re: Epidural Information: pls read before getting one!

"If you decide to have an epidural during labor, you will have to sign a consent form and the doctor may or may not explain the potential risks to you. It is YOUR responsibility to know the risks involved to both you and your baby BEFORE consenting to an epidural."

I LOVE this paragraph in the original post. The doctor may or may not explain the potential risks to you. Legally the doctor HAS to explain benefits and risks to all procedures they are going to perform. Whether great or small. It is their standard college requirements and their license require it. That's all I have to say about this Dr. Google copy and paste post   which is full of wonderful information...

Reading all of this almost has me thinking again whether or not to have a 2nd child. My LO is 4months now. I was induced, since my water broke and my contractions would come on strong enough naturally. Other than that I had no pain meds whatsoever.. and REALLY regretted it! It was the absolute worsed experience of my life, I almost cant even describe it as pain; it was simply inhuman. I asked my husband to bring me a chainsaw to cut off my lower body since it would probably be less painful. Im not sure if this excrutiating pain was caused by the induction, but I never even got a natural urge to push - I had to push on demand and it felt like I was going against what my body wants to do. It was so traumatic, i still dont even enjoy sex with my husband- I just keep getting flash backs. I was really relying on an epidural for my next pregnancy, since I simply CANT go through that again. But now Im not too sure anymore. This really sucks. I had a WONDERFUL pregnancy with no complications. But the birth... it was quick with no complications, but horrible and painful! Even after she came out, I was in so much pain, I hardly looked at her - just told my hubby to take her! No euphoria or "natural bonding hormones" everyone talks about.. never experienced any of that!  

Quoting Minxi Mommy:" Reading all of this almost has me thinking again whether or not to have a 2nd child. My LO is 4months ... [snip!] ... told my hubby to take her! No euphoria or "natural bonding hormones" everyone talks about.. never experienced any of that!  "

Yes the intense pain was from the induction. Your body's natural Oxytocin cannot keep up with the levels of intensity when you are induce
so you are pretty much on your own in the pain management department unless you do opt for an epi.The induction drugs are really not good for mom or baby either!

I'm expecting twins in may and thought that I would try a vaginal birth if all goes well.I had my other kids vaginal and is VERY WORRIED about getting cut.Now reading this just DOESN'T TAKE MY FERA AWAY!!

Quoting Keisha81:" I'm expecting twins in may and thought that I would try a vaginal birth if all goes well.I had my other ... [snip!] ... goes well.I had my other kids vaginal and is VERY WORRIED about getting cut.Now reading this just DOESN'T TAKE MY FERA AWAY!!"

I don't have to worry about the epi the doc won't even consider me because I have spina bifida and they can't see my back bones clearly. Its a higher risk of being paralized. Having a c-section scares me like crazy. My husband wouldn't be allowed to be with me if they had to do it. He would have to miss the birth. I have had 2 vaginal deliveries with no pain meds. Tho I am worried with this one because the baby is measuring bigger then were I should be. If the baby is very big they will have to do a c-section, because it would be safer for us both. So believe me you aren't alone at being afraid of being cut.

Before I had my son, I was big on not taking the epidural. But I decided to at the last second, and let me say...when they tell you to be aware of the dangers, it's great to do homework.

When I had taken my epidural, the anesthesiologist had hit my nerve in the wrong place, now leaving me with pain throughout my legs. I had spiked a fever of 104.2 , was shivering, sweating, and my BP dropped, my sons heartrate was fluctuating, and I had fallen very sick, was spitting fluids up. So i had to have an emergency cesarean because my son started stressing. It was not a great expierence for me at all. So please ladies, be aware of the dangers before taking it. I would hate for anybody to have to go through what I did.  

I never had a problem with my epidural. I got one pretty much right away, never had any complications directly involving it. Had to go c-section though because after 3 hours of pushing after being induced he wasn't budging.

I had the epidural with my son. They broke my water at 9pm. I took as much of the pain as I could. Around 11:30pm i got the epidural. I felt great after getting it. No complications at all. Around 3:30am it started to wear off. I kept pressing the button to get more, but it wasn't working. Let's just say I delivered my son naturally.. I hemorrhaged after I delivered him. It was quite scary.

I was induced i had no complications and delivered him 8 hours after they started the induction also had an epidural with no complications it all depends on the person not all inductions and epidurals turn out horrible .

I got the epidural, and had no problems with it either. I was induced, which was extremely painful and intense for me. Right after getting the epidural I instantly felt relief and could finally relax. I just look at it as another procedure like getting a c section. Not only pregnant women get epidurals but people who are having surgeries on their hips or legs. A big benefit of the epidural for me was that it took the pain away and I was completely conscious and was aware of everything going on. It doesn't mess with your head like Iv meds do.

I had an epidural with my 1st after being in labor for a long period of time i regret this decision big time it worked to start with....then on my right side the pain returned and became unbearable as my son was back to back i couldn't get into pushing properly as i couldn't feel the urge to push properly and my son got stuck resulting in a forceps delivery which scarred me when it came to giving birth to my second which also led to me not being able to bond with my son properly as i felt a failure for not being able to give birth to him on my own i felt pretty much forced into the epidural by the dr's and my mother as i was too young at the time to understand what was going on with my second i was induced and point blank refused any pain relief apart from gas and air and i'm so glad i stuck by my decision i was in labor for 4 hours and the urge to push was very powerful that i had no problem getting him out in exactly 11 mins so very happy that i stuck to my guns i will be refusing any epi this time too because i know i can do it without

my mother has 6 kids and had 4 epidurals. Another risk should be noted, one she got and a few others i know got post-epidural. Disinigrating spine syndrome (spelling may be off). This is where the spinal vertibrea actually dissolve slowly over the years following. It is very rare granted, but it was proven for all the women that i know that have DSS that the point of initial damage was very close to where the epidural was placed.

Thank you for posting this. I went through my first delivery without an epidural and I will do the same with this baby. I was up within the hour to see my daughter, and although there was a lot of pain... it was worth it to ensure her health and our bonding time. God created us to do this... we werent born with a packet "nuts and bolts". This is something we were created to do naturally.

m 37 weeks and i already decided i WILL NOT have an epidural. My opinion is our bodies were made for this, i would rather have an All natural birth then be doped up on medicine. all you need is good breathing && a good focus point. yes itll be painful but Well worth it.

With the epi and IV I retained all the liquid and I swelled up like a whale and had to go to the er. I seriously looked like sp