May 13 2007 - 2:30am No one needs to tell you that giving birth is a painful experience - we've all heard our fair share of horror stories. Thanks to modern science, an epidural is available if a woman doesn't want to or can't deal with the pain. It's basically a shot given in your spine that makes you have a loss of sensation and pain from your waist down.
I tried natural, but the pitocin was a killer. I opted for an epidural, but I was one of the lucky few the epidural doesn't work for. I ended up being put to sleep for a c-section with that
one anyway. With my other children, I had spinal blocks for my c-sections.
My epidurals allowed me to enjoy and feel in control when my kids were born. One great thing was that once the baby was born, I still had energy to enjoy sharing them with the family. The
biggest benefit though, was that when my son went into distress at the last minute, I had enough energy and reserve strength to get him pushed out lightening fast, which kept him save and
saved me from having an emergency c-section. I also agree with Wynter, pitocin is really ouchie!
I don't plan on having kids for quite a while, but when I do, I'll go ahead and get an epidural. After delivering loads of babies and assisting through dozens of births, my fiance's
experiences were that the smoothest births happened when the women had epidurals.
My sister was one of those lucky few that the epidural didn't work on. She had crazy tears and a hard birth (she's like 5'3, her husband is a foot taller than her = big baby), but she made it
through. I think I'll see how it goes, it all just depends on the way things are working out. Even with all the scariness that goes along with having a baby, I can't wait
No needles near my spine! I went through the entire childbirth without it (although I did have IV drugs) and then i had to have a procedure done after the birth and they're all trying to get
me to sign for an epidural for the procedure! I was like NO WAY, are you kidding me?!? So they gave me anesthesia.
I had hoped to do without, but did get it and was grateful for it in the end. My water broke at midnight and by six AM I was exhausted (I'm not a night person at the best of times and had
been up almost 24 hours straight) and only eight centimeters dilated. The epidural allowed me to rest comfortably and even sleep for awhile. (Quite possibly the best nap of my life!) The
downside was that I ended up pushing for three hours and I suspect a lot of that was because I couldn't feel what I was supposed to be bearing down on, and was reclining rather than the more
effective squatting or kneeling positions. For the next one, I'm once again hoping to do without, but it will depend again on how it goes.
Oh I would recommend it 100% ! I can't imagine that I would have had the strength and energy to effectively push that baby out if I would have had to endure 12 hours of painful contractions.
I only pushed for fifteen minutes.I think the epidural can cause some people to stall if it is given too early in the labor process.The epidural needle doesn't feel anywhere near as bad as
you think it will, especially if you've already had some "real" contractions. At the end of the day, there is no big trophy or award for going "natural" as opposed to taking the epidural.
I didn't have an epidural, but I did use pethadine and gas when I couldn't handle the pain anymore.I think we have it sooo easy now days, imagine what our grandmothers went through!My
grandmother had eight kids!
It doesn't matter which way you go, as long as you have a healthy child!
My sister got an epidural. (Thank god!) She is a pretty big wimp when it comes to pain. There was a draw back; she had to lie on her side for the first part of her labor, before she went in
to hard labor, so the baby would flip over. Because of this one side of her would be numb and the other wouldn't so she had to keep switching from side to side for the medicine to be even.
When it came time for her to have hard labor she said that she could still feel quite a bit. My friend had to go through giving birth with only her left side being numb because the doctor
didn't do it right!
I do know what I am going to plan for. It's a hard one.
My sister got an epidural. (Thank god!) She is a pretty big wimp when it comes to pain. There was a draw back; she had to lie on her side for the first part of her labor, before she went in
to hard labor, so the baby would flip over. Because of this one side of her would be numb and the other wouldn't so she had to keep switching from side to side for the medicine to be even.
When it came time for her to have hard labor she said that she could still feel quite a bit. My friend had to go through giving birth with only her left side being numb because the doctor
didn't do it right!
I do know what I am going to plan for. It's a hard one.
I didn't want an epidural in the beginning. When they tried to get me to sign up for it, I refused for the longest time. Then almost 24 hours later LOL, my son still didn't want to come
out.
