Epidural - Your Take?

Epidural-->Both time---->Natural
Baby#1: Had decided to take epidural. Started epidural but somehow it did not had any effect on my left side. Only my right side was numb and could feel labor pains on my left side. The anesthetist increased the dose but still couldn't feel the numbness on my left side. Delivered my boy in 3 pushes with 3rd degree tear.
On day of discharge suddenly my head started paining so much so that felt like my skull will burst and have a brain hemorrhage, turned out had spinal headache because the anesthetist punctured the spinal way too much near the cord nerves.Was given strong dose of Vicodin. Was up and about in 4 days with spinal headache gone on its own 2 weeks postpartum.

Baby#2: Gave epidural and had her within 1.15 hours of labor. No tear. Walked from labor room to recovery room. Was doing all the chores by end of first week.

 

Epidural-> c section.
Hi,I went to hospital Bcoz of water break. 6 hours I had very little contraction. After that they induced me for pain, I had contraction for every 2.5 minute( I counted) . When I asked for epidural,they said they will give epidural later before that they will give some pain killer( I forgot the name) even after taking it, I couldn't bare pain. Finally I asked epidural, but the person who put epidural will come only when he/she is free( I mean they won't inject immediately when we ask). I bared all the pain from 3 am to 6 pm ,but ended up c section Bcoz my baby heart beat was fluctuating. Same for first delivery, I was in pain for 12 hour and finally ended c section. I would say, if you really can bare pain ,u can try natural . If you have a thought of trying epidural, ask for it when you are in pain level of 4 or 5.

 

I had epidural, along with episiotomy for my first baby more than 4 years ago. Was able to bear pain only after epidural. Mine was a 10 hour labor and she came out in 3 pushes.

 

I ,too, had taken a birthing class and had done an extensive research on all possible pain management techniques . Those birthing classes are very valuable and provide so much wealth of information . We had even bought DVDs on lamaze techniques and I was quite confident that I have it all ready for my delivery. I was used to birthing ball at home so carried it with me to the hospital. Trust me when the real labor started , I tried all possible breathing techniques and even tried the birthing ball . My nurses were great who helped me with massages which gave relief but in the end the labor didn't progress much . At that point , my obgyn recommended us to go the epidural route and what a life saver that was. I wish I should have taken it earlier. No pain and so easy delivery . And no side effects whatsover !!

 

I had a normal delivery with epidural last month.Doctor initially suggested me to go for an epidural but I was like I will manage
I managed the pain for 4 hours but at the end I was not able to bear the pain..Twice when the doctor checked I was 3cm dilated.She told me if u cannot bear this pain it will increase further on contractions.. I was given epidural and next 30 mins I had painful contractions ,later I never knew what was happening..within next 2 hours I was 10cm dilated.,,since I never have any pain,the doctor helped me to know when I was having contractions so she would say push,though baby head was almost out,she had to use forceps for getting the baby completely out as babys heart beat was decreasing.So totally I had 6 hours of labour out of which 4 hrs was painful without epidural..
The lady next to me was also given epidural but she had a C section at the end.
What I can say is if you cannot bear the pain U can go for an epidural but try hard pushing ..Epidural was a life saver for me.After delivery I could see the doctors putting vaginal stich,Even that process would have been painful,I could only see the thread and a metallic needle and doctor stichcing the vagina.So all over for me epidural was the best option.

 

op,

I had normal delivery without epidural. I had 2 reasons for not choosing epidural. 1. it was not covered in insurance and was expensive.2 i was scared of spinal injuries and kept imagining what if i end up being paralyzed or worse because the anesthesiologist made a mistake while inserting the catheter in the spine.
But i forgot all about these two reasons as the labour progressed and demanded epidural. But when the doc checked , i wass fully dialated and ready for action. I was moved to labour room and the next 1.5 hrs is a blur ... the contracitons, the pain ,the pushing! I was dead tired and remember thinking , damn i cannot do this **** anymore..too tired to push. but the doc said teejay one more final strong push please..I can see the baby's head in the perinium. That gave me all the energy I needed and lo and behold my LO came to this world with my next push.
If i were to have another delivery, I would go down this route again. Because my recovery was super fast. Infact I was the one who carried the baby out of the hospital when I was discharged 2 days later.

