re: Epidural Information: pls read before getting one!

I had my 1st two children with an epitural. With my 1st child my BP dropped, I felt faint and clamy. I almost had to have a C-section with her because her heart rate was dropping also. My second one went fine. But my last one I had an epitural that DID NOT WORK! The doctor was placing it, and as he was I felt a HUGE SHOCK run through my body. As if I had been electricuted!! I had 2 other epidurals before, never did they EVER feel like that! After a 1/2 an hour it wasnt working. After 1 hour it wasnt working. It never worked. BUT...I do have to say...even though I was soooo scared of the pain...it actually wasnt THAT bad! Plus my labor and delivery went A LOT faster! Im currently prego right now (due t oan IUD that DID NOT WORK lol, but thats a whole other story. lol) And with this one I am not getting an epidural. I think woman freak out so much about the pains of labor and childbirth...including myself. But honostly, gettingthe darn epitdural hurts too! lol. Ive opted out for the epidural this time, Im just sad it took me till my 4th to figure that out. I realize NOW thats why my 1st babys heart rate dropped. Also, ever since I had that epitural that didnt work I have severe back pain. Especially now that Im pregnant again. Sorry this was so long, but thats my two cents. lol. Granted everyones experience is different  

I didnt see this untill after I deliverd my baby and after reading it Im gkad mine went well and Im kind of scared to get one if and when I have another baby.I do have to say though I dont know how some of you mommys do it without one. Even with having one and having no complications what so ever I was in a lot of pain. There were many tears and many points where I wanted to give up and was even going to untill another contraction came and it hurt so bad my instincts made me push without even doing it myself. I kept saying I couldnt do it but then when it happend I just started pushing again. I dont know how I would do it without one but after this Im scared to get one. This will definitely take some thought and research. BTW I did end up having a c-section but it was not due to the epi. It was because I was puching for 4 hours and the vaccume poped off both time we tried it because after his head made it through he tured and his sholdiers could not.

I'm so glad you put this out there. I've read up on them a little bit and read both the pros and cons. My goal for delivery is a natural birth but I'm not making any promises. I'm afraid that I will be more willing to switch and try to get the epidural if I actually say, "I'm not getting it." I'm also afraid that if I have to be induced, I will want it because I know someone who talked about having a horribly painful induction. But, I'm going to try for the natural, and my goal is that if I feel like I want the epidural... I'm just going to wait as long as I absolutely can so they can tell me it's too late for any other help. Some people have smooth one's but I'm not such a big fan of needles anyway, not to mention I've read about women who's didn't heal properly and it leaked and they were on bed rest and so on. I think the epidurals freak me out more than delivering, period. 

Has anyone been induced and not had the epidural, here?

I was pro epi until last Saturday. The doc missed twice and it didnt work...

DIdn't read the whole thing, just first and last pages.

Did anyone mention the odds of havinga 'wet tap'?
Ignore me if they have. If not, here is my story:

Anastesiaologist (sp) pushed the needle too far and caused a hole into my CNS, causing CSF to leak into my body. This caused truck-crash type headaches anytime I wasn't laying flat, and I had to get a blood patch I didn't notice in the hospital because of all of the other post-partum discomfort, and had to live with it for four days before returning to the hospital.

. Basically they had to re-do the epidural, and take blood removed from my arm and put it into my CNS so that it would clot the hole. They tried to fix it by giving me a caffine drip (yes, they DO exist) to force fluid back into the space, but it didn't work in my case.
Just thought that you might want to include that.

Well, I luckily experienced none of the effects that effected my babies however i had several bad effects myself! i am so glad you put this out htere because honestly, knowng what i know now i don't think i would ever have gotten one for any of my children!

Birth one, Zaden- I ended up being hunched over while having pitocin induced contractions EVERY MINUTE AND A HALF< it is supposed to take no more than 15 minutes, but i got a newbee that coulnd't find my spine. He kept going off to the side a ibt, even into a blood vessel at one point that was excruciating, and he pumbed six full doses straight into my blood before the senior anesthesiologist got there and found it finally! I WAS LIKE THAT OVER AN HOUR! Over all I got 8 full doeses inthe blood stream, and over 30 local shots in the skin to numb the area further while he dug around in my back with the needle trying to fine a spine space between vertabrae to puncture!

then i didn't feel anything, i mean nothing. I think it is possible they felt so bad about what i went through that they double dosed me in my spine! but i could barely feel enough pressure to push! even after they lessened the amount! so they did have to cut me, and i had to pay for a vacuum even thou thye had just put it on his head when i pushed him out myself!

