I'm curious about epidural stories

luvmykids wrote: I've read so many threads with regard to epidurals where people had some complications that it just got me curious....I had one with the twins and had no trouble at all, was lucid, felt great, etc. I guess I didn't really even know there was such a "bad" side to them. Wanna share?

~Roo'sMama~ replied: I didn't really have any complications I guess, other than it only working on one side at first and having to have it re-done ~ just the side effects weren't fun. I hated not being able to move my legs, and the worst thing was probably how my butt was asleep the whole time and tingling like crazy! It got so bad it was all I could think about. I HATED having to have a catheter - the stupid nurse had to try 4 times and call in another nurse to help before she could get it in. And I'm not fond of IV's, and the blood pressure cuff on my arm the whole day was really irritating. It was way too tight and just another distraction when I was trying to push - I had a bruise on my arm from it for a couple weeks.

I also hated not having the urge to push. I kept asking the nurse when I should push and she kept telling me to push when the contractions were peaking, but the epi made the contractions feel like hardly anything at all and I couldn't tell when they were at their peak and I had no clue when to push. She was also blocking our view of the monitor so we couldn't tell from that when they were peaking either. It was REALLY frustrating. I really think I would have pushed for less time (I pushed for 2 1/2 hours) if I hadn't had an epi and could feel what was going on better.

That all being said though, getting the epidural did help speed up my labor. I'd been up all night and by the time I got the epi sometime after noon I was exhausted and wasn't handling the pain well at all - I was progressing so slowly because I was resisting the contractions too. Getting it helped me relax and I even got to take a nap, and since I was finally relaxed and not resisting anymore I went from hardly dilated at all (I can't remember if I was 2 or 4 centimeters when I got it) to a 10 in like 3 hours. Still for this time I'm not planning on getting another one. I'm hoping I'll be able to handle the contractions better now that I know what to expect - I've been practicing relaxing and breathing through all the contractions I've been having for the last 5 weeks too so hopefully that will help.

My3LilMonkeys replied: I had one with Brooke and my whole left leg was numb for almost 2 days. It also made me somewhat dizzy/nauseous and I had to be helped up and down for the first 6 or 8 hours. When I went natural I was of course tired, but other than that felt good enough to do pretty much whatever I wanted within a half hour.

HuskerMom replied: I had one and it wasn't bad. The only things that bothered me was how long the needle was and the nurse had me lean forward while the other put the needle in. That made it hard to concentrate on breathing through the contractions. My DH watched her do it and he said she took the needle out and put it back in like 4 times. But thankfully they numbed that area of my back first

mummy2girls replied: I had one with Jenna... As soona s i got it my labour stopped progressing! Then when i finally started progressing once again my epidural was wearing off and i felt EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUCH!

With Jordan i had it done. And when i was getting it my contractions was coming every minute so they had to take out and redue ... very painful!

MomToJade&Jordan replied: The epi I had with Jade was fine. It was the one with Jordan that I had a complication with. He tried to put it in three times and as a result I developed a small spinal leak. Two days after I was released from the hospital I was right back again with a spinal headache.

Jamison'smama replied: I metabolize them too quickly, it wore off twice!!! I had back labor and it was horrible for the 30 minutes before they could get the anesthesioloist back in.

hoosier momma replied: I think I must have had the perfect epidural. I had to be induced with pitocin and had been having contractions for about 8 hours with the last 4 hours being very hard contractions about 2 minutes apart. And I was only dilated to 1. I was in such pain and was so tense and scared that my labor wouldn't progress. My nurse talked the doctor into going ahead with the epidural. I was so tired and frustrated. They got it in on the first try. The epidural allowed me to relax and get some rest. After the epidural, I went from 1 to having my son in less than 2 hours. I could feel the pressure and urge to push, but I couldn't feel the pain of the contractions. I could feel and move my legs the entire time. Unfortunately I had to have several stitches and the epidural lasted all through that as well. Once they removed the line, it was only a few minutes before I started to feel everything. Overall, I had a great experience.

hopefulmomtobe replied: I will keep hoosier momma's experience on my mind during my epi. This will be my first one too. I had the three other kiddos naturally but delivered them way too fast causing complications with the baby upon arrival, 2 pushes and they were out.... so this OB wants to give me an epi to slow me down some and I am scared. I was scared to read this, but I am glad I did.

mummy2girls replied:
i had back labour with Jordan as well and man was that ever painful!

booey2 replied: I guess I am in the minority, I had one with each of my boys and no side effects and I even asked to get up and go to the washroom after Matthew was born, of course they wouldn't let me and brought me a bed pan (how embarrassing) I think I filled the thing. Anyway if you want to read more here is the link to my birth stories

