Gagrlinpitt
Pregnant with #1 rainbow
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2015
- Messages
- 2,436
- Reaction score
- 1
SIL congrats! I still have 3.5 weeks for my scan and to find out gender.
SIL - I would love to hear your pros and cons on epidural vs natural. For me it seems like the risks/side effects of the epidural are so minimal, there's no reason to say no to it. My friends all recommend it. My bff even had an allergic reaction at the puncture point and she still says she'd do it again.
SIL - I would love to hear your pros and cons on epidural vs natural. For me it seems like the risks/side effects of the epidural are so minimal, there's no reason to say no to it. My friends all recommend it. My bff even had an allergic reaction at the puncture point and she still says she'd do it again.
With DS1, I had very intense back labor. I made it to 6 cm and then it felt unbearable. There was instant relief when I got it. I was able to relax and get some rest until I was fully dilated. I did not have any complications from it. However, the downside was my epidural ended up being so strong that I could not feel my contractions at all when it came time to push. The nurse had to tell me when I was having a contraction and when to push/stop. I was having such a hard time that they ended up giving me an episiotomy. I also did not like that you HAVE to labor on your back with one. I wanted to get up and walk around or change positions, but you aren't allowed. You also can't eat, and I had a long labor and was getting very hungry.
With DS2, I went into labor very quickly. I had actually planned to get an epidural again, but by the time I was in my room at the hospital and they checked me, I was at 9 cm and it was way too late. The pain was very very strong, but the nurses coached me through it. Pushing was actually the easy part. For some reason the pain almost disappeared and I could just focus on pushing. It was so nice to be able to feel what was going on, and this time I pushed out the baby in 3 minutes (first baby took over 2 hours of pushing since I couldn't feel). I did not need an episiotomy, and I was able to get up as needed/right away which was really nice. However, the pain in the last half hour or so before pushing was really really intense and terrifying.
There were definite pros and cons to both, and it's really hard to say what I'll do this time. To be honest, I don't think I'm going to make a plan one way or another and I'll see how I feel when I get there. That way there is no pressure either way![]()