go down so they wanted me moved to the consultant unit where there were no birthing pools.

Once I got there I had an epidural and it was 100% the right decision for me at the time and actually made me quite glad I hadn’t managed to make it into the pool (everything happens for a reason etc). I was exhausted and in pain and it was like a switch flipped in my head and I knew in that moment that’s what I definitely wanted. It worked perfectly and gave me instant relief and more importantly gave me the chance to rest (I fell asleep and woke up 10cm).

it did mean that I was hooked to constant monitoring and in bed on my back which I initially wanted to avoid but being totally honest at the time I couldn’t care less and don’t feel like it ruined my experience. I could still feel the sensations of contractions and helped push. I ended up in theatre needing forceps intervention in the end and who knows if that was to do with the epidural or just coincidence - either way I really did not care at the time and haven’t cared that’s how things went after. I made the right decisions for me in that moment and ended up with a healthy baby and recovered well so how could I have any regrets! I also needed an episiotomy so it was handy id been “pre numbed” for that!

that being said this time round (due number 2 in 7 weeks) I wouldn’t say I’d go in requesting an epidural from the get go (I think because I’ve forgotten the pain and exhaustion!) but I am definitely open to having one if I change my mind once I’m actually in that situation.

to me the idea of one and potential risks/side effects were scarier than the actual act of getting one at the time. I didn’t worry about any of that or the size of the needle or what could go wrong or anything else that goes through my head now I’m not currently in labour and just felt instant relief. It was weird not being able to move my legs for a bit but you’re so preoccupied by the fact you’re giving birth I didn’t feel that to be a negative and honestly before I knew it the feeling was back and they had me stand up and in the shower. I didn’t feel like I would have stood up before then anyway tbh!

personally I think anything that poses potential risks and negative side effects when you’re in a comfortable state (I.e not in labour) is very understandably something to be wary of but when you’re in a situation of high pain and intensity like Labour they become a lot more attractive!

women that give birth without pain relief are incredible, as are people that utilise all forms of pain relief. Ending up with a healthy baby and mama is the main goal and in my opinion the route taken to achieve that doesn’t matter. Nobody gets a medal either way and it’s important to remember modern medicine has advanced to include things like epidurals to help manage labour and make it less painful than it’s historically had to be so they definitely serve a good purpose and give us a choice.

to summarise - I would keep an open mind and see how you feel when it happens. Brief yourself on all outcomes (water birth, epidural, intervention, c section) because you never know what’s going to happen!