pain relief vs length of stay in hospital

[tashyluv]

I am still not sure whether I want an epidural, I know I will be going for some type of mild pain relief, but im still on the fence.
I am trying to steer away for the epidural because im thinking that this means you have to stay longer in the hospital.

How long does the epidural take to wear off, and what other types of pain relief are there? I would like a short stay ( not overnight ) obviously that is according to hope myself and baby are coping. I will find out from mw when i see her also.

The main qu is thought, does pain relief affect your length of stay? By how much?? argghhh cant bare to stay in hospital!!!

 

[saraendepity]

hey hun i cant comment on epi's but i had diamorphene and i slept thru alot of my early - middle contractions and i lust used g&a towards the end as it was too late to have more as she was coming !! lol i had daisy at 12.17 am weds morning and i was home by 4.00 pm the same day!!

sara

xxxxxx

 

[Lazy Leo]

Hi there, not sure where abouts you are but I'm in Scotland and I've been told that for first time mums its a minimum 24hrs in hospital. I'm not sure if that is from birth or from when you go in in labour. I presume its from the actual birth.

In terms of the epidural, we were told at our ante-natal class that you won't be allowed out of bed for a min of 6 hours after birth if you have an epidural.

Obviously standards will vary from place to place, even within the UK there are differences in the way the hospitals all work. Its probably best you speak to your own midwife / care team or tell us where you are and someone from the same area might be able to give you a good idea of what happens in your area.

 

[DizzyMoo]

Hun, It also will depend what time baby is born as to whether or not you stay overnight & obv how well you both are.
You don't need to decide now whether you want an epidural just go with an open mind as to how you cope with the pain if you get me. I didn't want epidural with josh but had to have one & it was topped up once, he arrived at 8.50am & i was fine to leave that afternoon if i wanted but i felt i wanted to stay in that night & they had no problem with that at all. So even if you have an epi it doesn't mean you can't come home that day again obv depends what time baby is born too.

I think an epi takes couple hours to ware off, I got up an hour after having josh & had a bath, Felt quite wobbly on my legs but walked with a little help leaning on my mum.
After the bath i felt much better, & legs were getting stronger, Still wobbly & abit un easy but could walk ..just took my time

 

[Kimboowee]

I had an epi, it was taken out 4 hours after labour (7am) I was told I would probably be able to leave late afternoon aslong as baby was feeding, and I was able to get up and about...Turns out we both had infections so that wasnt the case but hope it helps x

 

[Mary Jo]

I had a mobile epidural, which had a boost button for me to press if I felt I needed a top-up, and I never lost feeling in my legs, so I was able to walk with support during labour (I didn't walk round much but I did go to the loo). It had fully worn off about 2 hours after my son was born and I could get off the bed and walk normally (ok, not quite normally as I'd had a 2nd degree tear and my SPD was dreadful, but my legs were fine).

I ended up staying in for 2 nights but could have left after 1 if I'd felt confident with the way Adam was feeding; he'd passed meconium in the waters so he was on 24 hours observation, so there was no way we were coming home the same day (he was born just before 1pm).

I think if you have a normal, uncomplicated delivery, baby is fine and you don't have feeding issues AND baby was born early in the day, you'd be able to leave and not stay in overnight. Personally, I was fine about staying because it was reassuring to have midwives available at the touch of a button, just while I was getting my head round everything.

 

[sara k]

my aunt told me its all depend on situation...if u think ur baby is ready to come out then dont use epidural...but if dr says ur baby is taking time to comeout and ur labour is coming slowly then epidural make sense bc its not easy to tolerate labour pain for many hours....

 

[Rees]

if you don't like the thought of staying in hospital then have you considered a home birth??

i don't want an epidural (have told fella that if i get transferred to hosp and scream for an epi he's to make sure that i don't get one - that needle ain't coming anywhere near my back!) and so long as i hit 37 weeks and nothing goes wrong then i'm all set for a home birth (was amazed midwife is allowing me as it's my first)

as for pain relief, at home i'll be having gas and air and pethidine if i need it


so maybe a home birth is an option to consider??

good luck with whatever you decide though!

 

[lexy604]

I would say like dizzy said go in with an open mind i planned on an epidural but im going to start out basic and move up as i need to i dont want to just take hard drugs if i can cope without them.

 

[lalitas charm]

Hey there, after my antenatal class tonight I am not keen on an epidural. Not just cos of the hospital stay but also as it can take up to 8 hours to wear off and you lose sensation and some control during the birth etc. There was a whole load more that they told us but after the first 30 mins of the class I was in a state of shock and horror at the situation I have gotten into (being pregnant and therefore having to give birth) that I stopped paying full attention. I just know I thought "I'll avoid having that then........." when she was talking about it.

 

[mumtobe25]

Hi I had an epi quite late on i was already 8cm diliated my labour was very quick though on my form est labour was only 3 hours and 14 mins..

I had baby at 12.23am and was told i could go home about 11am in the morning as I had a cathetar even though i could still move my legs and feel things but as my baby boy was only 5lb 15oz we had to stay in for 24 hours for his blood sugar to be checked...

But my epi didnt get rid off all my pain i still was using gas and air and could sill feel when to push although the midwife did say thats because it takes 20 mins to work and i had Connor 13 mins after i had the epi the anithestist was still in the room :-o

But like i said my labour was very quick i went from 6cm dilated to 8cm in 11 mins - but if you do have an epi you can ask for the one that means you can still move round etc..think its called a mobile epi

 

[LuluBee]

I had an epidural and they wear off quite quickly, within a couple of hours. I would say to be honest that your choice of pain relief won't have a massive impact on the amount of time you stay in hospital it will be more a case of how you recover from the delivery, how well your baby is doing, whether they are feeding well, and they normally require a check over by a paediatrician. If you deliver your baby late at night or in the middle of the night you will probably have to wait until the next morning to see the paediatrician. To be honest with you, if this is your first baby, i would take advantage of a bit of time in hospital to recover from the birth and get used to looking after your baby. I ended up with a c-section so was in hospital for 4 days (which I appreciate most people don't want) but we managed to iron out any feeding issues that we had, I got a chance to recover and get used to looking after Alex, my husband became confident in changing nappies etc, and best of all they helped me establish a routine with Alex so that by the time I got home I knew exactly what I was doing and when he was likely to wake up in the night.
As I said - I'm sure you have reasons for not wanting to stay in hospital but if you deliver late in the evening I would really recommend an overnight stay just to give you a chance to recover, ready for hte orad ahead!
Good luck honey