Welcome to Omgili,
Omgili ( Oh My God I Love It ;) is a search engine for discussions. With Omgili you can find answers and solutions, debates, discussions, personal experiences, opinions and more... To learn more about Omgili click here.
This is a complete preview of the discussion as it was indexed by Omgili crawlers. Use this preview if the original discussion is unavailable.
Click here to view the original discussion.
 |
|
 |
|
Calling all Moms labour questions (Epidural)! - RedFlagDeals.com Forums
Hey Moms,
I need to ask you a question about labour.
My wife and I are expect our first in about 3 weeks, or early the way it looks.
My wife is hearing various answers so I thought what better people to ask that people that went through it!
The question is to take and epidural or not to take an epidural?
She has been told that she may lose control of her blatter, she may lose enough feeling that it can effect her when she is trying to push the baby out.
She may suffer savere headaches, and have back issues for months after.
Now my wife is small about 5'1 I am about 6'2 the baby is already 7.5 lbs.
So from the ladys, and the fellas if they can help with their experiances, would you suggest it, why or why not?
And what did you feel as well as the aftermath,
Thanks so much!
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Quote: : Hey Moms,
I need to ask you a question about labour.
My wife and I are expect our first in about 3 weeks, or early the way it looks.
My wife is hearing various answers so I thought what better people to ask that people that went through it!
The question is to take and epidural or not to take an epidural?
She has been told that she may lose control of her blatter, she may lose enough feeling that it can effect her when she is trying to push the baby out.
She may suffer savere headaches, and have back issues for months after.
Now my wife is small about 5'1 I am about 6'2 the baby is already 7.5 lbs.
So from the ladys, and the fellas if they can help with their experiances, would you suggest it, why or why not?
And what did you feel as well as the aftermath,
Thanks so much!
My wife had one both times.
Both times she tried not having one.
The pain was too much.
The last time she had to wait 2 hours after requesting it.
My advice, take it.
Nothing like having your wife take a nap instead of screaming at you
They put in a catheter, so no worries about peeing.
My wife had no after effects.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Because I already have back problems and have migraines my doctors didn't recommend that I even consider it.
They can't predict who will have complications and who won't and I wasn't prepared to deal with them if they happened to me.
I had 2 of my 3 without any pain control at all, only had gas with my first.
My last was an induction which is a much more intense labour IMO, mind you I was induced early and went from 0 to 10 and birth in just over 2 hrs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Like everything to do with pregnancy, not to mention babies, the answer is different for everyone.
We had our first little one a few months ago, and my wife chose no epidural.
She did an amazing job of focussing inwards and really rode out the contractions like a champ.
When the baby was finally out and they placed him on Mama's chest, he was wide-awake and extremely aware.
That moment certainly would not have been as special if my wife was woozy from the epidural.
It's all a personal choice though.
I'm sure if you asked a lot of people the split would probably be 50/50.
So make the decision that works best for you.
Remember too, that things can happen on delivery day and all your plans may have to go out the window anyways.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My wife says she loved the epidural.
If you're at a good hospital, the nurses will help with blader issues.
In our prenatal classes, they explained that complications and side effects are very rare.
We actually both enjoyed the entire experience thanks to the epidural.
We were both very relaxed, and the entire atmosphere was a lot more melow.
Our neighbors who had given birth a few hours prior hadn't used an epidural ...
And we heard every bit of the pain in our room.
We were at Mount Sinai, so not sure if every other hospital is the same.
Regarding the baby's awareness, she was wide awake and complete concious as was my wife.
She says that she was exhausted from pushing immediately after, but beyond that, she wasn't drowsy.
She said she did become sleepy about an hour or so after, but then, it was 3am by that point, and she'd been in labour for 20 hours.
Epidural usage is so common ...
For our next child, I'm pretty sure she'll end up using the Epi again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: : Like everything to do with pregnancy, not to mention babies, the answer is different for everyone.
We had our first little one a few months ago, and my wife chose no epidural.
She did an amazing job of focussing inwards and really rode out the contractions like a champ.
When the baby was finally out and they placed him on Mama's chest, he was wide-awake and extremely aware.
That moment certainly would not have been as special if my wife was woozy from the epidural.
Epidurals do not make you "woozy".
It just takes away the pain.
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidural
My wife did an amazing job of focusing inwards as well.
But depending on the length of labour and how if effects you, birthing can hurt a lot
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just to add.
You do not have to decide now.
1 hour, or 100 hours into labour you can still request it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tell your wife to try to relax - this is a decision that doesn't need to be made yet.
