Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

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My husband and I are taking ante-natal classes at the hospital which are straight-forward, what to expect in the hospital classes for having your baby. They explain everything - pain relief options, how an epidural is done, what to expect, hospital procedures etc.

I was expecting a little more than what hospitak norms and procedures are - it actually left me uncomfortable.

I’ve been speaking to a practising midwife/doula and their take on hospital births are quite the opposite. Essentially, since I will be giving birth in hospital, what I understand is to go to the hospital as late as possible to avoid the pain relief, epidurals etc. Doulas and midwives also say that epidurals etc slow down baby’s movements, your contractions etc so they end up pumping you with more drugs and in many cases they claim the baby is in distress and now we need to go for a C.

Those in America may find this video interesting - The Business of Being Born
It’s a bit long and I haven’t watched the full video but you’ll get the gist in the first few minutes. The Business of Being Born - YouTube

As a first-time mum to be I’d appreciate opinions from mums’ hospitals experiences. :slight_smile:

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

I had epidurals (I’ve had 2 kids in the past 3 years) only because the pain was SO unbearable. My water broke both times so there was no way I could wait at home.
I was in labor for 26 hours with my first child and they had to put me on pitocin since the contractions weren’t strong enough. Anyone who’s been on pitocin know how bad the contractions get! :hayaa: I requested an epidural 10 hours in to it. Delivered vaginally and no side effects.
With my second I arrived at the hospital at 1am in the morning. Again, no contractions but water was broken so they put me on pitocin again. This time I KNEW how bad it would get and requested an epidural around 3am. I slept through the “labor” and delivered my son at 8am with 4 pushes and no tearing!! No side effects this time either.

I would say not to go into it with a plan. That way in case things don’t turn out the way you had planned it to you won’t be disappointed.
However, I’d love to give birth naturally without the help of pain relief once …

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Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

I agree with Wendy, don’t go in with any preconceived notions or expectations on how labor will be.

I was also induced with pitocin..I was told it would be 12-14 hours as it was my first baby…well my son was born under 4 hours (i slept through for pretty much most of it after they starter the pitocin) and I only had 4 pushes! The contractions wee so strong and came so fast I didn’t even have time for an epidural! No tears, no episiotomy..

It’s not necessary that epidurals will lead to csections…if you feel you need pain relief, I say take it by all means!

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

Ok, thanks for the advice on not going in with a strict plan, and also for letting me know of your stories. Thank God neither of you had episiotomies. They say if doctors were more patient, the baby would eventually come out…

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

Don’t go in with a plan.

From a medical persons POV.

Epidurals have been shown to prolong labour and result in more c-sections because of the way the pain releif works you cant always feel your contractions properly and they become weaker BUT this does not mean if you have an epidural you are doing something bad/wrong which will for sure result in harm. Doctors would in no way offer up epidurals if they caused harm.

British birthing practices and american ones are VERY different, most women here do not get epidurals and doctors/nurses discourage it and in america they encourage it quite a bit.

but then again vaginal births have their own pro’s and cons.

Just don’t be forced into anything either way, if you want an epidural great have one if you dont want one dont have one and if it gets too painful have one.

Birthing and labour is unpredictable so dont expect things go exactly to a plan.

Good luck.

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

i got an epidural and it made my delivery almost painless, but i had no idea how hard to push since i couldn’t feel my pushes; so i pushed for 4 hours and gave my self horrible tears. postpartum recovery was pretty bad. i couldn’t walk without getting the feeling that my ass would fall off any minute. and the epidural did kill my contractions, so i had to be put on meds to induce contractions but they were pretty slow even after i got the meds. the contractions were pretty close before i got the epidural. so i guess epidurals do have some negative side effects. oh and i couldn’t feel my legs for 12 hours after delivery.

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

^ Thanks for sharing your experience tranquil. I hope you’re fine now. Most women look back and think they could have had a better experience and I really think we should empower ourselves with being knowledgable enough to know what we want and put our trust in a healthcare provider that we’re comfortable with.

Inspiron, I know you can’t stick to a definite birth plan in most instances, but it is good to know what your options are and what is out there. Be as informed as possible. Most people don’t put much thought to it and think the healthcare system will have their best interests at heart. If a woman feels strongly about something she should be able to voice it.

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

I was so against c sections that I chose the midwife practice over OB/GYN office and wrote in my birth plan that I wanted to avoid csection and if it was needed, I wanted to consult with my husband at that time etc etc etc.

Guess what, I ended up with an emergency c section! all that for nothing!

