<p>I hope this great thread doesn’t turn into another kind of Mommy War. 
Can we all agree that women are capable of making informed choices, that they have the right to do so, and that an informed choice might include no-imedication births, epidurals, and any options in-between?</p>
<p>After 4 natural (including home birth) and 4 with epidural, I highly recommend an epidural as part of any birth plan. I can’t say it enough times: Ladies, get the epidural! </p>
<p>A good doc or midwife, kind nurse, supportive spouse, pleasant birthing room decor would all be nice. . . but I’d trade them all for an epidural. Nothing has done more to improve the quality of the birthing experience for more women than the epidural.
(I also highly recommend vertical delivery positions–which are normal and natural and can be used with an epidural.)</p>
<p>Most docs are not uncaring, but they just don’t have the time. If you had a complication, they’d be attentive (I hope!) – but for a healthy pregnancy and normal delivery, very little of their skills/expertise/attention is required. So you get the 2 minute (if that) prenatal visits, and, at the delivery, the doc walks in, catches the baby, and walks out again (if he/she makes it at all).</p>
<p>The word is EPIDURAL. Don’t give birth without it.</p>
<p>atomom-
You have 8 kids??? Yowza.</p>
<p>Yes.
(In case anyone has seen–on another thread, perhaps–that I have <em>7</em> children, let me clarify that 7 are living.)</p>
<p>I wanted to use a midwife with my first child but my husband was against it. So I used one of the best OBGYN’s around. The cord was wrapped around D’s neck and as she descended in the birth canal it wrapped around tighter and tighter and she went into fetal distress. When her heart rate suddenly went dramatically down the physician was there immediately and I was in surgery for an emergency cesarean in about a minute. She was born healthy with high apgar scores but if I was not in a hospital she would probably have died.</p>
<p>Atomom—8 babies with a 4/4 split? If this DOES turn into a Mommy War, you get to be the ref.</p>
<p>frazzled1 - Yes! **Informed choice **is what it’s all about.</p>
<p>Sorry about the loss of a child, atomom. That is a pain that doesnt go away.</p>
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<p>Absolutely!</p>
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<p>With all due respect to atomom’s greater experience, I did not have an epidural with my second after having had one with my first and I am so glad I didn’t. The epidural took away the natural urge to push, which is a very big deal when you are being told to push that watermelon out. It didn’t take away the pain either. During my second delivery when my body went into push mode, I remember thinking, ‘Oooh, THIS is what they meant.’</p>
<p>But if epidurals work for you, then by all means. I don’t mean to be anti-intervention if that’s what a woman needs. Actually, my H tells me that during my first delivery, I grabbed the OB and hissed, “Get me the f***ing anesthegiologist.” I, of course, have no memory of this.</p>
<p>I had all my epidurals in the last 10 years–I think the ones they give nowadays aren’t usually so strong. I was still able to move, change position, feel legs, and feel urge to push (though not as strong as without epidural, it was still there). Some of them were uneven, (numb on one side, more pain on the other), but still, great relief.</p>
<p>OK, ladies, your choice. Go ahead and give birth without an epidural if you like. But you can’t say atomom didn’t warn you!</p>
<p>The most recent studies say that an epidural adds around 15 minutes to a half hour to labor.</p>
<p>Two without an epidural, two with. I’m with atomom, but mousegray has a point. A lot of it has to do, as with everything else in medicine it seems, with WHO is giving the epidural and how experienced that person is. I had no trouble pushing with mine, but did almost fall out of the bed when I was alone in the room for a moment and tried to move and couldn’t control my legs.</p>
<p>SonOfOpie,</p>
<p>Perhaps deliveries w/o epidurals go faster b/c the mom’s want to get the )<em>&<em>@#(@^</em>$</em>@$& pain over with and push like heck whenever the opportunity arises!!</p>
<p>I can only compare the pain level before and after the epidural, and the before was bad enough. Glad I didnt feel all that transition pain. I had a “hot spot” on my right side with s#1 (an area that didnt numb out) so they gave me a bit more. My whole leg went numb which I actually found quite fascinating. I distracted myself by doing pinprick sensation testing and joking that if the sensation didn’t return, I’d just wheel myself down to the spinal cord rehab facility adjacent to the hospital. The fact that the numbness also rose a tad too high on my chest was a bit disconcerting, but fortunately I didnt have any breathing problems.</p>
<p>With s#2, they threatened to catheterize me after the delivery. I looked squarely at the nurse and said “No way. Bring me a bedpan. No catheter for me. I’ll get you what you need”. She did, and I did, and no catheter. OK, TMI. Sorry.</p>
<p>Okay I tell this story only because I don’t know anyone else who ever had this experience and I would think I was mis-remembering the whole thing except my husband remembers it the same way. </p>
<p>With S1 I went into labor early in the morning of July 4. Clearly labor, contractions about 5 minutes apart, full on. Husband and I head to the hospital. They check me and say yes I am in labor, water broke, but I was only just at 2 cm. Six hours of hard labor, contractions are now at about 2-3 minutes apart and I am still at 2. They put me on pitocin drip. Four hours later I am still at 2 cm and I am absolutely exhausted from 10 hours of hard labor. They have me on a fetal monitor and the baby is doing just fine, no signs of distress. The doctor is worried that I am too tired to push, so they give me shot of morphin! I zone for about six hours, but still in hard labor the whole time (husband is in the room the whole time, watching me). Finally at midnight, the doctor comes back in and checks me – I have progressed. To 3!! He says to heck with it, we are doing a C-section. He goes off to call the anesthesiologist. About twenty minutes later he comes back in and says the anesthesologist is on his way. He sits down to do one more check as the nurses start prepping me for the c-section and gets the surprise of his life. I was at 10 cm and the head was crowning. S1 was born at 12:31 on July 5.</p>
<p>My theory is that S1 was not going to be rushed, but once he thought they were coming to get him he got up and got moving. It certainly fits with his personality.</p>
<p>Well, yeah, Jym- when you can’t feel it, it takes away some of the urge to push. But on the other hand, you don’t feel it.</p>
<p>Women who don’t get epidurals can’t NOT push the whole time, because they feel EVERYTHING.</p>
<p>thanks this helped me in college admissions greatly by distracting me from my BU app.</p>
<p>Funny lololu. I had a different experience in a similar vein. With my second, I was fully dilated, fully effaced, but Her Highness did not feel inclined to drop down (already six days late.) So we all sat around (okay well, I lay around in a lot of pain because that was my one birth with no pain meds) while she decided if she was interested in doing her part. I kept moving into different positions, etc. Finally, she got moving. The funny thing is that I spent her entire childhood trying to get that child to pick up the pace. She was never on my timeline.</p>
<p>The part that has always kind of freaked me out was the shot of morphin. At the time it seemed like the thing to do, but now when I think about it I think it is a strange thing to give to a woman in labor.</p>
<p>And son will eventually do what has to be done, but ALWAYS on his own schedule.</p>
<p>Last time my son was in a hurry to get anything done was when he was born. Last time he got something done before the due date, too.</p>