Personally I didn't want one for many of the reasons you listed (didn't want a catheter, wanted to be able to walk around, hated the idea of my legs being numb, was afraid of the headaches which my aunt had, I couldn't imagine staying still long enough to have it administered, I wanted to leave the hospital after soon after giving birth (three hours since I had a midwife)...) but I was open to the idea.
I even gave my midwife a code word - she knew that if it got to the point that I used that code word she was to give me the epi.
It turns out that I didn't need it but I had a very fast labour.
My point is that there are lots of reasons for and against it.
Your wife has no idea what her labour is going to be like - she may absolutly need it or it may be so fast that there isnt' even time for one.
Just take it as it comes and help her to remember that she hasn't failed by getting one.
Labour is so hard on your body and if she needs that relief then it is available to her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: : Just to add.
You do not have to decide now.
1 hour, or 100 hours into labour you can still request it.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
There is a point of no return where an epidural cannot be safely performed anymore.
My wife is a Labour and Delivery nurse and she sees first hand the needless suffering women endure when they choose a natural labour.
Her advice to all new moms is to not play the hero.
Yes there is the odd woman that can deliver with little pain, but the majority do not.
Why make your first childs birth an unpleasant experience?
Do you lose control of you bladder?
Can't say, she'll more than likely have a catheder anyways.
And if she's worry about the other place, epidural or not, you are going to be pushing, the chance a nugget might slip out is always possible either way.
You wouldn't be the first.
As for losing the feeling of when to push, no, she'll feel pressure.
They'll also be tracking her contractions on their monitor and they let her know when to push.
As for long lasting effects like headache and back pain.
It's hard to say what's to blame for that, she just carried a baby for 9 months, that could have been the problem?
Headaches, welcome to the sleep/poop/cry/feed club.
Complications, they are very rare, collectively all the nurses my wife works with have never seen a complication.
I do know she has mentioned they have a hard time with obese patients.
But if I were her I would be more concerned about an episiotomy than complications from an epidural.
So what ever you decide, good luck, and get your sleep in now while you can!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'll never forget the screams from down the hall of my wife's delivery room of the lady who DIDN'T get the epidural.
One major side effect of the epidural is that it can take a bit longer to get breastfeeding going.
My wife had that problem with both of our kids.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TO each their own.
BUT... that being said...
I think that KNOWLEDGE IS POWER...
So educate yourself on every aspect of it first!
And..
Watch "the business of being born" (google it and download / rent it!) - it will change the way you view childbirth...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: : Her advice to all new moms is to not play the hero.
Yes there is the odd woman that can deliver with little pain, but the majority do not.
Of course, why not use all the new technological and medical enhancements to make birth as easy as going for a haircut.
Obviously all womens bodies and minds are faulty now and need this extra medical help to give birth.
There's a reason c-section rates are almost 1/3 of all births today, it's because of advice like this to not even consider the possibility that women aren't too stupid to learn the facts and decide on their own or deliver babies the way they've been doing it for thousands of years.
Simple things like epidurals and induction medications frequently cause chain reactions increasing risks for things like c-sections, foreceps, and episiotomy (look into that one) which are much riskier for both baby and mother.
Hospitals, doctors, and nurses are in the business of getting babies out as fast as possible, with as little hassle to them as possible.
If you were a nurse, wouldn't you want a numb mom that doesn't yell at you?
My advice is to talk to more people that have given birth natually or with alternative pain control before you decide.
I also recommend "the business of being born", you'll understand why jumbojones gave the advice he did after you watch that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you very much you have all been soooo helpful, I have forwarded this to the wifey and we will download that movie tonight.
All I can say is I dunno how women do it, I was talking to a bunch of men in the office, we get a common cold and were on our death beds like little boys!
Your all champs, I see the pain shes in, I have broken a ton of bones, concussions, sprains, you name it short of breaking my neck and back I have done it!
(did alot of dangerous sports when I was younger)
And to see her hurt every day kills me!
Kudus to all the Mom's out there!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: : All I can say is I dunno how women do it, I was talking to a bunch of men in the office, we get a common cold and were on our death beds like little boys!
So true! My wife went into labour hoping to use no drugs and she was able to do it.
Sure it hurt her more than a numb woman, but you should have seen the euphoria when our daughter came out (there are natual hormones released during natural birth that aren't when you're frozen -- epidurals block this natural release of endorphins).
She looks back on the experience as a great experience and wouldn't hesitate to use no drugs in the future, if possible (of course there are situations where it's favourable though, complications and unusually long labour).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|