Epidural

NotMrsSmith11

I had one.  It sucked ass but it was still way better than active labor.

botanicalbliss

ream02 said:

cinderin said:

botanicalbliss said:

madeline10L said:

I do not plan on getting one. If I need pain meds I will try other things before getting the epi.

Be sure to do your research on your options for other pain meds.  I hear a lot of them can make you feel very out of it.   I hope that didn't sound snarky - I don't really know how else to say it, lol

it is true. one thing that was *really* important to me was to be alert when DS was born. I wanted to be 100% there so I could remember it. I also wanted to be able to BF right away. 

This is odd to me. I was not out of it at all with either of my epi's? I never heard of that as a side effect either because it basically is intended to numb you from a certain point down. The weird side effect I did have was my left leg was inoperable the second time for a few hours.

 

I did however have them give me something in my IV to take the edge off the second time and all it did was make me feel like I'd just taken a crap load of drugs. Hated that feeling.

To clarify, we were talking about the other IV meds making you loopy, not the epi

cinderin

botanicalbliss said:

ream02 said:

cinderin said:

botanicalbliss said:

madeline10L said:

I do not plan on getting one. If I need pain meds I will try other things before getting the epi.

Be sure to do your research on your options for other pain meds.  I hear a lot of them can make you feel very out of it.   I hope that didn't sound snarky - I don't really know how else to say it, lol

it is true. one thing that was *really* important to me was to be alert when DS was born. I wanted to be 100% there so I could remember it. I also wanted to be able to BF right away. 

This is odd to me. I was not out of it at all with either of my epi's? I never heard of that as a side effect either because it basically is intended to numb you from a certain point down. The weird side effect I did have was my left leg was inoperable the second time for a few hours.

 

I did however have them give me something in my IV to take the edge off the second time and all it did was make me feel like I'd just taken a crap load of drugs. Hated that feeling.

To clarify, we were talking about the other IV meds making you loopy, not the epi
Yup. Spinal or epi don't make you loopy. It is other drugs they might give you. Just FYI.

wiggyslilsis

@sgautschi By the time I got my epi I was so ready for it. I was so focused on getting through the contractions I didn't even know they had my mom and DH leave the room. I guess the hand I was holding was the nurse's. I just curled up like they told me to but I was so focused on the contractions and that pain I didn't even think about what they were doing. The shot to numb before the epidural stung but I didn't feel the epidural atall.

I think if I had just been sitting there perfectly fine with only a little pain I would have been more freaked out about it. But I am glad I asked for it before they started the pitocin because I couldn't talk since those contractions started and it took a half hour for them to get there.

sgautschi

@Wiggy If I do get pitocin, I am 99% sure I'll get the epi. I just don't know what kind. My mom said there was one that's just a shot. Not sure how well it works. I just don't want to be numb and not be able to feel my legs. If I go into labor on my own, I'm going to try to go med free. I'm just not going to be hard on myself if I do get an epi. Whatever gets my baby girl here safely will be okay with me.

wiggyslilsis

My legs were numb but they put me in control of my pain level. I got a base amount of the epi meds and then I got a clicker that I could push every 15 minutes to give an extra dose. If I didn't push the button I could somewhat feel my legs and move them around but then I would feel the pain so I would push the button.

saisongbird

I have the world's lowest level for pain tolerance. I will be getting one.

cinderin

sgautschi said:

@Wiggy If I do get pitocin, I am 99% sure I'll get the epi. I just don't know what kind. My mom said there was one that's just a shot. Not sure how well it works. I just don't want to be numb and not be able to feel my legs. If I go into labor on my own, I'm going to try to go med free. I'm just not going to be hard on myself if I do get an epi. Whatever gets my baby girl here safely will be okay with me.

the spinal is just one shot. not sure if that's what she is talking about. for me though, the spinal made me totally numb from the rib cage down. 

MadeOfAwesome

I got one ASAP.  Best thing ever.  I didn't feel a damn thing at all during delivery.

Kaiene

My plan is to try and go without again. However, I didn't have any additional coping skills with DS and I was scared sh!tless as my water broke in DH's car and I really wasn't ready to have him, so I got it (holy run on sentence, batman). I don't regret it though as I relaxed a bit and even napped. I still felt when it was time to push even though they had to turn it off so I could push effectively.

Kaiene

I forgot to add that I will be looking into some kind of class, like hypnobirthing or Bradley so I have the coping skills I lacked with DS.

Amberley18

They offered me phentanol (I think?) before epi and I declined when they said it would make me and baby woozy. After another 45 minutes I gave in.

I was so out of it, dizzy, etc then started puking. The anesthesiologist had to stop a few times when placing my epi because I was vomiting uncontrollably.

Epi was amazing and I will definitely get one the second time around.

Also although puking sucked, it pushed S into position and got me to 10cm+ in a couple of hours. I only pushed 1.5 times before she was born.