Does giving birth hurt with epidural?

Question

I'm just wondering so when I have a baby I will be ready. I want to know if giving birth can be almost painless. I'm really scared of pain and would like to ignore it at all costs.So if I use epidural would it make giving birth almost pain free?

Answer 1

While for many women an epidural make giving birth mostly painless, it most certainly DID NOT for me!

I have four children. With each of my three older children, I had epidurals. Were the births painless? Not by any means! Sometimes, epidurals can be spotty. That means that they will only numb parts of the area meant to be numbed. You still feel all the pain of the contractions in the parts that are not numbed. This is what happened to me. With my oldest, all the pain of my contractions was shot to my left hip. So, instead of feeling all the pain of the contractions spread out all over, I felt every single ounce of pain in one spot. My second and third births were no different.

For about a year after each of the births, I would have migrains in my back. I would have tremendous pain at the site where the catheter had been placed for the epidural. I've heard stories of similar pains from other women who have given birth with epidurals.

With the birth of my youngest child I had no medications to take away the pain of the contractions whatsoever. The pain was managable and I believe that was for three main reasons... I knew exactly what was happening with my body, I paid attention to my breathing patterns and techniques, and I had an incredibly supportive husband who held my hand and breathed with my throughout the entire experience.

I also believe that along with these three reasons, a big part of why the labor and delivery was as easy for me as it was, was because I labored at home for as long as possible. I stayed home for as long as I could and spent my laboring time the way that I wanted to... I ate, walked, peed and moaned when I felt the need. Once it was time, my husband and I made our way to the hospital.

It was the easiest birth I've ever had. I didn't have to deal with the numbness in my legs for any amount of time after the birth. As soon as my tear was stitched up, I was ready to get up and walk.

Unless the baby is in distress and I need to have a c-section, there is no way I will be having any medications for pain in any future births.

Good luck!

Answer 2

As long as it is given correctly. And make sure that the nurse has you lay on one side for awhile and then the next side for awhile. This allows the medicine to run down both sides. You may also need more than one administering of the drug. It will make labour virtually pain free. There are a lot of potential side effects from the epidural. A few are extreme headache, back pain and dizziness. These are the more mild side effects. Please read up on it. There are other forms of anaesthesia that are not so serious and just take the edge off the pain. I delivered all my babies, 3, natural. The pain is very extreme, but somehow manageable as long as you focus on the outcome. I also like natural birth because I experienced every single moment in the fullest. Each woman experiences contractions and labour differently. Just because one says that labour was not that hard doesn't mean that another will be easy. I think that the more educated you are on what happens and all the different pain meds available, the easier time you will have. There is no way you can prepare and know what it will be like until you are experiencing it. Look into Lamaze. My labours were also relatively short though, and I believe that if your labour drags on pain meds may be what you need to get through it. Good luck and God Bless.

Answer 3

Yes. Giving birth is virtually pain free with a good epidural. There will be pain and unpleasantness afterward. Also, they often turn down the epidural before the pushing starts so you can feel more and push harder. Some epidurals don't fully take. With my last one, it only took on one side of my body, even after the anesthesiologist came back and tried to adjust things. So I felt everything on one side of my body and nothing on the other. But it was still better than not getting an epidural.

Answer 4

My contractions were painful but bearable, I couldn't fathom why women scream in horror when they get contractions. It takes your breath away, but its a slow wringing pain inside of you (like a period cramp), not a sharp awful pain like a stab or puncture wound.

I got to the hospital after contractions lasted 30 minutes or so, 5 minutes apart, and they did the epidural pretty soon after I arrived, since my cervix was dialated (open) about 6 centimeters at arrival (you are ready to give birth when it reaches 10 centimeters).

The epidural took away all the pain of the contractions. I didn't feel them at all. When it was time for me to push, it just felt like I had a gigantic, enormous poop that I had to push out. I could definetaly feel the baby in me, and it felt uncomfortable, like a terrible pressure, but it didn't hurt - it was just serious pressure, like if I didn't push real hard and get this "poop" out I'd explode.

But when the baby's head was crowning out of my, ahem, opening, it HURT. I screamed then, and I had some tearing at the opening, and I screamed, " Oh my god, it hurts, I give up", but the nurses started saying, " Don't you dare! You're like, 2 pushes away!"

And it's true, the head coming out hurts. But that is like, 2 or 3 more pushes and the head is out, and you can certainly force yourself into pushing, despite the pain, because you want your baby out, right??? And then once the head came out the body slipped out painlessly, and the placenta too. There was maybe 5 - 10 minutes near the end of my pushing that was the worst and that was it, otherwise the epidural takes like 90% of pain out of the experience.

How good was the epidural? I was terrified of labor, and now I want another baby. Or two.

Answer 5

No guarantees, but many women have pretty darn close to pain-free deliveries with epidural analgesia. I can tell you that without one, it will hurt a lot (I did it that way 3 times).

I have put in thousands of epidurals for laboring women, and most of time they work quite well. You may still feel pressure with contractions, but not pain.

If you have a very short labor, the medicine may not get down to the perineum, and you may have some pain with delivery, but that is not common, especially for first time Moms.

Let your L&D nurse know as soon as you are admitted in labor that you want an epidural. Once you have a good labor pattern, your OB should give the OK. We no longer need women to be 4 cm dilated to put epidurals in, and any enlightened OB should know this!

Best of luck to you - I wish you a quick and painless labor, and many years of joy with your new child!

Answer 6

Depends on how your body reacts to the epidural. My 1st baby, 14 yrs ago, the epidural did not work in every area, so I still have the stomach pain. It was the "opening" that was numb. My 3rd baby, 2 yrs ago, was pain free!

Answer 7

Sometimes it's pain free. My first child I had an epidural and it was awesome, I couldn't feel anything. My second, I could still feel all of the contractions. It just depends on how good your anesthesiologist is.

Answer 8

no it painless when you get that coz you cant feel anything down there, giving brith was not as painful as i had been told before i gave birth i went to the dentist the other day and got a tooth pulled out and it was more painful id rather give birth al over again then go to the dentist lol you 4get wot its like almost straght away well i did anyway :)

Answer 9

No, you shouldn't feel anything (ie contractions) until the baby is actually coming out ... even then you will only feel the pressure. Epidurals nub everything below the abdomen.

Answer 10

your going to feel discomfort up until they give you the epidural. some Dr.'s don't give them til your a 4 i got my at 3cm. explain your fears to your doc. they can give stadol to you whenever you want it, but it can also slow the process down and can make you sleepy. i have a low tolerance to pain myself, but after this baby, your next one is a piece of cake i balanced my check book after i gave birth to my 2nd son.