Epidural

I am full of questions today as I am starting to freak out about how soon my baby will be here. I am 23 weeks pregnant by the way. For any one who has had an epidural is there an option when you can get it or do I have to wait until a certain point? If I have to wait will until a certain will they give me anything else for pain before that? Sorry but I am really chicken when it comes to pain and was just wondering.

They went over it with me early and said to just call them when I wanted it.

Quoting I'm His Amy He's My Rory:" They went over it with me early and said to just call them when I wanted it."

In this case my chicken butt will be asking for it the minute I walk in the door. haha

here they want you to be 4 cm before you get it...before that they gave me nubane shots that did nothing lol...but theyre supposed to help with pain

Do NOT get it early. It is not better and makes things worse with an increased risk of c/s. The nurses/Dr usually will tell you when to get it. Different places have different policies.

yes you have to wait until you are dilated to a certain point i think it is 4 cm but not more than 7 cm but there is iv drugs they can give you

There is a certin point where they can't give it to you, but I dont' remember what it was. lol
I had one. After 6-7 hours and being stuck at a 4 I said ok give it to me! But they had been asking me since check in if i wanted it. lol

When I got the epideral they gave me something else for pain while I waited to get my epidural. I had to wait for bloodwork to come back to make sure I could get it. They have me Nubain (?) through my i.v. It just made me forget about the pain, but I could still feel it. I didn't get the epridural with my 1st or 3rd babies and I used other meds for the pain. They didn't work too well though.

You don't want it too early because it can slow down your labor (not what you want)... most hospitals will make you wait till you are so many centimeters and are showing signs of progress.

Try not to stress, you can handle it! It hurts, but if it was so completely horrifying, people wouldn't have more than one kid.  

With me I was induced. I was 3 cm when the gave me and epi. But that is because I was given pitocin (spelling ?) as well and my doctor suggested to get the epi before the pitocin since I wanted epi anyways.

I got one at 6cm . I really didn't want one but all my contractions were in my back. I was vomiting from the pain so I got one. As I was getting one the nurse told me "ya know epidurals don't always work for back pain" I was like why didn't you say something before!! LOL It got rid of my back pain but I could still move my legs and felt the rest of labor.

i asked at 7 cm and was 9cm as he was putting it in..lol The nurse kept saying I don't know if we will get it in in time for you to push but I was freaked out about going natural with my VBAC since I pushed for 2 hours and had a c-section with my first. It worked out great though b/c i was able to rest and then push and walk around 30 mins after I had her  

you will learn more about it if you take a child birth class i was dead set on getting and eipi took the class and realized that maybe i dont want one there are tons of dif relaxation tools that you can do. but DO NOT get it right away!!!! you wont be able to move and it will make labor LONG.

They will give you demoral, it will knock you out instantly .

Quoting Nanita Adams:" They will give you demoral, it will knock you out instantly ."

Demoral didn't knock me out instantly. It made me feel really good and worked for my pain. It made half my face numb though so they thought it was a reaction. I didn't actually get demoral during labor though, it was before we decided I needed to be induced.