 

I had normal delivery with Epidural.

This information is not to scare you but one of the side effect of Epidural is it will slow down the process and I had no issues with it but my friend ended up with back pain and was not able to lift even cooker after 4 months Post-Partum, she is completely fine now with NO permanent damage. Having said that in my case I am small built with big baby and ended up having 3rd degree tear. So Epidural really helped me get thru the 20hrs labor, episiotomy, I was even able to get some sleep during the labor and when the baby arrived I had energy to spend skin-to-skin time and breast feed. My mom was really surprised that I didn’t feel a thing and was enjoying the baby until the epidural worn off.

Go to hospital with open mind, no need to decide if you have to take epidural or not now. When the time comes you know if you will be able to bear the pain or not. Do inform your doctor your willingness to get pain medication as and when needed so they will be ready. Remember that you are not going to be any less of a mom if you opt for epidural.

All the best!

 

Op, Congrats on your pregnancy. Keep an open mind about epidural. You need to take into account the fact the baby shud have come down in proper position for you to deliver.Be mindful and alert during final weeks of pregnancy. My baby had a habit of waking me up at 3 or 4 in the morning all thru pregnancy. But during final few days he let me sleep. That's it . I asked the doctor why . She checked and said its okay. But I told her I wud like her to do csec just in case on a good day suggested by my mom. It was well before due date. Anyway I delivered my son on said date. In my first check up the next day , the doctor told me it was a good thing I insisted on c section becoz my son had cord wrapped around his neck twice and he wudnt have come down.

We women have inbuilt instinct about such things and we will know from whole 9 months what is a trigger. Epidural for me great but I was groggy and don't remember much of 4-5 hrs after son was born. Other than that I am glad I trusted my instinct.

You too need to watch closely the final weeks. How your kid behaves during the day you will have a good idea by then. If something is amiss ask your doc. Keep insisting. If you feel less movements that's a major factor.

Epidural is not evil to be scared about it. Its only how its administered which is important. Trust your doctor and ask about the anaesthisologist. If you feel your body didn't numb after its administered, do tell. Before my surgery during first shot my left side went numb but my right side was awake. So I told my doc. She keep insisting by poking my right leg and asking if I can feel something. Ultimately my right side was also numb.Your doctor shud be your best friend. Good Luck.

 

Epidural -baby 1 normal

OP, Go there with open mind. They will ask you what do you want.. my suggestion will be to wait till dilation cross 4cm. Use breathing techniques to manage pain.
I got this suggestion because two of my friends had epidural even before having 3cm dilation ended up having C section as the dialation didn't progress well. So I waited till dilation cross 4 -5cm

My first delivery and episiotomy went well because of epidural.
Side effects: I had severe head ache which looked like spinal head ache and was in emergency to check it three days after delivery. Finally they concluded it as stress head ache and asked me to lie down most of the time for two weeks..
Reason is I pushed too much as I was not able to guess it due to the effect of epidural . I had third degree elisiotomy as baby was big. And lot of external hemorrhoid like swelling around the area..it took me some time to get back to normal . Over all it helped me with pain during delivery

Second baby -episiotomy - normal
Same ...I waited for progress in dialation.. They give me episiotomy ...but it didn't help as baby went down ...so only option was to push..there was pain I cried. But the force to push baby out was minimal.. I felt like it is an easy job. I felt get happy that I had a normal delivery in true sense. By the time baby was out, epidural became effective .. that saved me from rest of the pain.
Good points..no severe episiotomy, no stress head ache , no external hemeroid like swelling.. I recovered faster than first one.
So go there open minded and face the situation as it comes to you...good luck