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Just had my LO in November of this past year and I had an epidural. I was so scared to get one, but once that pain started I DEFINITELY wanted one 🫣🤣. My experience was great. I was fully numb. I labored 4cm at home and 6cm at hospital. It took 2 minutes to place the epidural and after that I labored for 6 hrs, pushed for 2 minutes and then it was all over. I had a very positive experience. No lasting effects like back pain or anything like that. Also I was not induced she came naturally on her due date. Hope this helps!
I had my son in January. I delivered him vaginally with an epidural. Mine was a great experience. Although, the needle for the epidural was put in wrong, but once they fixed it, it went great. My body did adjust to the epidural about 6 hours later, but you're able to up the dose if needed.
Had my LO in January of this year. My water broke at 37 weeks + 4 days. I hadn’t really progressed and was at 1cm dilated since like 35 weeks pregnant. I was having on and off contractions but after my water broke (1/2 around 530pm) the hospital kept me overnight due to gestational diabetes and premature water break and instead of pitocin I opted for misoprostal instead to progress my labor. By 4am i was 7cm dilated after only having 1 1/2 dose of the miso pill and by 9am I was 10cm. I pushed for 35 minutes and my baby girl was born within the same hour. I tapped out and got the epidural at 4cm dilated and don’t regret it at all 🤣 those contractions are NO JOKE.
My first was a traumatic c section and I never ever ever want to do that again. My recovery was really difficult. While some women do need them for true medical reasons, C section is still a major abdominal surgery and comes with a lot of risks that doctors don’t tell you about. My second baby I had at home in the water and it was 1000x better. I was functional and could move around. Sure my lady bits hurt but it was nothing like the pain of my c section where I had to be on the hard painkillers, sleep in our recliner and could hardly do anything without help for a month. I was able to bond with my baby so much better than I did with my first
C section is riskier and longer healing. It’s not recommended unless medically necessary. As for an epidural, you can choose what you want and don’t have to decide ahead of time. Some women go in thinking they will get one and baby comes too fast or some think they won’t and when in labor change their mind. I had both of mine with epidurals (last one didn’t kick in until 10 minutes before pushing). I will say, placing the epidural is not near as painful as people think. The first shot is for numbing the area only so it’s just lidocaine on the surface. Then the second needle you don’t feel. Laboring also wasn’t that bad, but I don’t know what pushing the baby out without an epidural is like and I don’t think I want to.
Whatever you think you will want, whatever birth plan you develop, just remember that at the end of the day fate and your baby are going to pick for you. There's no shame in an epidural, there's no shame in inducing, there's no shame in a c-section, the ONLY thing that matters is that you and baby come out healthy on the other side. I wound up having an epidural after trying to go natural because I was in day 3 of contractions and couldn't think straight and needed to sleep. The two hours of rest I was able to get from the relief afforded me the ability to push thru an easy, tear-free delivery a few hours after that. My sister wound up w/ a last minute c-section after sudden preeclampsia forced her to spend days on blood pressure med drips that made her feel woozy & drained. She made the choice to have her baby then rather than risk both their lives waiting & laboring & suffering for who knows how many more days. There may be pros & cons to every option but ultimately what *you* need is what's best.
@Phoebe very well said👏👏
I have to have c-sections due to my babies being breach. Pro to a c-section you don’t have to go through the laboring process (unless your like me and go into labor before your c-section date). Con is the recovery is harder since it is a surgery you are getting done. Let’s just say my husband is happy that I have to have a c-section because you don’t have to wait hours during labor. But I do wish I could have a vaginal birth.
I would also recommend to keep an open mind when you go into labor. Things can change so quickly. You could go in to give birth naturally but then will need a C-section. It's all for your health and for the baby.
I had a c section. Would not recommend :/
I had a vaginal delivery with epidural, 💯, and I have very good memories of that special day 💜
I went to babymoon inn and had a water birth. It was the best experience
I had to have a c-section since baby was breech and once I was able to emotionally move past not being able to deliver naturally it was a great experience. I loved my care team and knowing what day and time my son was going to be born. I know there are a lot of women out there that have had negative experiences with epidurals with them either not working or complications after I don’t want to diminish that but mine worked perfectly and I didn’t have any side effects or lasting effects afterwards.