Epidural or no epidural?

[Lucy]

I had an open mind regarding pain relief in labour, thought i would see how I coped with it and go from there. My daughter was back to back with her head flexed so wasn't turning during the contractions and labour wasn't progressing, as my waters had gone there wasn't any cushioning between her and my back and i was in agony - an epidural gave me some breathing space and then I was able to push her out (albeit with the forceps to guide her as she was still round the wrong way).

So, from my experience I'd say go for the hospital that can give you the pain relief as you never know how you're going to cope with the pain and any complications that might arise. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it

 

[beanie]

Couldn't have said it any better then Lucy. I was completely against having an epi, and during labour I was stroongly recommended to have one as I was exghausted after 2 days and my body wasn't working to dilate and my BP was high. Took me ages to agree to it and even longer to get over the fact I had failed as I hadn't had my perfect birth. This time round I am being miles more open minded.

 

[VanWest]

My couison had her baby the end of August, she was in labor 16 hrs, they gave her 5 epi's and four of them failed, its not worth it to me to go through all that pain and it might not work. I hope to do it natural!

 

[Lucy]

Vanwest - do you mean it's not worth going through the pain of them putting in the epidural? I didn't find that painful at all! It was a quick jab that's the numbing of the site injection then you don't feel them doing the actual epidural. I was scared about the possible ill effects etc but at that moment in time I was prepared to do anything to give me respite from the excrutiating pain and exhaustion.

 

[Hels]

All ive ever heard is negative things about epidurals, until I spoke to the labour ward manager recently. She said that having an epi was a good thing for me, my BP had gone sky high, and the epidural really reduced that, she showed me the BP monitoring charts and the difference was amazing.

I think you should keep an open mind, It seems that Lucy, Beanie and myself were all in s a smilar situ with the long slow labour and back to back babies, you dont know what is going to happen.

 

[goldlion]

Mhmm, very true. All of this has been so helpful. I think what I'm going to do is go to the Hospital that does supply epidurals, and try to go without it on my own. At least if there are complications, they can be dealt with in the right manner. Thanks soooo much ladies!!!