In labour forum

Kerry · Newbie Joined: 01 Jan 2008 Posts: 1

Hey my names Kerry, i am nearly 7 months pregnant and our son is due 2nd April. i was wondering has anyone actually had an epidural before and how did it go? as i have been hearing a few stories that some say it made child birth easy and some said it was bad. i just wondered if it hurt etc and if it was better having one or not, as my due date is getting closer and i am worried about saying whether i want one or not as i dont know the effects.

thanks for anyone who can help

chicken82 · regular Joined: 16 Jul 2007 Posts: 91 Location: bristol

Hi kerry,
I had an epidural with my first labour. I didnt do a birth plan with my first baby as i felt it was pointless planning something i didnt know, understand or where i could expect anything.
Once in the hospital, i worked my way through all the pain relief on offer, and eventually had an epidural.
It was quite uncomfortable to have done, but by the time i had it i was at the end of my teather, and couldnt cope with much at all. But, once it was given it provided me with total pian relief. My dp remembers it as being an amazing thing to witness, as i just changed completly!
I ended up having an emergancy section in the end, so they just topped up my epidural. It took a few hours to ware off, and it was hard to move around after to look after a baby - but alot of this was down to the section too.
Having the epidural was the best decision for me, at that time, during that labour. My advice is take it all one step at a time. You dont need to be sure what you want, just6 go with the flow.
When it came to my second labour, i did a birth plan and specified that i wasnt planning an epidural, but would see how it all panned out.
As it turned out, i had gas and air and that was it, and a natural birth, aided with vontousse.
Thought this may be of use
http://www.childbirth.org/articles/sideeppi.html
_________________
x x lucy x x