Can someone who's had an epidural before tell me what it's like?

Question

Did you have any side effects afterwards? How much did the shot itself hurt? Are you glad you got it? Did it work like it was supposed to? Did it last long enough? Lol ya, way too many questions.... Just the whole getting a needle in my back thing... Doesn't sound like too much fun...

What are you talking about... If you weighed between 55 and 65???! Who weighs that much??????

Answer 1

Ive never had one and most women i know think I'm nuts for not having one during my first child and I plan not to have one with the child I'm carrying right now.. But my reasoning is clear.. I have a cousin who had one with her child and the anesthesiologist who put the needle in didn't do it properly and she now has chronic back pain that has lasted 10 years now.. Id rather deal with 12-24 hours of pain then have to deal with chiropractors and back spasms for the rest of my life.

btw - not sure what vee007bond is smoking but body size and weight has absolutely nothing to do with delivering a baby.. it depends on the size of the baby's head vs the size of the mothers pelvis. And first babies usually take A LOT longer to deliver then subsequent babies. And as far as I've know, an Epidural is NOT a patient administered drug - its controlled by the anesthesiologist . It is not like morphine where you push a button.

Answer 2

I was completely against epidurals when I was pregnant with my son, but I had pre-eclampsia and had to be induced 2 weeks early. I had the choice of an epidural or some nasty medication that would make me sick and out of it, so I went with the epidural. I didn't feel more than a pinch in by back until I had a weird electrical sensation go through my leg (just weird but not painful). I felt nothing until it was time to push, so it worked well. My son was out with 20 minutes of pushing (push like you are going number 2....just a tip).

On the other hand, I was there when my older sister had her last baby a few months ago...my mom told me she was really not good with the pain when she had her first. With this last birth, she was given the epidural when she was pretty close to delivering (which I am not sure about that being typical, she was around 7 to 8 cm dialated). I was her support when she had the epidural and she was already in so much pain that the epidural just added to it and she was very hard to keep still, which is important. She bit me on the shoulder.

Before my sister had her baby I was confident on having the epidural next time around (if all was normal) but now I am just thinking if I can't take anymore pain, I will probably just skip the epidural and do it naturally...my mom did it naturally twice so I know I can handle it.

Good luck and maybe you can talk to your OB/Gyn about when the epidural is usually administered. I think my sister may have waited to long to ask for it.

Answer 3

I had to have an epidural when I had my c section and I honestly didn't think it hurt but that may have been because I had already been in so much pain nothing could have made anything worse. Yes it worked like it was supposed to because I didn't feel anything from the chest down for about 5-6 hours after the c section was complete. The only side effects I had was my back would hurt if i sat up straight on a hard surface to feet my daughter. I was going to get one until I had no choice in the matter. Hope that helps you out Little but it may be different if you have your child vaginally but I don't know.

Answer 4

Yes, I had one. They stick a large needle in your back, but a highly trained professional does it. An attendant holds your hand. They don't tell you that it hurts to get a giant needle in your back. If you have any back problems, it will hurt even more. I don't feel the pain now though, and it's been a year.
It helps a lot! But it makes you shake uncontrollably, you feel so cold, but a million blankets can't help. You can't move your lower half at all. t's a constant drip into your spine. But the shot itself, and the shakes are the worst, but it's well worth it because contractions are an immeasurable pain.
I don't know about effects after birth because I had an emergency c-section, I know that having the epidural helped them cut me open more quickly. But I still shook after the birth for about half the day. I couldn't hold my baby for long till the shaking stopped.

Answer 5

I had one when I was in labour with my first born and that was only because I had a very bad backache. There is a little pain or no pain at all depending on whether your threshold of pain is good. The needle will be in your back throughout the delivery because the epidural is something like a drip. It goes in to your blood stream slowly and releases the pain. You shouldn't feel it at all though. It's at the lower back. The only side effect is that you might feel a little numb in your legs after that and maybe a temporary paralysis. But only a very very small percentage. If your threshold of pain is very good, though, try not to opt for epidural unless the pain is really really unbearable.

Answer 6

It was a horrible experience for me. The shot didn't really hurt and it didn't work like it was supposed to because it came out. Well, they came in to put the epidural in my back and they made me lean on a rolling table, which is a very bad idea. When you have an epidural put in, you have to have an IV in place, or so they say, well the nurse had shut off my IV drip and forgot about it, so she couldn't figure out why it wasn't working. So I'm sitting here with a needle in my spine while she's trying to run another IV and she can't get it in right. So I'm sitting there on a rolling table, with a needle in my spine for 10 minutes and I'm freaking out. Well, they finally get the IV in and the epidural and she tells me to scoot up on the bed. When I did that, the epidural was yanked out and I couldn't get another, so I ended up having natural birth after all that hassle.

But just because that happened to me, doesn't mean it's going to be a horrible experience for you. I just had a dense nurse.

Answer 7

an epidural is a tube inserted into your spine via a needle about
3mm thick. the needle is forced through the cardlidge between your back bones. The needle being hollow. after the correct depth is reached a thin tube isinserted into you spine through the needle. The needle is removed, leaving the tube in you spine. To the tube, they attach a suringe with anistetic solution.the tube goes over your shoulder and the suringe is in your control. You inject yourself during labour to control the pain. Personal opinion- don't use it, it is very painfull to insert, and after giving birth, you find you haven't even touched the suringe, but you still end up paying for it, because a specialist has to insert it, and their expensive. Go with out it, most first pregnancies is over quickly, depending on how big or small your body is. if you weighed between 55 and 65 before pregnancy, you should deliver your baby quickly

Answer 8

It really was not painful, all I felt was like a lot of preasure which was kind of a annoying type of feeling but not painful.

It worked pretty well I guess but I find it retarded that the first thing to go numb was my legs yet the first thing to become unumb was my stomach.

Whatever you do, DO NOT look at the needle, turst me if you do they will not even need to give you an epidural because your *** will of done passed out.

Answer 9

It's awesome,yes I did feel pain even years after but nothing to bad, believe me it was worth it. I think the contractions overpower the pain when an epidural is given cause I don't remember feeling THAT pain. And it worked ,oh boy did it work. I went from crying out in pain to feeling absolutely nothing...nothing!!! I have 2 Beautiful kids, one with and epidural and one without, If you cant handle the pain it's worth it.

Answer 10

It was a very scary experience and it doesn't hurt that bad after a little poke and when it does start working it feels great but you don't want to get it too early in lavbor casue it will wear off like mine did and then by the time it's time to push you will feel everything and trust me you don't want that!!! Yes, I was glad I chose to get it!!! It was real nice while it lasted!!!