epidural question???

Question

do you still feel the urge to push with it?do you still feel the "crowning"? can you rate your pain?

Answer 1

The epidural is wonderful. I went from pain to no pain at all. They had monitors on me and could see when I was having a contraction and they told me when they wanted me to push. All I felt when the baby was being born was pressure, no pain. It wasn't long after the baby was born before I had all the feeling back in my lower body. I had an epidural with both of my children. I recommend it highly. Don't let anyone scare you, they only use a needle to insert a small catheter that they leave in your spine to administer the medication. You can't have the epidural until your dilated 5 centimeters. You have enough discomfort that when they give it to you, you don't feel it at all. Only the relief that it brings. Best Wishes.

Answer 2

You don't feel much after the needle but they cut-off the meds when you are close to push time (when the contractions are close and strong on the monitors) and you can feel the pressure (feels like you have to go #2) and some of the pain during the push. My pain was like 2 out of 10 (10 being the highest). I was forced into having the epidural because I had high blood pressure and they didn't want me to have seizures from the pain or take the alternative med that would make me sick and vomit. I felt nothing until the pressure came and then felt some pain during the push.

That's not always the case with normal labor though, my sister didn't have issues with blood pressure and the staff waited until she had been in so much pain that giving her the epidural didn't really work...my mom knows her pain tolerance better than I do and told me she has no tolerance for pain with childbirth as she witnessed with the birth of my sister's first child.

I think everyone is different and situations aren't the same either. I will tell you that I was induced at 9am, given the epidural at 10am and there was talk of a c-section at around 9:30pm and my nurse started having me switch from laying on one side to the other every 5-10 minutes at about 10:30pm and by 10:55pm they were prepping the room for natural birth and my son was born at 11:20pm. It's my thought that the epidural gets in the way because you can't move around and help labor progress. If you have to or really want to do the epidural it would be best to changes positions often and you will need help since you can't use or move your lower body with an epidural.

Answer 3

Epidural answer
Some women do feel the urge to push and some don't. No you don't feel the "crowning", but there's a lot more to this subject than that. For some situations an epidural is necessary and the right thing to do, but i think that it is a shame that some docters seem to be giving them out like candy. Epidurals do not come without a price.
I know of many women who have problems after having epidurals, some that lasted for years, (my sister being one of them.)
Epidurals often slow down active labor requiring the use of oxytocin to keep the labor progressing although in some cases it can speed up the labor because it allowed the mother to relax.This can cause a whole new set of problems if too much oxytocin is given, but thats another question.
After having an epidural you cannot get out of bed and must lay on your side with the head of the bed slightly elevated. You must have continuous fetal monitoring.
You will probably have to have a catheter in your bladder as you will not be able to urinate.
If you can feel the contractions you may be able to help push some, if not someone will push on your stomach to help the baby out. Forceps are often used which means you are likely to need more stitches. Also you are more likely to need a c-section.
This may sound weird but there is such a sense of accomplishment after the birthing process, in a job well done. I realy do feel that it made the bond between me and my babies stronger.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck and God bless.
A mother of seven.

Answer 4

It is different for each woman...sometimes the epidural doesn't take completely, so you may have feeling down one side, for instance, or it may wear off before the time to push comes.
in my own personal experience, I had a good epidural...however, even after a booster due to lower back pain when I was complete (to 10 cm), I could feel a lot of things going on....I still had the urge to push and I knew when the baby's head was out, etc...even though my skin was all numb, my pelvis let me know what was going on! For me, the few seconds I had between pushes was the most painful: pushing the pain away really did help! I'd say that the actual birth, with my epidural, on a pain scale was about a 9...however, the laboring was eased a lot (I was induced by Pitocin and had 30 seconds or less between contractions for 18 hours...the epidural was welcomed after about 4 hours of that constant pain!! lol) With our next baby, I'm hoping to do it without an epidural and hopefully won't need to be induced...fingers crossed!!

Good luck

Answer 5

Oh what a miracle and epidural can be. It worked great for me. Took all the pain of the contractions away. All I could feel when I had the epidural was the pressure of the baby when it came time to push. So, yes you do feel the urge to push still it just takes the pain of the contractions away.

Answer 6

I def felt the urge to push...more like the urge to "poop". =) When the crowning was occuring I just felt STRONG pressure. No Pain. I tore bad..but couldnt feel a thing. On a scale I would rate it a 5. The feeling of having to push was the most uncomfortable to me.

Answer 7

i had horrid back labor for 12 hours before gI'ven an epidural... Talk about a gift!!! It was the best thing I have ever been given... You cant "feel" below the injection site. as in you cant get up and walk around use the bathroom things like that your body automatically tells you when to push and yes you can feel it but it is very tolerable. Like i said the best thing ive ever had

Answer 8

you dont feel the urge to push but you do feel like you have to take a really huge #2, I thought I had to pass bowels and the doc told me the baby's head what in position and I was ready. The Epi was the best thing ever, as a first time mom that pain made me want to leap out of my window!!!

Answer 9

yes you can the docs taper it off the further dialated you become rate pn after epidural ? hmm well kiddo #1 pain was gone bt i felt ALL of hte pushing and #2 no epi bad birth #3 LOVED it #4 tried 3 never worked 31 hr labor Good Luck

Answer 10

I didn't feel the "crowning"... in fact it was happening and I wasn't even pushing... then when they discovered it they rushed me in to the delivery room and the nurses guided me when to push. I don't remember pain, just hard pushing!