epidural or no epidural??

[Reesie]

Originally Posted by Breeze

I have done it natural and with the epidural. I found it much more enjoyable when my focus was bringing the baby into the world instead of all the pain. So my vote is yes to getting an epidural.

Congrats on your baby.

I'm with you on this one. I had 3 natural and my last was epidural because I was having my tubes tied right after the birth. I don't remember feeling any pain getting the epidural. You get uncomfortable having to hold that curled up position they put you in while your having a contraction. I will say I felt so much better physically by going natural. The epidural settled in my shoulders the next day and it felt like I had the flu.

[yorkieK9trainer]

CONGRATULATIONS TILLY'S MOM!!!!



BOY OR GIRL???

[YorkieShadow]

My Grandson is due March 1st and his mommy is planning on having an epidurals.

[genie]

I think this might be an old thread but I am going to put my 2 cents worth in anyway... If you are hurting, get the epidural, the pain only gets worse and by the time you get ready to push you will be exhausted. They numb the area with a tiny needle before they put the epidural needle in and they put the needle in between the vertebrae until it is in the right spot and then thread a catheter in there, then they tape the catheter in place and that is how you get the medicine. It is best to wait until you are dilated to 4cm before getting the epidural so it don't slow your labor, but sometimes it helps speed your labor because it helps you to relax. Sometimes it does only numb on one side and sometimes they can't get into the right area and you don't get any relief at but that is very rare. There are other complications that can occur too but your doctor can talk to you about that. If your labor is progressing very rapid then you may not want to have the epidural, some people dont even have time to get the epidural before the baby is delivered, they are the lucky ones even though they don't know it at the time. I have noticed that people recover faster when they don't have an epidural though. Most people have a long labor, especially if it is the first baby, so epidurals are great for them. There is medication that they can give through the iv early in labor to help until you get to be dilated to 4cm, and some people do great with just the iv pain medication and don't even need the epidural. The bottom line is if you are hurting unbearable and your labor is not progressing fast then the epidural is an option for you. Why would you want to go through severe pain if you don't have to?

Another option is an intrathecal. It is given the same way as a spinal. They insert a spinal needle in the space between the vertebrae and inject the medication and then remove the needle. The differnece is that the intrathecal ususally only lasts for 4 hours for good pain controll during labor. It works really good unless it wears off before the baby is born, so it is best to get this when you are dilated 5-6cm.

This has been my experience as a labor and delivery nurse for 10 years. Everyone is different and every labor and delivery is different. If you are in pain get the epidural, take a nap and wake up when it is time to push the baby out. Good luck.

[yorkieK9trainer]

genie-

I THINK I LOVE YOU!

Thanks for the advice. Please feel free to post up your thoughts on this ANY TIME! lol (I'm all ears.....and belly)

[xtine]

I didn't have a choice actually lol.

I had to have a c-section, they did a spinal tap, and that wasn't bad at all!

If you do decide to get the epidural, make sure you get it at the first hint of pain (when its getting to be too much before your going to deliver if that makes any sense)..

because if you do it too late, you'll have breakthrough pain and will be able to still feel it.

luckily i've had 4 friends that gave birth vaginally and had the epidural and was fine. they recovered very fast! unlike myself boo lol.

im hoping to have my next child (holy moly i'm already talking about the next one! lol) vaginally, but they say i can't since i had my first c-section.. so we'll see.

[Willow]

I have had 4 children...I had an epidural with 3, but still delivered 2 naturally. If I had to do it all over again, NO NO NO epidural!

My first epidural was pushed on me by my dr. I wasn't in pain, but he wanted to speed up my labor and delivery because I was making him late for a meeting that he was a guest speaker at. He made me take the epidural and turned up my pitocin drip. When it came time to push they didn't turn the epidural off (this is what they DON'T tell you when offering an epidural...they are supposed to turn it off/down so you can feel contractions to know when to push. I couldn't tell when I needed to push, and even tho my daughter was crowning they used a vacuum. It was awful!

When I had my second child my labor was all of 3 1/2 hours. I hit transition at 8 cm and panicked and screamed for an epidural. I wasn't in pain, I was just scared. I didn't get the benefits of that epidural. They put it in and when they turned me over it was time to push. Epidural kicked in right after my son was delivered.

Third child, got the epidural earlier on because I was in ALOT of pain! Epidural didn't help much and actually WORE OFF during labor. PLUS my son was face up instead of face down so I was pushing out the largest part of his head first. Immediately after his birth i was vomitting and having severe headaches. Turns out, they nicked my spinal cord and I was having spinal headaches. I ended up having a blood patch because pain meds (darvecot, vicodin) were NOT working! A blood patch is when they give you another epidural catheter, but instead of putting meds in it, they draw blood from your arm and inject it into the epidural catheter. It was really scary because they kept telling me I couldn't move until they were done because I could accidently paralyze myself. ON the upside, 10 seconds after the blood patch I could sit up and not have pain. Before the blood patch I couldn't stand or walk or think beyond the pain. It was a far worse pain than childbirth itself and it wasn't like I any period of time without the spinal headaches...they were all day constantly and all night constantly...I spent the first five days home from the hospital laying on the couch crying...it was all I could do...I couldn't even enjoy my new son. I will ever love the dr in the ER that gave me that blood patch!

