Epidural

Not sure if this is still an active thread but was with my midwife today to disucss birthing plan.She and her trainee MW are both very much against Epi's (I am quite keen on having one available as am petrified of labour). They said that 70% of 1st time mums will need assisted deliveries (suction or forceps) if they have an epi and that only 13% of women have an epi. when I asked about weaning it off towards the end so I could feel the sensation to push she said she does not do that as it is too much of a shock to the system to feel that level of pain after being nump to it. But after reading your posts I feel quite confident that weaning it off it a good option. She also said that an Epi makes for a long, drawn out labour (which is fine by me if it is painless but probably quite inconvenient for the MW).Wish I had a different MW that was supportive of my decisions but too late to change now. One month to go...

xcitdmum2b wrote: Not sure if this is still an active thread but was with my midwife today to disucss birthing plan.She and her trainee MW are both very much against Epi's (I am quite keen on having one available as am petrified of labour). They said that 70% of 1st time mums will need assisted deliveries (suction or forceps) if they have an epi and that only 13% of women have an epi. when I asked about weaning it off towards the end so I could feel the sensation to push she said she does not do that as it is too much of a shock to the system to feel that level of pain after being nump to it. But after reading your posts I feel quite confident that weaning it off it a good option. She also said that an Epi makes for a long, drawn out labour (which is fine by me if it is painless but probably quite inconvenient for the MW).Wish I had a different MW that was supportive of my decisions but too late to change now. One month to go...

Aww thats no good that she doesnt support you! I havent had a chance to talk to my midwife yet (as im only 18 weeks, 2 days) about a birth plan, but I really hope she supports my decision to have one. I like you am so petrified of labour. The thought of labour is getting better for me, but stil scares the crap outta me! I dont mind if its long...most first labours are long regardless of having an epi or not.

I dont want it to wear off! lol I understand why it would be a big shock. To go from no pain to full-blown contractions would be difficult for the body to adjust to I think.

I agree you should be "allowed" to have an epi if you want to, regardless of what your MW thinks you should do.
Before I went into labour I'd written in my birth plan that I'd rather not have an epi because my cousin had had one a few months before and couldn't feel to push and ended up with an emergency c-section, which put me off lol. But labour hurts and I started asking for one after 3hrs. But lucky for me I started having the urge to push right after I said "I want the drugs!" and DD was born soon after so I didn't end up needing one. But I would have got one if there was longer to go!

Is the option to top up your epi by yourself quite common now?

I didn't have any problems with my catheter that I noticed although sometimes if I relax it sometimes comes out but not sure if that's from pregnancy or the catheter or what!

I don't know if I farted (probably did because pushing is like pushing a poo out imo) but I did poo! And I had no idea until mw swiped it off the table (even then I didn't know I just wondered what she was doing and she said don't worry keep pushing and I was like 'OMG DID I JUST POO?!' dp giggled...