Help with a serious birthing decision?

Question

I'm having trouble deciding whether or not to get an epidural. At first my answer was an definate no because I don't trust the employees of the hospital where I have to have the baby not to paralyze me with the needle. It wont be an employee delivering so I thought that much would be safe. Now everyone's saying I should still get an epidural because the pain is too severe to take without one. I have a very high pain threshold but I'm concerned about the whole situation. What are the odds of actually getting paralyzed by the epidural needle? Should I or should I not have one?

Answer 1

Well it really is a personal decision. I'm expecting very soon and was asking myself very similar questions. I've decided to be very open minded and just go with the flow. There are many other things to consider also... epidurals while numbing pain can also slow the process down. One person told me that they have had the needle and its not worked for them for some reason or another.. I think this is just unlucky but also something to consider. Not only this but it isn't natural and can have effect on the first few hours of the babies life when it comes to things such as feeding, similarily with other drugs such as petho.
As for the worry about being paralysed, I've heard about this but I think it is very very rare, but at the end of the day, its a small risk you may be willing to take. I dont have a high pain threshold yet I still want to wait and see how it is first.
Goodluck making your decision and with labour, I'm sure you will be fine! xx

Answer 2

I dont think you should get the epidural. Child birth is very painful but imagine how you'd feel if u couldn't walk or have back pains. I had an epidural with my first child and i only did it because the staff kept insisting it would help. That was a huge mistake,not only was i giving birth at a "teaching" hospital-meaning a student would be inserting the needle;but the head dr said "omg what are u doing?" when the student inserted it in wrong. So it had to be removed and put back in correctly. It put me to sleep for a few hrs then i woke up to push. That was in 1998 i experienced back pains till my 3rd delivery in 2004. I had to get another epidural to prepare me for my c-section. Which never happened cuz my daughter decided that she wanted to finally come out!
*I delivered a 9lb baby in 2004!*
~I delivered a 8lb 5 oz baby with no meds in 2002~

Answer 3

I have had three children. My first was born without an epidural because I was scared to get one. I made it through without the pain relief, but I made sure I got an epidural for the next two. You just have to remember, your baby is going to be born whether or not you have the epidural. With my first, I had finally decided to ask for the epidural and the doctor was preparing my back for it when starting to feel the need to push. Go with your gut. Start out without one and get some IV pain relief. If it gets too intense ask for the epidural. The chances of becoming permanently paralyzed is slim to none. Just be open to all your options. Good Luck!

Answer 4

How far a long are you? I'm four days overdue and decided not to get the epidural because I've heard so many bad things about it from my friends and family that have had children in the past. My threshhold of pain isn't great, but I decided instead of the epi to get a general anesthetic (demoral.) This decision of mine to get demoral instead of an epidural was purely based on the fact that I've had it before so I know what it does, I know that it works, and even though it doesn't numb me it will calm me down and give me some relief. I decided not to take the epidural because I don't know how it's going to feel on my body and also I have heard that the epi doesn't always work and sometimes in certain cases they need to do it twice (plus a bunch of other things.) I don't know about being paralyzed by the epi, but I do know that is has a lot of side effects (heard from friends and fam.)

Answer 5

You would have to ask the doctor what the odds are. Pretty slim i imagine. I worked OB and never saw it happen.

If you have a high pain tolerence forget all the drug & epidural.

I have an extreemly low pain threshold. My first baby I had an epidural. Which they messed up on. I was numb from the waist down for half the day.

My second boy, I was determined to have just a small amount of pain killer just to get through the transditional phase.
Believe me.......one of the greatest experiences in my entire life time is pushing that baby out. I wouldn't miss it for the world. It is amazing. The worst part of labor is the transitional phase. You get through that and by the time you are pushing.... you have longer phases to rest between contractions. And there is so much pressure that I don't remember any pain at all. Really is is glorious. And this baby was close to 9 pounds.
With an epidural you risk infection. You risk a leak in your spinal cord, which is treatable, but nasty to get over. I had one once. You also risk missing out on the best time of delivery.........the birth.

My doctor had to cut me for the baby to get out. He even did stitches without any pain killers in the skin area. It barely was noticable because the pelvic area had endured such pressure from the delivery that part of me was numb.

I am a big believer of visulation. I can go in detail if you want to email me. But, I used visualization and delivered my boys in not too long of time. Ride the waves of labor. Give your self up to the pain. Go with the contractions. Go limp & let your body do it's work. By holding back on the contractions
. it will take you a lot longer.

Try without the epidural. Really it isn't work missing feeling that baby pass out of your body. It is so incredable.
You can do it.

Answer 6

I opted not to have an epidural right through my pregnancy but when the biatch nurse took my gas away from me I couldn't handle the extreme pain anymore and was begging for one, I am VERY scared of needles, thats how much pain i was in that all I wanted was a huge needle in my spine. The epidural helped me sooo much, I pushed my baby out 1.5 hours later and I am so glad I got to have a rest from the pain leading up the the pushing stage. Never thought I would have one but I did and I would do it again, but next time I will probably still need to go through the contractions so I can be in so much pain that I wont care about needles.

Answer 7

Every woman's experience in the birthing of her baby is different. I have had a child and yes the pain seemed to be horrible at the time. But honestly ,now ,I cannot remember the pain. I remember feeling the most intense joy and happiness and pride at the first sight of my daughter. This is a decision only you can make. First, ask your doctor about the pros and cons of epidurals. Then decide if you want to enjoy the entire experience of motherhood . The odds have to be pretty low for being paralyzed or you would hear more about the instances of occurrences,but if you have high tolerance for pain this is what God gave that to you for.

Answer 8

i had gotten a epidural with the birth of my daughter. I was scared and i flipped out and like the docs said honey if the contractions bother you that bad can you imagine given birth with out no epidural. make sure that you get this as soon as possible because after so long they can give you one so when u go in to have the baby ask how far dialated can you be before they cant give u a epidural. because you dont want to wait and they cant give it to you. i had the epidural and it didnt work on me at all my contractions were so strong. they had to give me a saddle block they put it in the same place as
where the epidural goes. the block is better actually because you are numb from your stomach down and will not feel nothing and it kicks in about 5 minutes after they insert it. and its not a huge needle like everyone thinks it is it looks just like fishing line. and its bendable. i aint going to lye it doesn hurt a little going in its like when they stick u with a needle to draw blood that feeling but it goes up your back. they have u sit indian style close to the edge of the bed sitting straight up but bent over holding a pillow and you have to be still the paralyzed part comes in when the PATIENT moves. believe me would u rather go threw hours upon hours maybe going in labor with no epidural or go threw maybe 2-4 minutes of little pinching going in ur back to relax the pain while delivering? think about it its ur choice hope my story telling helped u out a little and didnt scare u even more. good luck

Answer 9

I don't know why they say labour pain is too severe to take! How the hell did women manage throughout history then?

I've managed 3 times so far with a bit of gas and air, and I'm being induced on Friday, but there's no way I'd run the risk of an epidural - not only is there a (disputed and not proven or disproven) risk of permanent damage to you, but apparently they don't always work properly, with some women being numb only down one side, others being only slightly numbed. Once you add the fact that you can't feel what's happening or push efficiently, it makes me wonder why anyone would want an epidural at all!

Answer 10

There are plenty of women who deliver their babies without any epidural, so it isn't as if its so horrible nobody does it.

There's no doubt about it, the pain is nasty. It isn't necessarily just the pain either. There are the creepy sensations that just kind of add to the whole unpleasantness.

You should talk with your doctor about your reservations, and never mind what anyone else says about the pain.