I reached hospital ay 4 cm and made it to 8cm without any pain relief.. I was in back labor so I had pretty much no relief during contractions, I crashed on hospital floor as they encouraged walking through the contractions, I had a disc herniation during pregnancy that got worse during labor and my baby was sunny side up so the midwives had me on knees and hands to turn the baby over but no luck.. finally I asked for epidural, midwives tried to discourage me telling me I could do it since I was already 8 cm but I had been in labor for 36 hours at that time and I knew my body couldnt take it anymore.. I just gave up! Got the epi, few mins later, my blood pressure dropped drastically which pretty much slowed down baby’s heart beat. They broke my water to get things moving only to realize that baby hadnt even started moving down and didnt plan to do so anytime soon. they did everything they could to bring my blood pressure up and to take the baby out of distress but no luck.. they performed a c section on me! remember I said, I wanted to consult my husband as per my birth plan but I was sooo out of it that when the OB came to me and said we need to take the baby out right now and asked my husband to sign the waiver or whatever it was.. I understood nothing of it and just said, do whatever you need to do, just take care of the baby.. at that time honestly, if they wanted to cut me open without any pain relief to take him out, I would have said yes!

I later asked the docs if my csection was due to epi.. they assured me it wasnt the cause, baby wasnt progressing down and while they were turning me on my sides to bring the blood pressure up, at one point they felt like the cord was wrapped around baby’s neck and he had stopped breathing so they didnt waste a minute after that. Also, my husband told me that as soon as the midwife broke my water, she looked at the OB, and shook her head saying “no” and he was terrified for both me and the baby. the good thing about epi was that as soon as they decided to go for c section, they just increased the dose.. if I hadnt taken the epi and still needed the c section, it would have most likely the general anesthesia which would mean my husband had to stay out of the OR and I would have never seen the baby as soon as he came out so I considered that a blessing in disguise. :slight_smile:

I dont mean to horrify you but go in labor with an open mind and let the docs decide.. your health and the arrival of healthy baby is the key.Natural, VB with epid or C section, you dont end up with a medal later.. just your happy healthy baby that makes it all worth it.

Alhamdulillah I had a good recovery from c section except the belly pooch that never went away but its okay. welcome to the mommyhood :slight_smile:

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

They don’t claim, if the baby is in distress it shows on the monitor. I had epidural, however I had to proceed to a csection because my baby’s head was big and no amount of pushing would have help. After an hour of pushing they had to rush us as his heartbeat was in 40. Doctors would do what is best for you.

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

^ yep. My mom was out in the lobby and she heard the alarms go off at the nurse’s station when my baby’s heart beat dropped. She saw the nurses counting on the screen and saying three times in 10 secs.. she saw the docs rushing to our room from different areas of the L&D so it was pretty clear that they saw something on the monitor and not just wanted to do a csection on me. The hospital that I was at, had only 3% rate of c sections and emergency c sections- less than 0.5%! you can research the hospital policies and procedures as well. :slight_smile:

all aside, seriously you develop a bond with your doc during pregnancy and know they will decide whats best for you!After all they are the experts, not us. :slight_smile:

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

Definitely no plan- giving birth is so unpredictable despite knowing all the technicalities involved.

i was in labour for 15 hours after they broke my water and put me on pitocin. I took the epi at 3cms because contractions were so painful. I slept most of the 15 hours, woke up to a doctor announcing a c sec because the kid was stuck and not going to come out vagunally, no matter how much time they gave me.

here’s what I don’t like about midwives- they are so freaking militant about no pain relief whereas at the hospital, you still have the option to take it or forgo it. Over here, doctors do NOT advocate unnecessary c-sections ever. It is a risk, it is major aabdominal surgery and they stand to gain nothing from it PLUS they wouldn’t be very good doctors if they wrongly advised you anyway. My colleague gave birth on her living room floor because her midwife insisted she stay home as long as possible and then told her the hospital wouldn’t have room for her which, frankly, is total BS. No hhospital would turn away a woman iinactive labor. Turned me off the midwife experience even more.

No one should be taking away your choice of pain relief or making you feel bad about it while giving birth- trust me, you don’t get a medal of honour for not taking an epidural and you don’t walk around with a scarlet E on your chest either if you do take one. :wink:

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

awesome video cat-woman… thanks for sharing it

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Re: Epidurals and pain meds lead to vbacs, c-sections etc - your opinion

Thanks for your advice and opinions GTG and SGC :slight_smile: Definitely makes sense, but over here in private practice there is a lot of money to be made and a lot of time to be saved from c-sections so there is a greater incentive for Docs to do it. 85% rate of cesarians in private hospitals whereas in first world countries it is the other way round. I just trust and pray all goes well inshAllah :slight_smile:

Apple, np :slight_smile: