Discovery Home & Health

HI Ladies,

I just wanted to get some info from those of you who have had an epidural.

It was covered in my NCT class last night, and being NCT they weren't overly enthusiastic about it. I don't think it put me off, but DH is a bit worried.

Just wanted to get some experiences, good and bad, to be able to make an informed decision.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hi there I had one with my first and third baby and I am glad that I did. It hurt when it was done and took a while to wear off but I it made the pain of labour more bareable. I never had one with my second baby even though I asked but had a B**ch of a midwife who agreed when it was far too late!!!

I would say go with the flow, you never know how you will cope till the time comes. Good luck with what you choose and hope that you have a great labour. xx

Hey hun

Well before Emily I was adamant that I didn't want an epidural - the thought of it absolultely terrified me - knowing that when I am in pain I can't be still - was 100% that I would end up paralysed if I had one!

Well - Emily had other ideas!

Had to go on the oxytocin drip in the end, I remember the midwives being scared to tell me as I had been so strong about an epidural in my birth plan (even to the point of saying if it ended up a c-section I wanted a general!)
I remember them saying that I could try having the hormone without the epidural but because it increases the contractions so much / quickly its generally much harder to cope as there is no build up.... I ended up saying yes to the epidural after asking for 30 mins to get my head round it....

I managed to stay still, thanks to my fantastic DF - who did an amazing job of keeping me calm....
I fell asleep pretty quickly after (no sleep for about 36 hours at this point)
but woke up a couple of hours later in pain still! It was a very odd feeling! The outside of my skin was numb, but I was still feeling the contractions!
They gave me a top up of the stuff they inject and that helped - then it stopped working again - so they got the anaesthesist (sp?) back by which time I was on gas and air as well as the epidural and still moaning!

They gave me a stronger solution which helped a lot! Then by the time they decided to go for C-section they gave me another full top up of the stronger one - I remember hearing the woman saying to a trainee 'we would normally do half a top up for this, but this lady has had some problems with the epidural so we will give her the lot!'

THAT one REALLY worked!!! I couldn't feel my legs at all - and it was bliss!

Waffle over! I am sure that didn't help at all, but thats my experience shared!

i had 1 with ds2,it didnt work well i still had feeling down my left side but with some g&a it was fine.it wasnt like feeling a proper contraction as it had still taken the edge off them,i'd still have another one tho.ds3 had other idea's and came too quick lol

xxx

I had one for my twins as had to have a section following onset of pre-eclampsia and was scared stiff at the thought of it, had always said i would never have one. For me, i was worrying over nothing at all, my husband was present when they did it and held my hand, the docs and nurses were fantastic and i didnt even feel the needle. I had no idea what was going on with the section (other than hubby looking over the top of the screen and telling me all the details). I even managed to take care of the twins from the very first minute they were born, i was stuck in bed overnight, but had the crib next to the bed and just rang the bell for the nurses if i needed them, but more often than not they were coming in and out my room asking if they could help....which i didnt want. So from my experience i would definately have one again.

i had one with elliemay. i was induced straight on the drip tho and as a 1st timer i was advised to have one. and i am glad i did i felt four of the drip contractions and the hurt like hell as soon as epidural went in me and dh watched jamies school dinners and desperate housewives and had cups of tea. got them to turn it down a bit though cuz i wanted to feel her being born (how silly was that that lol) i got full sensation back in my legs within about 2 hours after birth. teh catheter was the most annoying thing.

this time if i go into labour naturally im gonna see how far i can go on gas and air but if i cant caope epidural will be next on my list. if i am to be insduced again on the drip then i want one put in before i get hooked up.

hey ali!! I did the NCT classes last time so I know the kinds of things they say about epidurals, but out of 10 folk in my NCT class last year, 4 ended up having epidurals despite us all saying there was no way we'd have one after the class!!!

Like RJ and peanut I was induced on the drip and it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I wasn't offered an epidural automatically but took gas & air and pethidine and I would happily be induced again - painful but quick!!!! anyway... I didn't have an epidural during labour but had to have one after because of my haemorraging and placenta problems. And, personally speaking, I wouldn't choose to have one again even during labour - I hated the feeling of having a catheter in, poo-ing in the bed without knowing it (that was horrible!!! ) and having to wait 3-4 hours for it to wear off after. But that's just me and my experience is different as I don't know what it's like to have one in labour.

like I'm sure everyone will say, just go with the flow and don't let DH dictate your pain relief options to you !!! My DH said to me the other day "you won't need any pain relief this time". You can imagine my choice words back... honestly men don't have a clue!!!!!!

