Why No Epidural?

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 11:27 AM

So why did I choose to be a total fruit cake during some serious pain and opt out of the epidural? Well, I think it's established that I am just crazy. You knew that right? Okay, don't be so nice. Just let me admit it to you right now. I am crazy! :)

There's several things that made me go the no epidural route:
  • My first epidural caused horrible spinal headaches! So I had my first new baby home and could only crawl around. Sitting up was out of the question. It was an AWFUL first two weeks of our first babies life. I do not ever want to repeat!
  • My second epidural didn't take on everything. It worked on the hips down, but I felt everything else. Was bearable and I didn't have an issue... just weird. :)
  • My third epidural was given to me really late and didn't take until time to push.
  • I hate not being able to walk after delivery!
  • With every epidural I had, my labor stalled out and lengthened by at least an hour or more. I would get TOO relaxed (if that's possible) and my contractions would slow down.
So with ALL of these things in mind, I choose to NOT do an epidural with this delivery. Was it painful? Oh yah! Could it have been less painful? I dunno... It was short. I was able to WALK after the delivery to go to the restroom and get in/out of my bed. My back was not sore. (Trust me, one less sore spot on your body after a delivery is a bonus! Hehe...) And I didn't get the aftershock of all the pain hitting me like a brick wall because through most of the delivery I did not skate past the pain. I have noticed that my recovery is going VERY quickly with this delivery as compared to the other ones.

So what would you have done? Or do? Get an epidural or try and go without?



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2 comments:

Sarah said...

Hi..this is interesting! I would say no epidural, unless it was an absolute emergency! Good choice! xxx

February 23, 2010 at 5:55:00 PM EST
Kristine said...

Way to go mama!
Since I saw my sis have her 2nd and 3rd babies with no meds, I hoped to do the same with my first, but he didn't show any signs of being born at 42 weeks and 2 days, so I chose to induce. I did my best to deal with those horrible pitocin contractions, but after 3 hours I was vomiting and writhing... and oh that epidural was wonderful, and I went on to have a tiring but successful almost 3 hours of pushing. The epidural was perfect. I could feel just enough to feel pressure and come contraction, but no pain. I could walk just a couple hours afterwards.
I'll go for no meds again for the next one, but I think if an epidural is used wisely, it can help SOME people- me- achieve their goal of a vaginal birth!

February 26, 2010 at 12:02:00 PM EST

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