epidural - during labour

Although epiderals are great to relieve all the pain, i don't suggest them if you think you can make it without it. I had an epideral with my first son and my third child, but not my second because it went way to quickly. I have had back problems every since my first one though and that was almost ten years ago. You can get paralyzed, but it's rare and it's only if you move while they put the needle in your back. it can hit your spinal cord causing paralysis. It is really up to you though, because after having one you feel absolutely no pain at all through the rest of it, but the afterwards part is pretty yucky. i have severe back problems due to it, but i can't say i wouldn't do it again if i was able to have children. that's alot of pain. LOL! anyways, good luck and keep us posted on your decision. God bless

I had a spinal block with both of my kids. I had to have an emergency c section with my first born. First they induced me with Pictocin,then because his heart rate kept dropping with every contraction they decided to do a c-section. I was in labor for 12 hours with him. The spinal was wonderful. I felt no pain whatsoever. Almost everyone I know that has had children had an epidural. To my way of thinking, way be in pain if you don't have to be. I understand your fear, I felt the same exact way, but these ppl are professional. This what they trained for years to do. In the end it is up to every woman individually how she handles her labor and what course of pain relief she takes. Do what you feel comfortable with. Talk to your doctor, tell him or her your fears they maybe able to help you decide. Good Luck and congrats on baby #3!!!

I had to have pitocin when I went in to have my son because I just wasn't moving along very much. So then they gave me an epidural and it went fine...didn't even feel anything except a little stinging for a second. I wasn't feeling anything after I got it lol. But then my son's oxygen levels kept going way high and then way low so they put an oxygen mask on me to try to get to him and kept flipping me every which way. That wasn't working so they had to do an emergency c-section so then they gave me a saddle block on top of the epidural that I had. Everything went fine though and I had no side effects and my back doesn't bother me or anything now.

i got one with my daughter... it was very bad... my anesthesiologist stuck me 3 times before she got it.. it took a loooong time. i was lucky enough to have an awesome woman doing it, but obviously she didnt know how to, or my back was a pain to stick a needle in. once it was in it was amazing. until hard labor came.. i felt every bit of it. they give you this button to push if you start feeling pain.. they say no more then 3 times within so long... lol i pushed it like 2903842 times.. by the time a nurse came in to check on it and call the woman back i was 10 CM, and her head was crowning.. too late to fix. i say it was a god sent that it stopped working, if not i would have had a baby out, and never have known.. i went from 4cm just before they put the epi in to 10cm an hour after they put it in. my mid wife didnt believe that i was that far, they didnt even have her table or anything by the time my daughters head was out! haha. after i had a bruise on my back, a BIG one, that was there well over a month after.. my 6 week check up it was just going away. i had such bad back pain that at times i could even pick up my 8lb baby from her crib. i just sat there crying because it hurt, and it was very upsetting that i wasn't able to do these simple things. the pain subsided about 6 months after.. i still have pain, i dont even need to touch my back to know where the spot is. i wont let my BF touch me right there because my nerves are so messed up, either it hurts, burns or tickles really bad. when i have my period thats the first place my back hurts. when i wake up in the morning my back hurts. i NEVER had back pain in my life till after i had kaylee. i refuse to ever have another epi. i would rather have the pain in my uterus and whoowhoo for 10 hours then my back for the rest of my life. i would say its defniatly not for everyone, and if you are in the least bit worried about it, i dont think you should do it.. if you have had 2 kids without it then i think you can make it 3!! i wish you the best of luck to whatever you choose!!!

Kiran, I have five beautiful children and I have had one spinal block, 3 epidurals and 1 with out anything for the pain. I would have to say from having an epidural I wasn't afriad and I would suggest not to look at the needle. There is a very low chance of you getting paralyzed from the epidural. But that is your decision I have had three and I will say this much the first epidural I had I was ready to marry my anesthesiologist he was just that good didn't feel it go in and then immediate relief. they actually came into the room and asked if I was ready to have the baby and I said yep . The second time I had it done was fine and the third was fine. I had no complications afterwards and was greatful for the relief even though I think the spinal block work the best they only did that becuase I was in so much pain with my first becuase I went into back labor and on top of it they pitocined me because my water broke and I wasn't contracting. I had the baby within an hour of starting labor , fortunate for me I have always had short labors 1 hour no more than that. Have a nice night and don't worry about it..

I have only had one child and at the last minute I chose to have the epidural. It worked great for me, never had any problems during or after the birth. However it depends on the person and person putting it in. But my hospital is one of the best so I trusted them.

I had an epidural during my pregnancy but I dont they it worked for me. The midwife kept asking me if I could still feel the contractions and I said yes. Thankfully my contractions were not severly painfull though. I have heard you cant feel you legs either but I still could. So I dont know if I am much help on this discussion but I thought I would just share that with you. I have heard they help alot when they do do it right though.

I've only had one child so you have my sympathies for the pains you've gone thru. I was prepared for an epidural when I went into labor, but until you reach a certain point, they can't give it to you. By the time I got to that point, it was 3am & that department wasn't functioning very quickly and it was after 5am before I finally had some relief. Considering I had been in labour since noon the day before, I was able to get a few hours of rest before they started me on a petosin drip to start the contractions again. I'm not going to lie to you, getting the needle in your back does hurt alot. You have to be very still while the tech is doing their work, which isn't easy while you're having contractions, but the tech I had was very patient with me. I'm sure she knew how important the placement of that needle was. The relief it brought after it was inserted was worth it however. By 9am we were in the delivery room. I think my choice of the epidural was a good one as I can remember everything about the delivery without the haze of pain. No backache, headache or any other side effects to this day. :)

I had all four of my children with no pain relievers what so ever, and one of those babies came out weighing 11 pounds. I just couldn't take the chance that i would end up paralyzed because the anesthesiologist was tired or was having a bad day at work. I know the odds of them making a mistake is like 1 in 10,000 but I just refused to ever take that chance. Since this is your 3rd baby and you already know what you are in for I don't see why you would want one now. See if the hospital offers Nubain (pronounced New Bane) for pain during labor. It is injected into your IV and from what I have been told really helps to take the edge off of your contractions. There are no side effects to the mother and in very rare cases the baby has below average APGAR scores because depending on when they give it to you some can pass through the placenta to the baby but I have never heard horror stories about it. Good luck.