Afterwards my blood persser dropped below 30 and the doc said if i had been a little older, they would have had ot restart me with the paddles because my heart would have stopped. very scary indeed~

Second birth, Maddox- I was terrified that they would not beable to fiind my spine again, I found out i have severe arthritis in it and it is crooked where they need to place my epi, so i told them all aboutit at prenatal visits and had them map out my spine. this time it only took him two tries, and it was in. this one worked perfct, i could feel enough to push him out in fifteen minutes! it was great!

Birth 3 Valkyrie- This is where it got bad! No one tells you that having multiple epidurals is really bad for yours spine, yet they tel you that for spinals, lol so it feels like they are pushing into a huge bruise now, thought they can't go in the same scar of another epi. five or so times later, again!!! it is in, they say and i am aying there. this wasn't as bad since i had just gotten pitocin so the contractions weren't coming strong yet. I was a little worried that i could fell one whole leg tho, and that the numbness and warmth i was used to was mainly in my outer hips and my right leg. but the said that was fine! everyone feels it differently! yeah!

So no one listens an all of a sudden hours later i feel my contractions a little through the epi, and they start getting worse each one, so i tell them and they up my dose and leave, but it doesn't help stop it. it keeps getting wors so they keep upping and i keep yelling, and now i feel the most excriciationg pain of my life all at once! and lots of pressure!

The doc comes nad and checks me and is surprised i can feel him do it, but i am at nine and a half, he knows their is no time to re put im my epi but he tells me to give him a practice push and he will have them check it! asshole lied to me! it was too late, even if i wasn't ready to push, they had stupidly put to much inot me. This doc had put my epi a little higher on my spine where it wasn't so crooked thinking it would be low neough to block me all the way down but instead it numbed me down the uterus till the birth canal!!

SO I went from a pain of zero to a pain of 100 in under a minute! no gradual progression at all, just all of a sudden the bad end to birth all at once! and their wasnothing they could give me, not even to take the edge off! all he oculd say was we can give you morphine aftrwards so just hurry as fast as you can! HUH! so yeah, i am screaming for them to make it stop, terrified because i am sure no one can live through this pain, my SIL came cause i wanted to inspire her with a nice and quiet epi birht experience like the last one! she is NEVER haveing a kid let me tell ya!

And he tells me I have no choice but to oush! so push i did, crying so much that i started drowning in my oxygen mask bacause i filled it all the way up with tears! and the pushing pain actually made the contraction pain feel better so that wasn't so bad only a slight burny ness but then the doctor shoves his fingers around her face cause hse is faicn ght e wrong way and twists her, breaking her nose to get her out, that hurt like a mother! and then i listend well, pushed her out and thought that was it but no, my placenta didn't deliver all the way with er cord so he had to.......reach up there and scrape me out, that was worse than labor, his hand in my tummy, but that don't happen every time and it didn't the next time, just was the worst for me, you know.

I healed a lot faster tho after that than with my epi birth, i could walk right after and everything!

Baby 4 Ozzie- This was the last strw and i am thankful because if it hadn't gone this way i wouldn't know i could do it naturally and how much better it is than the other way! I tried having them put that epi in again, forever MORE afraid of labor, especially with the last one, only feeling the worst of it, that is all i thought it would be, HOURS of that 30 minute WORST PAIN! so i gave it a try, he had my history of issue so he tried and tried, and come to find out, maybe or maybe not form the epi, lol, I no longer have enough spongey ness between my vertebrae for the catheter tube to fit, and even tho he got it through it, while i was leaning over, when i sat up one vertabrae is sitting on another and it just pinched the tube shut so that nothing would go through to my spine!

He tried on an off for almost two hours before he finally stopped and said that he would try it as long as i wanted but if he kept going at it he ran the risk of punturing my epidermis which could and most likely would send me into a spinal headache that i would go into a coma from, and i would need a C sec, and it could be days beforei was out of it to see my son!

