Thoughts- Natural birth vs Epidural

Once people started noticing I was pregnant the questions starting flooding in.  People will frequently ask me if I am going to have an epidural, or say something like "OO once you get the epidural you won't feel a thing" then I say "I'm not sure if I want one."  Then 90% of the people go on and on.... why won't you get one, they are a God send, blah blah...

I am not against pain relief people.  I am a big baby myself.  I hate anything invasive, but I know child birth is the most invasive thing there is.  If I could I would refuse the IV but I know I need my fluids.  But the idea of getting a catheter shoved into my spine does not sit well with me.  I'm not worried about the pain of the epidural, I am worried about potential side effects.  I mean, if the anesthesiologist messes up you can suffer permanent damage.  An epidural can leave you paralyzed if something goes wrong.  I know these things are rare, but I prefer to educate myself on EVERY possible outcome, perhaps that's why I am such a worry wart.  ( I was a mess before my RNY and looked up everything that could possibly go wrong).

I am also a complete control freak.  If I cannot move my legs I would probably freak out.  This would scare me to death.

I know people say an epidural takes the stress off momma and baby and might make things go faster.  But I feel like if you have an epidural it gives the Dr.'s more leeway to just do a C-section if things aren't going fast enough for them.  If I needed a C-section I would be a complete mess.

That being said, I am not completely against one especially since I've had back pain since day one, and have a suspicion I will have some painful back labor, but I am going to try my hardest to not get one. 

What do you ladies think, what did you do?  Anyone have more than one natural birth?

Karen

I have had epidurals 2 times and loved it. My 8 year old I had natural, not by choice. It was really painful, but I think if I had been prepared it may have been a bit better. My bestfriend had a completley natural birth, as she planned from the getgo, and she says she would do it again. Either way you choose, your baby will be fine!

In my honest opinion you cannot prepare yourself for the pain. So you can tell yourself whatever you want but you just wont know what you will want until its happening. No matter what anyone else says. Even if you decided right now you wouldn't get one, believe me once the contractions get to a certain point you may be begging, if you have a HIGH pain tolerance you may be fine. I was totally unprepared for what labor/delivery felt like but it was a huge shock, it is very painful! With that said I will say I had both my girls naturally, the first one with NOTHING, not even an IV thats how fast she came and with the second I didn't make it through the bag of IV before she was out. So I have babies fast but I know some people labor for 24 hours and some even more than that. YIKES!

hi karen,
you are beyond normal to have these concerns and scared...especially a first time mom. you are going in blind....my first son was a scheduled csection but went into labor a couple weeks early. i felt uncomfortable one night and called the doc... but i didnt feel contractions....he told me to go to the hospital (i live an hour away)...with in 15 minutes i was screaming of back pain and contracting extremely bad! the poor nursing staff when i finally got to th hospital...then i had epidural and csection. my second son was another emergency csection...i felt like i had the flu with a fever and contractions...so i had the spinal/epidural again and then a csection.
my point of telling you is every ones body is different along with every pregnancy is different. my second son there was NO DISCOMFORT with contractions looking back i probably could have done it vaginally with minimal discomfort). i hope you have an easy deliery! but from my own experience and hearing others i think you should plan which way you lean twords and get all the facts...but just be prepared your plan may not turn out no matter how dead set you think you are against pain meds.

tricia

Karen,

I held out as long as I could for an epidural.  I had bad back labor, but was able to manage it for 32 hours...until the nurse said "You're at an 8-it's now or never". I was so exhausted by this point, that I gave in and got it.  I'm glad I did!  I had one side take more than the other, but nothing too bad.  I couldn't move my left leg at all, but my mom just pulled it up for me when it was time to push. I was lucky and didn't get a spinal headache from it or anything, but that spot on my back did give me trouble for about 6 months after I had my daughter. I ended up delivering my daughter by c-section after 39 hours and that's when I was glad to have gotten the epidural. I was in so much pain, that I can't imagine having to wait to get the catheter put in and have to wait for the meds to kick in to get the c-section started.  Even after all that, I think if I were going to have another vaginal delivery this time around, I'd probably still opt for trying without an epidural again...I hope that helps you some!

I chose to not get an epidural when I had my son.  I definitely think that it hurt but I felt like I could handle the pain.  I did get demerol for the last 2 hours which helped take the edge off and then DS was born early and I didn't have to push for very long.  I am only 8 weeks pg with this one but I am hoping that I can go drug free.  I wouldn't be surprised if I changed my mind at the last minute either though.  I just hope that I am fortunate enough to make that decision one day and that this baby sticks. 

I'm on the other side of the fence. I have a decent pain tolerance but already know that I want the epidural. When I get in pain I get anxious and the last thing that I want is to be in labor and having an anxiety attack. I know that I will be better off having the medication and allowing this to be a more calm birthing experience. Lets just hope that mother nature agrees!!

Also, I have been having back pain for a while now and I am only just shy of 15 weeks...

OMG Liz I had this same fear, when I get anxious I get shaky and have actually blacked out from it. So I was hoping that wouldn't happen, and luckily it didnt either time.

I was just thinking about my birth story. I was a gung-ho "I'm going natural" mama. This was my first baby but I figured I could handle the pain... and I did. I was in labor from 3:30a Wednesday to when my daughter was born at 7:55p Friday. But I did end up having every intervention possible- water broken, Pitocin given, and a c-section. By about 4p Friday, I was soooo tired that when they told me that I could either go home and labor more like that since I wasn't progressing or I could have a c-section, I chose a c-section although my original "plan" was to avoid one. I say all that to say that "plans" do change... You may not plan on doing one thing or another but may end up having to get it done anyway. Don't let that affect how you feel about your birth after the fact.

BTW when I had my epi, I could still move my legs I just couldn't feel them... if that makes sense. lol

you can plan all you want but sometimes people under estimate the pain they will go thru... i had jayson all natural... no pain meds.. not even an iv.... i labored at home for about an hr until i started bleeding very heavy ( didnt know i was in labor)... i went to the hosp and was 10 and crowning... no pain meds... no iv... no dr.... no medical eqiupment... it was me.. my body and the nurse.... my body knew just what to do and knew how to have a baby.... i have a huge pain tolerance ( think elephant on a morphine drip)... and i have to say it was pretty uncomfy... esp right at the end when he was making his way thru pelvic bones.... i plan on having jaylyn natural as well... its just a plan... and everything could of course change as shes breech and needs to do a few flips lol... there is a lady on here... kimmers who used hypobirthing... and jen ( rileys mom) who had a few natural births