I was in pain, but not quite, never was dilated much. They checked then found out that the solution they were giving me was the wrong one.
They changed the solution, then I started to feel the pain and the doc got to come in and break my water for me.
I was just too tired, and was in a lot of pain, so although I was so scared of needle. I told them I wanted the epidural. They gave me the epidural and 45 mins later, my son was born.
Believe me for those who think they don't like needles and would rather have a natural childbirth...when you're in that pain (like I was--and I have a high threshold for pain in the past),
you'd probably not get too scared with the needle anymore.
(You can't even see them insert the needle to your spine--thank goodness--I stil don't like seeing needle 'til this day).
I did start out wanting to go natural but they gave me pitocin to bring on my labor because i was loosing amniotic fluid.Eventually i did get the epidural(i honestly never felt the needle
when they put in in my spine)and i was able to actually experience a pain free delivery.Less than 3 hours later i was completely dilated and I gave birth to my daughter.I would suggest it to
anyone who has a low tolerance for pain.
This is my conclusion:
- Having an epidural...bad for your back.
- Natural birth...long labour; hidious pain; tearing big time if your baby is big; brings up your blood pressure.
- C-section...risky for baby.
- Birth at home...risk of things going wrong.
- Birth at hospital...place with most bacteries and viruses going around.
- Not having kids - risk of human extinction.
My opinion: no ideology or theory or facts or bla bla bla should be forced on anybody. This is how life works...if your focused and you are pleases with your decision things will work out; if
your are being forced or against your will...that's when things go wrong!!!
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25 Comments Post a Comment
i would try without it. i haven't had kids yet, so i don't know quite yet. but i'd like to try it naturally just to feel that i could do anything! lol
1I tried natural, but the pitocin was a killer. I opted for an epidural, but I was one of the lucky few the epidural doesn't work for. I ended up being put to sleep for a c-section with that one anyway. With my other children, I had spinal blocks for my c-sections.
2My epidurals allowed me to enjoy and feel in control when my kids were born. One great thing was that once the baby was born, I still had energy to enjoy sharing them with the family. The biggest benefit though, was that when my son went into distress at the last minute, I had enough energy and reserve strength to get him pushed out lightening fast, which kept him save and saved me from having an emergency c-section. I also agree with Wynter, pitocin is really ouchie!
3I don't plan on having kids for quite a while, but when I do, I'll go ahead and get an epidural. After delivering loads of babies and assisting through dozens of births, my fiance's experiences were that the smoothest births happened when the women had epidurals.
4I got it twice and enjoyed gaving birth without too much useless pain.
5A shot in your spine?! That sounds horrific! Giving birth is sounding less and less appealing the more I hear about it!
6i read that epidurals actually slow labor down...so it kind of delays the whole process...but maybe i misunderstood...is this true?
7I hounestly wouldn't think about NOT getting one.I guess I'm weak.
8My sister was one of those lucky few that the epidural didn't work on. She had crazy tears and a hard birth (she's like 5'3, her husband is a foot taller than her = big baby), but she made it through. I think I'll see how it goes, it all just depends on the way things are working out. Even with all the scariness that goes along with having a baby, I can't wait
9I don't even know whether I WANT to give birth... :/
10No kids for me anytime soon, but I think the NEEDLE in the SPINE is a bigger fear for me than actual labor! I hate needles!
Ladies who have gotten the epidural-- how was the pain?
11No needles near my spine! I went through the entire childbirth without it (although I did have IV drugs) and then i had to have a procedure done after the birth and they're all trying to get me to sign for an epidural for the procedure! I was like NO WAY, are you kidding me?!? So they gave me anesthesia.
12I had hoped to do without, but did get it and was grateful for it in the end. My water broke at midnight and by six AM I was exhausted (I'm not a night person at the best of times and had been up almost 24 hours straight) and only eight centimeters dilated. The epidural allowed me to rest comfortably and even sleep for awhile. (Quite possibly the best nap of my life!) The downside was that I ended up pushing for three hours and I suspect a lot of that was because I couldn't feel what I was supposed to be bearing down on, and was reclining rather than the more effective squatting or kneeling positions. For the next one, I'm once again hoping to do without, but it will depend again on how it goes.
