Epidural

Hi just wanting to know what is an epidural and is it painful when they put it in your back and also what pain relief have other people tried beside the epidural and did it help with the pain


Edited by Oxy23

Did you try the pethidine Foxxy-One?  I've heard lots of mixed views on that. 

I don't like the idea of a big ol' needle in my back but I'm pretty keen on an epi anyway.  I'm a bit of an anxious type, and if I don't have to worry about the pain, then that's one less thing to stress about. 

I'd also like to know other peoples' views on what worked best for them and if they had an epi, what they thought of it.

I didnt find it painful either.  the contractions that preceded my decision to have one were worse.  I was worried about it and how I would stay still etc but it was easy and you feel human after its in.  I managed to sleep for a while after mine. 

 

I also tried gas but couldnt work it out either.  Am going to try again though.  I had pethidine after the birth as I was in serious pain due to a clot.  Didnt like the pethidine much.

I also had some feeling left and could move my legs (but wouldnt have been able to walk and still needed help to roll over).  I could feel pressure etc like my contractions but no pain....even when pushing.  I knew that it would have bloody hurt without the epidural so I was aware of how much pressure there was.

 

The other funny thing I remember is that they put the scalp monitor on the baby so I obviusly had that sticking out "down there" and I could tell when bubs moved as it tickled...very funny.

never felt a thing but i was mid contatction at the time man i put breathing to good use then so no you cant relly feel it epes if they time it with a contraction

I took it as a last resort, but only cos if they couldn't get DS out with 3 attempts of ventouse they were going to do an CS. The only other 'real' pain relief I had taken was 2 panadol about 20 hours earlier. I am a huge needle wuss, and am sure I was in tears the whole time

I didn't have an epi, but thought I would add my comment on pethidine... I tried gas first and hated it - couldn't get the hang of sucking on it and it seemed like too much trouble. Then they gave me pethidine (which I was against before in labour) and I relaxed straight away and found the whole ordeal a bit easier. My DH said I was quite different after the jab - in a good way.

I had one with Maya after 36 hours of contractions and afterwards I couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't want one, it was brilliant! It took away the pain instantly, and having it put in wasn't a big deal as the anesthetist was really patient and talked me thru it. I also had a few puffs of gas but it made me vomit.

Then I had one inserted prior to labour with the gremlins to allow my OB to control the contractions once they started synto coz they needed to make sure both babies weren't getting distressed. It didn't work tho and I had no pain relief at all, I didn't want the gas after it made me sick with Maya and I'm allergic to pethadine. But afterwards I felt really empowered by the fact that I had delivered them with no pain relief, the pain wasn't that bad and I wished I hadn't let the OB talk me into it in the first place.

With lil miss I had no pain relief at all, but then I didn't have time as the whole thing took less than 2 hours. I was screaming for an epi when I was in transition but I think if it hadn't been so fast it would have been less intense and I would have felt more in control.

The only thing I would mention about the epi tho is that it's usual for your BP to drop when they first insert it which can make you feel a bit nauseous and dizzy. My midwife had me roll onto my left side both times and it came right within a few minutes.

It's quite interesting reading these stories because I only had gas and I absolutely loved it. Concentrating on sucking it in properly was a great distraction and I wanted to hit my MW over the head when she wanted to take it away from me lol

kebakat wrote: It's quite interesting reading these stories because I only had gas and I absolutely loved it. Concentrating on sucking it in properly was a great distraction and I wanted to hit my MW over the head when she wanted to take it away from me lol

Me too!! I loved the gas, it made me feel very drunk and it made me giggle! I screamed at my M/W when the bottle ran out and made her hurry up and get me another full one!