SO, terrified, i said, fine. I will do it without! TERRIFIED< but i was more scared of not being there to see my baby right away you know! and at this point i would have been knowcked out for a c sec too, but only for a couple hours not days, so i tol em i will go as long as i can and if it gets too hard, knowck me and cut me! but i am way more afraid of a c sec! LOL sorry but its true. i cna't handle healing cuts! too much!

So I breathed through it, and it got painful and i had them give me pitocin to make it faster, but that made it slightly more painful, but i didn't know what it was supposed to feel like so i just kept breathing through it. It helped to count in my head till it was over while breathing slowily, no one could interupt me while countingand breathing or i wuld feel the pain worse, and my hubby could NOT touch me at all. But they let me do it my way, not tlaking to me when i had my eyes shut, and i never screamed because i kept telling myself it was only going to get worse and i would be pissed if i lost my voice by then and couldn't yell at my hubby! haha

all of a sudden i felt a lot of pressure with one like i had to go to the bathroom so i rang the nurse to help me and she checked me and i was at a ten! Well now i started freaking out because just because i went through the contractions deosn't mean i can handle pushing that HAS to be a lot worse! so the doc comes and this is the only hard part because i am ahinving pains and it is harder to count through them when their are a bunch of pppl scurrrying around and tough you to pput your legs in stirrups which interupted the counting which made me have to yell...but once that was over, I started pushing, and just kept waiting for that excruciating pain i felt last time, it never came.

I felt hot down their where he was coming out and agian i felt the slight turning fo his head but not as painful this time. then the most uncomfotable feeling ws when he told me i cound't push anymore, his head was out, but i listened and found out his courd was so tight around hid neck theyhd to cute it off in six different places to get it off and get him breathing first fbefore i pused him the rest of hte way. He cried half in half out! haha and then just one small slow push, i was so surprised how much control i had over all of it, he was born, and it wasn't that ainful at all afterwards, it din't even hurt much getting me eptied out! the best experience ever!

Now i will never allow them to give me another epi never even ty. he next one will be all natural with only maybe a lil stadol for the edge early on! and i can't wait because it will be so much less stress now that i know wha tit will be and that i can do it, and that it isn't as bad as an epi! haha

Quoting talyn-ma-of-6:“ Well, I luckily experienced none of the effects that effected my babies however i had several bad effects ... [snip!] ... it will be so much less stress now that i know wha tit will be and that i can do it, and that it isn't as bad as an epi! haha”

I'm confused about why you had such a horrible experience with each and every epidural experience, yet continued to have them. I am afraid of the pain too...but honestly I'm more afraid of stories like the ones you posted. I really don't want to risk the epi getting colossally f'ed up...and I don't want my baby all drugged when he comes out.

Your doctor reaching up into your uterus and pulling out your placenta?Really? That's the worst thing I've heard of!

Quoting HungryBot: Still Hungry:“ I'm confused about why you had such a horrible experience with each and every epidural experience, ... [snip!] ... out. Your doctor reaching up into your uterus and pulling out your placenta?Really? That's the worst thing I've heard of!”

I continued to get them because i guess I was afraid of the labor pain more than the needle. I mean, my healing after my first son was....well, the sent me home 24 hours after having him and with no pain meds. I was medicated in the hospital so i didn't know how bad it was and i had an episiotomy so i had stitches. when the pain killers subsided, omg, I remmeber sitting on the toilet screaming for y hubby cause thatis all i could do is scream!we were in the middle of moving to our new place on the back of our land when we went in to labor so my hubby was with my dad moving our beds in there an setting up hthe bassinet, i was wth my older kids and they had to see that! I felt so bad!

I guess, that pain was enough to make me beleive that the pain of labor had to be mind numbingly unbearable thae way that was, i ended up going stark white from the pain and passing out, it wasn't something ex strength tylenol could fix, ya know, my dad had to call the doc and have them wire a prescription for me for the morning but that night was the worst. It just traumatised me into thinking that what i went through wasn't as bad as what it took away!

AND I was told by EVERY doctor after that it wouldn't be bad like that again because they knew what to expect. Like I said with my second son it worked out, only two trys which wasn't bad at all for me, and it was a peaceful labor, no pain at all! OFr my second they convinced me that it was cause it was put to high and that next time that wouldn't happen! haha I was eve more terrified with my last son, NOT getting an epi because i had experience the WORST all at once, i dind't tink i could handle that at all! And yes, they had to reach up int theri, sorry about the graphic ness, and scrape it out, or i guess if it was still connected I could have hemoraged...that is what he said. it wouldn't have stopped bleeding, it only happened because my cord tore when they were trying to pull it gently out like they normally do. it doesn't happen all the time, but like i said, that was worse than the pain fo me.

