Signing Up For An Epidural - Page 5

[thismama]

What?? How did I not know you had an epi with your first??

eta - Re epis and breastfeeding, I do know there is a statistical connection. However I wince when I see conclusions made about individual situations, judgments made really, when there is no way to actually know.

[the_lissa]

Yep transferred to the hospital because of exhaustion, etc, had an epidural, hemorrhage, d&c, breastfeeding problems.

The epidural was a horrible experience, and I will never have one again.

[thismama]

Huh. I don't think I knew that!

I transferred too because of... not exhaustion exactly, but stalled progress. Almost got one. I hope I don't get one this time!

What was horrible about it? I mean, apart from the bf troubles etc.

[the_lissa]

I had stalled out too, which wouldn't have been too bad if I had been able to eat and/or sleep.

It hurt a lot getting it. A lot. Then you have to arch your back through contractions while they put it in, which is like the worst possible position for me anyways for labour. It took many, many tries to get it in. I can show you the picture of my back with tonnes of puncture holes sometime.

Then it made me feel physically and emotionally disconnected form my labour. I hated having to look at the stupid machine to see what was going on.

Painful catheter!

Spinal headaches and backaches for weeks after.

My BP crashed and they had to turn it off.

I have done a lot of research, and I do think it helped in my situation, but it was horrible.

[thismama]

I got catheterized too, something was blocking my bladder and I couldn't pee for hours. Not fun.

Yeah, the holding still... my friend had one in transition and she said it took about ten minutes to get it in. She said it was terrifying and agonizing to hold still for that long through contractions. Horrible! That is actually a big part of why when the epi for me showed up (I was at 9cm), I refused it. I couldn't imagine holding still for that long, and I was so close to being fully dilated and finally progressing.

Spinal headaches... ugh!!! That sounds awful.

I definitely see a use for them. But unfortunately they are not a magic cure in labour.

[the_lissa]

It took close to an hour to get mine in.

The BP crash was very scary.

Yeah they definitely have their use. I used to feel guilty about getting one, but not any more.

[thismama]

Ugh horrible - both the HOUR!!! to get it in, and the crash. How awful for you!

I'm nervous about natural birth based on my last experience, but I also am really committed to it, for the reasons I already mentioned here, and also yeah because the more I hear about the epi the scarier it sounds.

[the_lissa]

Yeah when things were tough with Liam, two things got me through- the thought of all my lovely friends who were supporting me and the memory of how crappy the car ride and the epidural was. I had no desire to get an epidural with Liam.

(We've totally taken over this thread. )

[thismama]

Yeah I guess we have.

I can relate on the car ride! Horrible, horrible.

[lovingmommyhood]

I didn't have one with DS1 and I had major BF'ing problems. I had one with DS2 and had no bf'ing problems.

I'd rather not get one this time but I'm not completely ruling it out. I didn't even feel mine go in. I only felt the numbing shot and that was like a bee sting. Everybody's experience is different which I guess is part of the risk.

[UrbanCrunchyMama]

Originally Posted by thismama

but I know there was SOMETHING in my natural birth that made me higher than I have ever been in my life, once the baby came. And I was high for days and days. What a way to greet motherhood and a new child. That is why I want to give birth naturally again.

Originally Posted by MyBoysBlue

I remember being on a high after both my babies were born but I wouldn't say it was better than sex but thats JMO. I just felt like I drank too much coffee and was a bit wired.

I would say that I had a combination of both of your experiences. While I've never tried recreational drugs, I was FLYING HIGH immediately after Taylor was born.

In the hours following birth, I did also feel wired. Whenever I tried to sleep, I felt like I had a back-up generator humming throughout my body "Woom. Woom. Woom."

I finally had to call my massage therapist and begged her to come to the hospital to relieve me. She did some Swedish massage but focused on acupressure and Jin Shin Jyutsu. As she pressed on certain pressure points, that particular limb would convulse, releasing the energy pent up there.