Loocy xx

Hi, I had an Epidural, it didnt work for me cos Im quite tall and the person but it in too low or so I was told!!!

I had to have a vontuse delivery cos my contractions slowed down, tried the drip, that didnt work. With having the edidural, although It didnt take the pain of the contraction away, I couldnt feel anything when Ruby was being born, which was good!!!

I'd have one again, I didnt really want to have one, thought I'd be ok with Gas and air but hated the stuff!! I was scared before labour about sitting still and stuff, but I was fine, told the anesatist (spell) when I had a contaction and he stopped. It didnt hurt, well compared to labour pains it was a walk in the park

Just go with the flow, you may not want one

Good luck.

They're fab.. I'd have one every time!

I did'nt have one with my first daughter, but did with my second!!!!!!

Was TOTALLY against them. Even to the point that in my birth plan I wrote NO EPIDURAL!!!!!!! and under lined it as well.
But like peanut I ended up on a drip to speed things up as DD2 had had a poo inside so they needed her out quite quickly. OMG - I needed that epidural. I was soooo scared of having one, you here all these horrible stories about them, but it was the best thing ever!!!!!!!
I did'nt feel a thing, was concentrating to much getting through my contractions to feel anything, then suddenly NO pain, it was heaven.
I was able to walk about with mine, and it wore off quite quickly after she was born. I could have married the doctor who gave me mine - don't tell DH - LOL!!!!!

Basically I am saying - YES to epidurals!!!!!!

Good luck

Paula my god our births etc were similar (apart from the final method of course!)

That's what I thought when reading yours. I had a shorter labour, and a different ending - LOL!!!

Who would have though it - due on the same day, delivered our beautiful babies on the same day (almost two weeks late) and within an hour of each other - spooky!!!!

Well I was adamant when I did my birth plan that did not want an epidural, but I was induced and when it came down to it after 7 hrs of tens, gas and air and pethadine that did nothing to relieve the pain I asked for an epidural and it was the best thing I could have done. After that I went from 4cms dilated to fully dilated in an hour and felt no pain at all, felt every contraction just like braxton hicks feel like but felt relaxed, chatty and in control. When pushing I felt when to do it but still felt no pain so was able to follow instructions when delivering the head, I didn't tear either. The only drawback is that I didn't get full feeling in my legs until the next morning.

I really can't remember feeling any pain from having the epidural done, but I was in so much pain from the contractions that I probably didn't notice. I think this time round I'll still see if I can go without it unless I'm induced again, but it will be in my birth plan in case I feel I need it.

Hi There,

My experience was much the same as Kate, I hadn't wanted an epidural and to be honest was scared stiff of the needle/getting the headache/losing feeling in my legs etc, but when it came down to it I didn't even feel the needle go in or any of it, it was all a bit of a blur (too busy concentrating on the nxt contraction!), all I know is that it was fantastic for me as suddenly all of the pain went, but I could still feel the contractions and knew when to push, but it was nice and calm and I felt in control.....yes it did take a few hours to get complete feeling back in my legs but that wasn't as bad as I thought and really you're unlikely to want to be racing around the maternity ward anyway at that point!!!

I'd do it again deffo!!

Dipps
x x

i had an epidural and deffo would have one again, i was induced early due to pre-eclampsia they started me off the thursday morning nothing really happened all day thurs and fri wasnt dilating friday night was in a lot of pain all night had some form of injection to take the edge off sat morning they broke my waters and thats when the pain really got going by 10am i was hooked up the the drip so was unable to get up and walk about as baby had to be monitered i was in agony contractions were back to back there was just no let up it had gone from nothing to everything i finally had an epidural at half 1 and it wa sthe best thing i ever did just wish id had one sooner i felt no pain and was able to sit and chat to my oh and my mum, it didnt hurt going in as i used the gas and air as i was petrified, the wierdest thing for me is i could feel them tapping on my back asif it was a distraction away from the needle cos i feklt tapping up and down my spine i had the anethiatists (sp) heklper guy and a nurse holding me still one each side and when i got a contraction he stopped what he was doing and let me suck teh gas n air,

it went pretty slow after that and gave birth at 10.35pm i felt bailey come out but had no crowning pain he was out in 3 pushes with a slight tear which i didnt feel them stitch was good, i was up and about straight afterwards got straight in the bath OH helped lol

it was a realy good experience for me,
would deffo do it again