My fourth child I was induced because he had been breach for weeks and when he finally flipped over they induced me. I went all natural with him...It was a bit painful, but bearable compared to the spinal headaches I had with my 3rd child. I prayed the entire time I was in labor for God to give me the strength to deliver and to keep me from asking for an epidural...and you know what? He did! Honestly, my fear of the spinal headaches was far greater than my fear of the pain of childbirth.

I have no way to adequately describe a spinal headache. The pain was worse than when I had gallbladder attacks, and those make you feel like you are dying. You feel like you are in a fog and you can't escape it and when you stand your head just throbs and pounds like you wouldn't believe.

Oh and I should add, from what I understand, spinal headaches are only caused from spinals/epidurals that aren't done correctly.
Please, if you can avoid an epidural, DO!

[Willow]

Originally Posted by xtine

I didn't have a choice actually lol.

I had to have a c-section, they did a spinal tap, and that wasn't bad at all!

If you do decide to get the epidural, make sure you get it at the first hint of pain (when its getting to be too much before your going to deliver if that makes any sense)..

because if you do it too late, you'll have breakthrough pain and will be able to still feel it.

luckily i've had 4 friends that gave birth vaginally and had the epidural and was fine. they recovered very fast! unlike myself boo lol.

im hoping to have my next child (holy moly i'm already talking about the next one! lol) vaginally, but they say i can't since i had my first c-section.. so we'll see.

It depends on how they cut you. If you had the bikini incision, then yes, you can deliver Vaginally...It's called a VBAC (vaginal delivery after c-section) but the risks of a uterine rupture during pushing is higher.
My mom delivered VBAC with my sister and she did fine. Women deliver VBAC all the time with no complications. It is something you should discuss the pros and cons about with your dr when you are ready for the second baby.
My friend had an emergency section with her first baby. With the second they had to drive an hour to the hospital while she was in labor and when they got there she opted for another section because the pain was too bad.

[Tillys_mom]

Originally Posted by yorkieK9trainer

CONGRATULATIONS TILLY'S MOM!!!!



BOY OR GIRL???

Thanks for the congrats!!!! We had a boy. Chase Noah. He weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 21 inches long. Being a parent is so rewarding, I couldn't imgaine not being a mommy!

[genie]

Originally Posted by xtine

I didn't have a choice actually lol.

I had to have a c-section, they did a spinal tap, and that wasn't bad at all!

If you do decide to get the epidural, make sure you get it at the first hint of pain (when its getting to be too much before your going to deliver if that makes any sense)..

because if you do it too late, you'll have breakthrough pain and will be able to still feel it.

luckily i've had 4 friends that gave birth vaginally and had the epidural and was fine. they recovered very fast! unlike myself boo lol.

im hoping to have my next child (holy moly i'm already talking about the next one! lol) vaginally, but they say i can't since i had my first c-section.. so we'll see.

It depends on why you had to have a c-section whether you can vbac. If you had a c-section due to an inadequate pelvis then you will need to have another c-section. Also alot of doctors do not recommend vbac because of the risk of uterine rupture. I have never seen any complications with vbac deliveries in my experience but I know that it can happen, especially if pitocin is used. The hospital that I work at stopped doing vbac's. If you do have another baby and have a spinal ask about having duramorph in your spinal...this is a morphine for spinals and the pain relief lasts for 24 hours, It is amazing to see the difference in someone who had a c/s with duramorph and w/o. The ones who have it are out of bed and walking that same day and without much pain. The ones who don't have it we have to basically roll out of the bed because they are so sore. If you are allergic to morphine you can't have it. Some people have alot of itching though, if you have this problem then there is medication to reverse it.

[xtine]

I had a csection because Tianna was breach presentation..

We were waiting for her to turn around but she never did but she wasn't so healthy in me so they opted to get her out..

they did to it bikini incision.. but it's so horrible cause i scar easily and it still hurts till now.. i really don't want another c-section.. im just scarred and traumatized for life lol.

[genie]

Originally Posted by xtine

I had a csection because Tianna was breach presentation..

We were waiting for her to turn around but she never did but she wasn't so healthy in me so they opted to get her out..

they did to it bikini incision.. but it's so horrible cause i scar easily and it still hurts till now.. i really don't want another c-section.. im just scarred and traumatized for life lol.

I am so sorry you didn't have a good experience...Hopefully you will be able to deliver vaginally next time. Good luck.