After an hour-long treatment, I was cured of the back-up generator sensation, but the rush of overall alertness and energy continued for weeks.

I think going drug-free during birth and letting my body do it's own thing saved me from the Baby Blues and PPD. (Our daughter was colicky and refluxy for MONTHS! But I was OK and surprisingly calm throughout the ordeal.)

Since Taylor's birth, I've been looking forward to birthing naturally again (but I'm not ready for #2 just yet).

[gaialice]

I did not plan to have an epidural with my first birth. I practiced hypnobirth. But I don't know, I was having non stop pain, for a whole night and I made no. progress. zero.... from 2 cm to 2 cm. It was awful, I was tired and scared I would not have enough strength to push baby out in the end. I knew it was not safe for the baby to have an epi and I was afraid but I gave up. Well, it may be bad for some women, it was good for me. I relaxed, and the birth went on sweetly, dh and I hugging and smiling and bonding with unborn dd1 and cheering her on... things went beautifully, in fact. Ok, I got the episiotomy, that was not good, and it was not necessary either, but really it was just because the o/b does it as standard practice (yeah..) I did not really need it, it had nothing to do with the epi, in fact the baby was out in 3 contractions and very easily out also. With my second birth -- all things said in retrospect -- I should not have begged for one. I was in transition - almost ready to push. I got totally scared because I had gone from 2 to 10 cm in just like an hour and was in such pain I was terrified and I said I would not push in all that pain. Just would not. Could not concentrate, could not be still. That time, with some help, I could have made it, and it would have been better because it did not bring a lot of relief (though at least I was able to push calmly) and I could feel a lot of afer effects (weakness, headache) afterwards. It did not have any effect on breastfeeding and bonding. And deep down I feel I wasn't ready for more at the time. I might now, but I do not think there will be a third.

[heidirk]

Originally Posted by thismama

What?? How did I not know you had an epi with your first??

eta - Re epis and breastfeeding, I do know there is a statistical connection. However I wince when I see conclusions made about individual situations, judgments made really, when there is no way to actually know.

Oh no! I'm not judging her at all. I knew this was her choice, and I love her anyway. I was more lamenting the fact that the risks to breastfeeding from epidurals are NOT discussed in hospitals, so I felt like my SIL was misguided.
And I see how heart-broken she is about not breastfeeding. She called me a week after her DS was born and was sofrustrated and inso much pain. I tried to help, and I was so saddened by the lack of skilled support in her area! I just truly wish she'd gotten what she wanted!

As for a direct correlation; epi babies can have a less coordinated suck, and momma missing the hormone rollercoaster can challenge milk production.

Sorry to hear about your painful experience!

[cottonwood]

Originally Posted by angelcat

I have more trouble understanding why someone whould't want one than why they would. I don't even understand why I'd consider not even trying to get one if I ever have a vbac.

If I could be guaranteed that the epidural wouldn't have adverse effects, I'd still likely not have one, even though my labors were quite painful. This is because in addition to the pain were some really amazing sensations and pleasure, as well as the amazing experience of birthing in privacy, and not having the clinical aspect to it (which is a triggering situation for me.) So even if there wasn't any health-related danger, there would be the loss of other things that were extremely valuable to me.

For me, labour was aboslutely nothing like sex, and I'm glad. It would just weird for me if it was. I guess each to their own.

It wasn't even remotely like sex for me, psychologically speaking. It's a different mindset entirely. But physically and viscerally there were certainly parallels, as normal birth has a hormonal process that is similar to normal sex. When in an environment in which I could be completely unselfconscious and allow my body to progress instinctively, my experience was that it was very sensual and primal. Having gone through that, it would be weird to me now to experience a more clinical, mechanical birth.

I get really sick of the "you're in pain from labor because you were sexually abused" line, especially when midwives use it (I've read it in more than one book by MWs). Wow, how presumptuous.

Or, that pain is always due to psychological issues in general. With one of my midwives, it was that I was supposedly conflicted about being a mother, or that I was prudish about my body and its natural functions. Her attitude was the primary reason that that birth was so difficult and traumatic.

