epidurals and pain

[Linda]

been today to see the anesthesiologist at the hospital.

he tells me that due to my bmi i have a 1 in 5 chance of needing a section and would prefer me to have an epidural as soon as possible once labour starts.

now i dont have an issue with the pain relief as such now having spoken to the anesthesiologist and hes explained to to me more than the stupid m/w i saw last time.

He has examined my back and spine and said that he was impressed as there wasnt as much 'fat' around my spine as he would have thought, so the epidural itself wouldnt be a problem. and my general health and my pregnancy itself is going great guns.

i want to know how much the epidural itself hurts and how long it will take coz i dont think i could stay still long enough to have it done i dont do very well with needles at the best of times but the thought of someone sticking me in the spine really knocks me sick.

 

[mary70]

it takes a few minutes to do hun and once you have the injection to freeze your back which is a little sting it doesnt hurt at all and works within a couple of mins, but i have a ver high bmi and never had epidural early and was never advised too, i only had epidural after 12 hours with my dd because i needed a csection because she got stuck due to her size

 

[Redshoes]

All I would say Linda is that you've had a lovely pregnancy so far, so don't be too concerned with the need to have drug intervention, just wait and see, its a common misconception that larger ladies need intervention, the only real time larger ladies need 'extra' intervention is if they need physically moving into a certain position I did have an epidural, but got through about 75hrs without, and did OK I had a long labour and found the epidural quite uncomfortable.

I do hope you have a look at this article, and websites, they have very positive birth experiences there, and I think after a visit to someone who most likely ONLY sees one side of birth, it might be worth a look But deciding to have an epidural or not is a personal choice, not a statistic, all births are unique, very best wishes

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/lrgmoms.html
http://www.homebirth.org.uk/ *I know this is a homebirth site but it has LOADS of positive advice and experience Check out the 'You can't have a homebirth because..' link and look for the 'overweight' link.

 

[Linda]

Thank you,

those articles are really good, thank you for for the links. i have plenty to think about now.

 

[gems]

It doesn't hurt babe just more of a little sting and it doesn't take long. I think mine took a bit longer as he had to keep stopping as I was getting loads of contractions with not much break in between them. xxxx

 

[Squiglet]

Linda... PM Valentine... Shes one of the mods...

I was reading this..

http://www.pregnancyforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=57591

Apparently she has been through a very similar experience and she had a fantastic natural home birth in the end.

 

[Beany]

Removed due to deciding too personal for public viewing

 

[Marijana FC]

I had epidural after 12 hours of very strong and painful contractions so it was really difficult to sit still through all that pain. However, because of the contractions I barely felt any pain from the needle while they were putting epidural in - and I am terrible when it comes to needles!
It didn't take long to put it in but unfortunately for me epidural didn't work. I was one of those 5% cases in which epidural doesn't work. - fingers crossed you don't belong to this category!

 

[batgirl3111]

I had an epidural and it was fantastic. I was really struggling as my waters broke and contractions came very suddenly so i was in a bit of shock and the epidural made all the difference for me. Actually having the epidural was fine as I was really concentrating on the contractions and was so excited at the idea of having some pain relief. Don't worry about having to have an epidural as it doesn't take long to do and the relief it gives is well worth it.

 

[valentine]

Linda... PM Valentine... Shes one of the mods...

I was reading this..

http://www.pregnancyforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=57591

Apparently she has been through a very similar experience and she had a fantastic natural home birth in the end.

Ooooh that's me! Hey Linda (and thanks Squiglet)!

I was a size 20/22 pre-pregnancy (and after!) with a booking in BMI of 40. I had a trouble free pain relief free happy home birth and would recommend seeing how you do without pain relief for as long as you can as it feels very empowering. As far as I understand it, an early epidural is recommended if you have a BMI over 35 (in my PCT anyway), but it is definitely NOT impossible to administer if you decide on a 'later' epidural.

Having an epidural or any pain relief, as Redshoes says, is a really personal choice - but please make sure you make any decision with a full understanding of all the facts, and don't be bullied into doing anything because its 'procedure' or are bullied into it.

Good luck and please PM me if you'd like any more info.

Valentine Xxx