WHY is such a big deal made if you use drugs in labour?

[hamster]

I'm a little curious as to why so many women think that because you have pethidine/epidural/any other drug, you are a bit of a wimp.

I had an epidural during my last labour, and continuously people have felt the urge to comment. Things such as "Oh I did it with just gas and air", or "A friend of mine went through labour with absolutely nothing"

I do appologise if I do sound petty, but it really puts a dent into your confidence
My sister has just been through labour, a couple of days ago, and I know that this will be one of the main topics of conversation next time I see the family, as such a big deal was made of it before the birth.

At the end of the day, I would have thought that as long as you have a healthy baby at the end of it, what does it matter?

Looking forward to hearing all about your delivery RZ ........

epidural in labour

Aloha: ah, yes - that old chestnut. I'm not entitled to an opinion unless I'm done time in the field. No - I have yet to produce a live child. However, I don't think you should leap to assumptions about the level of pain I have experienced from various health issues.

Secondly, I'm not giving people advice. This is a discussion board. I am expressing an opinion. I'm sorry if that is unnecessarily challenging for you.

Thirdly, I'm not in denial regarding your 'truth' about epidurals. I, too, have read research and I disagree with you. I have previously disagree with statements you have made on health issues as I think those were flawed too. However, if you took a clutch of gynaecologists / obstetricians, you could come up with a raft of different opinions on the treatment (or indeed the existence) of, for example, an 'incompetent cervix'. So on that basis, I'm not sure why you think you can grab objective 'truth' for yourself and your opinions.

Expat - That is basically what the article I found said.... that if they use a certain type of epidural drug... and administor it early on and let it wear off then it didn't really effect labour progression. BUT they don't routinely use that particular type of epidural in the UK.

Well, I wouldn't call it a lie, and it is a very common belief, but there is no proof and large-scale randomised trials all say that in their conclusion. There is a high likelihood that if you are experiencing a long, painful labour it is for reasons that may mean you will need an instrumental delivery/c-section in the end. And of course, if you are experiencing a long, painful labour you are more likely to ask for an epidural. If you have very effective but not very painful contractions, a perfectly positioned baby which isn't too large, and things are going quickly and not very painfully, then you aren't very likely to ask for an epidural. That's what makes it impossible to say. Also, as MI has said, the increase in studies is so small that this explanation could easily account for it. And some studies even show no link at all between epidurals and sections - though they do seem to show that labours are longer. But nobody knows if that is cause or effect - ie a/you are having a long labour therefore you need an epidural or b/your labour is a bit longer because you had an epidural. And of course, some people would prefer a shorter more painful labour, others would prefer a longer, less painful one.
As it took me almost 12 hours of searing, falling to the floor agony to get to 2/3cm dilated with no drugs at all, I find it hard to believe anything could have slowed me down!

like the error in that - '...women given an epidural in the early stages of pregnancy'

I had 4 knee surgeries- two of them major. Too many broken bones and cuts requiring stitches to count.

I thought I had a high pain threshold.

Until I went into labour and had a baby who had her hand firmly craddling her head above her ear.

I have never, ever felt such overwhelming pain in my entire life. Every contraction knocked the wind out of me w/pain.

Let us know how your delivery goes, RZ.

Hmm RZ. Have no opinion whatsoever about people's drug choices in labour but, well, really , childbirth is pretty damn painful. You are, of course, entitled to your opinion but I would be interested to know what it is after you've had a child.

'in that' meaning expat's link, sorry

I just love it when people who haven't had babies want to tell other people where they went wrong.
It's like those childless people who always know that they would raise perfect children, quite unlike yours.

Oh RZ - It kind of puts a different perspective on it that you have not even experienced labour yet!!! Hmmmm.... we'll see eh?

Of course, the fact that you can't feel the urge to push with a standard epidural has nothing to do with the rise in instrumental deliveries and interventions.

This thread started out as a civilised debate and is now heading rapidly down the "personal insult" route. Please respect other people's opinions. You don't have to agree with them but you should respect them.

And I think it is rather nasty to go on about RZs lack of labour experience when she has clearly had several miscarriages. Show some empathy FFS.

Like aloha, I laboured with no pain relief for 12 hours until reaching 3cm dilation. It took a further 2 hours for me to get to 4cm, by which time an anaesthetist was paged in to give me an epidural, as my blood pressure was starting to spike even higher with every contraction. As soon as I had the epidural, my blood pressure smoothed out and I was able to carry on. REached 10 cm, pushed for 1.5 hours, but b/c of the baby's hand being so far up, I needed a forceps delivery. SO glad I had that epidural in place for that!

Oops, I didn't clock onto that with RZ. Sorry if you have suffered miscarriage(s).

Are you pregnant just now?

Sorry RZ. Didn't realise you'd had miscarriages either.

RZ - Are you there?

She hasn't really said she has had miscarriages has she?? Or that she is pregnant at the moment! So its easy to see why some of us haven't automatically assumed that. Come back RZ!

What does having miscarriages have to do w/assuming people, particularly women in labour, reach for pain relief too readily? I've miscarried myself before delivering a baby. It had no bearing on how I felt about how other people chose to cope w/pain.

Nothing but it's extrememly hurtful to have people making snide remarks aboutt never having gone through the pain of labour isn't it?

Toothache, it's mentioned in one of her earlier posts on this thread althogh it's not clear from that that she has not had a successful pregnancy.

Ah Soupy - Just did a search.... she's planning a homebirth in September.

I guess that would depend on the person, Soupy. Could be. I wouldn't have joined in discussing about pain relief in labour, however, if I hadn't been through it myself, cuz it's like having had major surgery - just something that's hard to qualify if you haven't been through it yourself.