[georgia]

I get really sick of the "you're in pain from labor because you were sexually abused" line, especially when midwives use it (I've read it in more than one book by MWs). Wow, how presumptuous.

I have read, though, that some estimate that one out of three females has experienced sexual abuse at some point in her life. Looking at this statistic, IMO, the idea that a woman might have experienced some physological trauma during birth due to sexual abuse isn't intended to be offensive or presumptious.

Now, anyone dismissing/blaming a woman for anything regarding labor/birth, that's something entirely different, IMO.

Here's a resource I've seen recommended for anyone re: sexual abuse healing as it relates to the childbearing process.

[velouria]

I, too, can vouche for "drugged out" feeling immediately after birth. As a caveat, I don't know if my spacey-ness was a result of the natural childbirth OR if it was because I hadn't slept in 2 days.

But I do look dazed in the first pics with my son immediately after delivery. And in one of the next few pics of the series, I look like I'm sleeping. LOL! I remember my sister telling me a couple months later that I kept falling asleep/pasing out for a few seconds at a time in the L&D room before I got transferred to the recovery room. WTH?!

And I do remember feeling like I had a major caffeine buzz for at least a couple days afterward. I could barely sleep, I was so wound up. Part of that could have been because I was afraid to fall asleep because my son kept choking on the amniotic fluid that kept coming up out of his lungs (he did not cry at all after delivery). NOT GOOD AT ALL for someone who hadn't slept for so long.

He did develop colic before we even left the hospital. OMG, it was hell. I did not cope well with that AT ALL. A therapist I saw earlier this year told me I undoubtedly had untreated PPD and PTSD as a direct result of that experience, as well as other things going on my life at the time (major home addition with dust and noise everywhere for the first 8 months of my son's life, a newborn who didn't sleep for the first 11 months, deaths in the family, etc.).

I guess what I'm saying is that despite having a natural childbirth and getting that hormonal epinephrine high, I still was not able to cope very well with the curveballs life was throwing at me.

[Surfacing]

Originally Posted by velouria

I guess what I'm saying is that despite having a natural childbirth and getting that hormonal epinephrine high, I still was not able to cope very well with the curveballs life was throwing at me.

Me too, I had NCB with no epi but it was traumatic, I had PTSD, a colicy baby who mightily refused the breast despite my best efforts, PPA. I am considering an epi this time but who knows....I have had friends who have had great experiences with it and others who have not (quite the contrary). What really got me was that all my friends who've had epis were able to bf their children, while I was not. Ah well, such it is!

[erin_brycesmom]

I think it is a bit naive for a mama immediately sign up for the epidural without any other plans just because she doesn't want to exprience pain for any variety of reasons. You can't always get an epidural and it doesn't always work. If you know you want one, more power to you but it is probably a really good idea to think about how you plan to handle the pain if you can't get one or if it doesn't work properly.

[almadianna]

i havent read all of the pages but i just saw one where there was a woman reading a magazine after the epidural and i just want to say how that is NOT the norm.
Epis dont work on everyone and once you get it your body stop producing its own pain management hormones and it is even worse. On some it only works on half of your body... etc...etc... the vision of a woman with an epi in place just sitting there all pretty while in labor is few and far between and i really hope nobody believes that it is the norm.

[danotoyou2]

Originally Posted by erin_brycesmom

I think it is a bit naive for a mama immediately sign up for the epidural without any other plans just because she doesn't want to exprience pain for any variety of reasons. You can't always get an epidural and it doesn't always work. If you know you want one, more power to you but it is probably a really good idea to think about how you plan to handle the pain if you can't get one or if it doesn't work properly.

This is a GREAT point. I've talked to many women who wanted an epidural, and for one reason or another weren't able to get one (or it didn't work). Then, they had to deal with the pain, and didn't know how to cope. Then it can turn into a very traumatic experience.