13Oh I would recommend it 100% ! I can't imagine that I would have had the strength and energy to effectively push that baby out if I would have had to endure 12 hours of painful contractions. I only pushed for fifteen minutes.I think the epidural can cause some people to stall if it is given too early in the labor process.The epidural needle doesn't feel anywhere near as bad as you think it will, especially if you've already had some "real" contractions. At the end of the day, there is no big trophy or award for going "natural" as opposed to taking the epidural.
14I didn't have an epidural, but I did use pethadine and gas when I couldn't handle the pain anymore.I think we have it sooo easy now days, imagine what our grandmothers went through!My grandmother had eight kids!
It doesn't matter which way you go, as long as you have a healthy child!
15My sister got an epidural. (Thank god!) She is a pretty big wimp when it comes to pain. There was a draw back; she had to lie on her side for the first part of her labor, before she went in to hard labor, so the baby would flip over. Because of this one side of her would be numb and the other wouldn't so she had to keep switching from side to side for the medicine to be even. When it came time for her to have hard labor she said that she could still feel quite a bit. My friend had to go through giving birth with only her left side being numb because the doctor didn't do it right!
I do know what I am going to plan for. It's a hard one.
16My sister got an epidural. (Thank god!) She is a pretty big wimp when it comes to pain. There was a draw back; she had to lie on her side for the first part of her labor, before she went in to hard labor, so the baby would flip over. Because of this one side of her would be numb and the other wouldn't so she had to keep switching from side to side for the medicine to be even. When it came time for her to have hard labor she said that she could still feel quite a bit. My friend had to go through giving birth with only her left side being numb because the doctor didn't do it right!
I do know what I am going to plan for. It's a hard one.
17The medicine is invented to help so I'm planning to use it.
18I didn't want an epidural in the beginning. When they tried to get me to sign up for it, I refused for the longest time. Then almost 24 hours later LOL, my son still didn't want to come out.
I was in pain, but not quite, never was dilated much. They checked then found out that the solution they were giving me was the wrong one.
They changed the solution, then I started to feel the pain and the doc got to come in and break my water for me.
I was just too tired, and was in a lot of pain, so although I was so scared of needle. I told them I wanted the epidural. They gave me the epidural and 45 mins later, my son was born.
Believe me for those who think they don't like needles and would rather have a natural childbirth...when you're in that pain (like I was--and I have a high threshold for pain in the past), you'd probably not get too scared with the needle anymore.
19(You can't even see them insert the needle to your spine--thank goodness--I stil don't like seeing needle 'til this day).
yes
20I'm most probably going to want it, but Renee's comment is my worst fear!
21I did start out wanting to go natural but they gave me pitocin to bring on my labor because i was loosing amniotic fluid.Eventually i did get the epidural(i honestly never felt the needle when they put in in my spine)and i was able to actually experience a pain free delivery.Less than 3 hours later i was completely dilated and I gave birth to my daughter.I would suggest it to anyone who has a low tolerance for pain.
22omg, i'm getting really scared of giving birth even though i won't have a baby for quite awhile!
as my old h.s. science teacher said: "men have war stories, women have labor stories"
23oh my god I am even more scared now to have children....
24This is my conclusion:
- Having an epidural...bad for your back.
- Natural birth...long labour; hidious pain; tearing big time if your baby is big; brings up your blood pressure.
- C-section...risky for baby.
- Birth at home...risk of things going wrong.
- Birth at hospital...place with most bacteries and viruses going around.
- Not having kids - risk of human extinction.
My opinion: no ideology or theory or facts or bla bla bla should be forced on anybody. This is how life works...if your focused and you are pleases with your decision things will work out; if your are being forced or against your will...that's when things go wrong!!!
Hey that's me and God bless us all!!!
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Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.