With my last i was just so afraid i had to try, had no idea my bac was in as bad shape form it (not from the epis only i had arthritis bad before) I guess i just didn't think their was any other way to do it till they told me I couldn't have it done this time! THen I was like, well if I can't than i will deal with what i have to deal with for my son! but i was so afraid of the pain...all i could think of was how much my daughters labor hurt. It was so much better! If i had had a way to know before that is the way I always would have done it but i never would have fathomed that natural labor could be pleasent until I had one and it was!

I am not getting one with the baby I am about to have, I had one with my daughter and I was in labor for 14 hrs, and I still felt everything, they had to up it 6 times and then it made it so hard for me to push her out that i had to get an episiotomy(sp), and they had to use the vacuum because her cord was wrapped around her neck, they thought they would have to resesitate (can't spell) her, but we don't know if it's due to that because i only pushed for like 5-10 minutes, but the epidural was the dumbest thing i did to me and her.

Quoting HungryBot: Still Hungry:“ I'm confused about why you had such a horrible experience with each and every epidural experience, ... [snip!] ... out. Your doctor reaching up into your uterus and pulling out your placenta?Really? That's the worst thing I've heard of!”

oh yeah they had to pull my placenta out the doctor wrapped his hands around the cord and yanked it was sooo nasty im glad i didn't feel that i thought he ripped out my uterus

Quoting Kaylee+Kaelin'sMommy:“ oh yeah they had to pull my placenta out the doctor wrapped his hands around the cord and yanked it was sooo nasty im glad i didn't feel that i thought he ripped out my uterus”

be glad the cord din't snap. when they misplaced mine, i idn't feel the contractions, only the birth canl, aka worst part, lol, and when they tried pulling mine out by the cord, it tore in half, so he stuck his whole arm up there and scraped it out. grossest thing i ever felt in my life! way worse than the pain of pushing her out, that is for certian!

Quoting talyn-ma-of-6:“ be glad the cord din't snap. when they misplaced mine, i idn't feel the contractions, only the birth ... [snip!] ... and scraped it out. grossest thing i ever felt in my life! way worse than the pain of pushing her out, that is for certian!”

I don't worry about the pain of pushing them out or the contractions, I felt nearly every contraction till 30 minutes before I had her, the pain is temporary, and I am worried about killing my husband, but at least ill be able to walk around and help things progress easier, but my first daughter tore my cervix and i have a 2in scar on it so i am worried about that being a problem, as long as im not in labor for 14 hours i think ill be ok this time and that i don't get 6 stiches in my coochie again

Quoting Kaylee+Kaelin'sMommy:“ I don't worry about the pain of pushing them out or the contractions, I felt nearly every contraction ... [snip!] ... problem, as long as im not in labor for 14 hours i think ill be ok this time and that i don't get 6 stiches in my coochie again”

i am not worried about the pain of it anymore. this last pregnancy made it all a lot clearer to me. It didn't come close to the pain of my hour long epidural attempts leaning against my contractions! lol I am actually looking forward to it this time around! lol i know crazy. For me, My hubby couldn't touch me, or talk at all while i was contracting. if he or anyone else interupted me and my in the head counting i would scream. i had to stay focused and everything distracted me from doing that, lol. he didn't take it too hard, lol prob was just happy i wasn't trying to hurt him! lol

my hubby said he would stay at least an arms length away, because even with my first i was a total beeaytch, one minute im screaming for everyone to get the f out, the next im crying callin everyone telling them im lonely, and the epidural sucked sooo much because i have scoliosis in my lower back so it took them forever to get it right i was just mad period and thirsty, i asked for some ice chips and they briught me 2 pieces saying thats all i can have, but i was sneaking drinks of water i didnt figure it would hurt

Thank you very much for putting this on here! My mother doesnt understand why i am addmitt on doing a natural birth and this is why....Plus i have the out look that if you can take baby birth than you can do anything, Women had perfectly fine labor without medicines back in the day-lol-and they came out fine. Thats what makes women strong in my opinion, we can take the pain of child birth. And by NO MEANS am i knocking the epi. this is just my opinion. But again thank you!