Birth stories just scroll down til you find mine, shouldn't be to far on the first page.

jcc64 replied: I think my problem was primarily because I got it too late in my labor. I was about 6-7 cm, and I asked for it. But b/c it's a small country hospital, there was no anesthesiologist on site, and he had to be called in from home. I think by the time he got there, it was really too late, but they probably wanted to justify dragging him out of bed in the middle of the night and wanted to give him the opportunity to collect his substantial fee, and so they went ahead and gave me the epi. I think it wasn't 5 minutes later that my dd was born. It was after she was born that I had the problems. Copious vomitting, shaking and shivering and cold sweats to the point that it looked like I was having seizures, racing heart, high bp, it was horrible. My dh seriously thought I was gonna die right then and there. Would never do it again.

Boo&BugsMom replied: My story is similar to Brandy's. I had a great epidural. My body normally takes really well to medicine though to begin with. Tanner was 2 weeks overdue. I got induced, they broke my water, and about 3 hours into it I said forget it and asked for one. I'm a wimp, I know, but the experience was very positive. I literally felt nothing, but I also felt enough pressure to know when I had to push, which was nice. It wore off about an hour after delivery and all was well. I had complications with Tanner's delivery though because of his size and the gestational diabetes I had, and if I didn't have an epidural the complications would have happend anyway.

MyLuvBugs replied: I had an epi with Lorelei's birth b/c I was having such bad back labor. It was a horrible experience. I was numb from my waist to my hip line....basically about 4-6 inches of my torso only. My legs weren't numb at all, and I could still feel all the pain with each push I had. Afterwards, I had the WORST epi headache. Felt like I was having a mean hangover. Dizzy, throbbing pain, nausea....UGH. They realized the next day that I had a spinal leak or something, and they did a blood patch....of which they broke the blood vessel in my hand when they were trying to get the blood for the blood patch. The patch fixed the leak, and the headache and stuff. However, I have a small scar on my lower back from the epidural spot and I still get lower back pain in that area.

Overall.....a horrible experience. I will never do it again. I had a wonderful a la naturale childbirth with Lexi....no meds at all. I'd do that again in a heartbeat.

hopefulmomtobe replied: Ok, I am done reading these. It is freaking me out.

luvmykids replied:
That was mine too, I slept through eleven of twelve hours of labor

I'm sorry to everybody who had a bad or less than desirable experience, I honestly didn't know they could cause so much trouble

moped replied: I loved mine and would another anytime!

skinkybaby replied: I loved mine. I had to have one for my heart. It didn't hurt at all when they were putting it in. It wore off before it was supposed to, but other than that it was great. I didn't have any complications from it. Its the csection I hated

Bamamom replied:
Mine was very similar. It was a wonderful experience - I fully intent to have one with this baby. I joke that I'm going to have them start it at 38 weeks so I don't have those first few hours of pain!!!

Cece00 replied: I've never had a problem with my epidurals...I've had them with all 4 kids, which was a neccessity b/c I had csections, but with my oldest I labored for about 13 hrs before my csection, and I had it when I was 2 cm, like 4 hrs after my labor started.

The only thing that sucked about them was that when you are not in labor, you feel the epidural much more. When I was in labor the first time, they couldve put the epidural in my eye and I would not have cared, I just wanted relief. When you arent in labor, you are much more aware of what they are doing back there.

PrairieMom replied:
In my hospital they never even educated Mom's about epi's. They said, "you already probably have your mind made up about it by now, and nothing we say is going to change it"

I learned about possible side effects in school, it is NOT IMO something that should be skipped over in childbirth class.

MyBabeMaddie replied: I was so scared - I remember telling the anesthe (i'm not evn going to try to attempt to finish spelling) if he messed up i'd kill him (he knew I was kidding) - It was fine except it didn't work on one side. I don't remember it being painful going in - It kind of made me feel tipsy and time went by really fast - they say it slows down labor but she was out 3 hours after I got it

Paprikash replied: I didn't have any side effects and it kept me very comfortable for 24 hours after my c-section (Sarah was breech).

I thought that GETTING the epi was pretty uncomfortable. It took about an hour and I had gone into labor so I was contracting the whole time. It was just very uncomfortable getting into the position the anesthesiologist wanted me to get into. It was cold in the operating room and I had to lean forward and the anesthesiologist kept saying "Arch your back like a cat! Arch your back like a cat! She was squeezing my sides and poking my back in a painful way and frankly I wanted to kill her! So that was really unpleasant, but on the whole it wasn't that big of a deal. I would not dread it.