July 2013 Moms

Epidural question

I'm debating on getting one because I'm scared of how the loss of sensation / ability to move my legs will make me feel. The actual needle part doesnt worry me at all. Weird right? For those of you who have had one, how much control did you have over your body? Did you have any feeling? Could you move? Etc.. Thanks ladies :

Re: Epidural question

  • I had a low dose epi that I was in control of. I could still feel my legs and could even adjust positions in bed. I felt everything while pushing and while delivering. I even felt the doc stitching me up.


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  • Did it still help with pain even at a low dose?
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  • Yes.


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  • Thanks :
  • I could still feel my legs and move to reposition myself so I had a really good epidural experience.  I felt tons of painful pressure as I approached the pushing stage but it ended up working for me since I was able to push DS out in 20 minutes.  I know other people have some problems with being half numb and still feeling pain or being totally numb and not being able to push.  I guess it depends on your body and the amount of meds they add.  Talk with your doctor and see if they can give you a light dose at first if you are really nervous about it.  
  • imagemeimsx:
    I had a low dose epi that I was in control of. I could still feel my legs and could even adjust positions in bed. I felt everything while pushing and while delivering. I even felt the doc stitching me up.


    I know you live near me... What hospital were you at? We are using St. Luke's and the lady who gave the tour said they didn't offer low dose epi. I'm most likely having a c section, unless I go in the next week or two, so I'm curious
  • I had one and I was completely numb from the waist down. My contractions were so close together that the numbness did not bother me. It felt so nice to relax. I was able to push just fine, but did not have any pain. They shut it off once I delivered and I was up in 2 hours. If this baby flips and I can have a vaginal birth, I am definitely getting an epidural.
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  • klyannklyann member

    I could still feel my legs, and felt quite a bit during pushing, that part was actually painful, but probably not as bad if no epi.  I was given a button to increase the dosage if needed. 

    Just an FYI, make sure they put the epi in BEFORE they Cath you.

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  • imagenew2011mommy:
    I had one and I was completely numb from the waist down. My contractions were so close together that the numbness did not bother me. It felt so nice to relax. I was able to push just fine, but did not have any pain. They shut it off once I delivered and I was up in 2 hours. If this baby flips and I can have a vaginal birth, I am definitely getting an epidural.
    This. I was having contractions back to back that they were actually worrying they might need to slow down my labor for babys sake. But I'd gotten a dose from the anesthesiologist just before they decided it was time for pushing so they had to actually tell me when I was having contractions. I was not complaining about that after 17 hours of labor.
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  • imagenotaffected1:
    imagemeimsx:
    I had a low dose epi that I was in control of. I could still feel my legs and could even adjust positions in bed. I felt everything while pushing and while delivering. I even felt the doc stitching me up.
    I know you live near me... What hospital were you at? We are using St. Luke's and the lady who gave the tour said they didn't offer low dose epi. I'm most likely having a c section, unless I go in the next week or two, so I'm curious

    I was at St. Joseph's. I'll be delivering there again. I would think any SSM hospital would be the same. 



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  • Once my epi was in they gave me what looked like a game show buzzer, and i pushed it every time i felt pain and wanted more medicine (i was pushing that thing like crazy). So hopefully you have that and can control the dosage. Even with me pushing the crap out of the button, my legs didn't feel weird at all. But even if they had, I would have kept up the meds because the contractions were so awful.
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  • I've had the epi with both my births. The first time, I was numb from my uterus down. I couldn't really move my legs that well but I really didn't care because it took away all my pain from back labor and I slept for 6 hours until I was fully dilated. I could feel massive pressure when it was time to push but no pain. I had no problem pushing and focused on how it would feel to push to have a BM. It worked really well. Right after they took the epi out, I started getting feeling back and was able to stand to shower within about 2 hours which didn't seem like long since I bf'ed for a while and all the other stuff they needed to do to clean me up took a while.

    My second time, the epi only numbed a small spot on my right hip!! It didn't affect my legs or anything at all and obviously didn't work. The burning pain from my son crowning and contractions was worse for me than not being able to love my legs for a couple hours, but that's just my feeling on the whole thing! Lol. I will definitely be getting the epi this time again if all goes well. It was so nice to be able to relax and focus on te excitement rather than the pain, with my first!
  • imageklyann:
    I could still feel my legs, and felt quitenbsp;a bitnbsp;during pushing, that part was actually painful, but probably not as bad if no epi.nbsp; I was given a button to increase the dosage if needed.nbsp; Just an FYI, make sure they put the epi in BEFORE they Cath you.


    Catheter?? If I get an epidural do I have to have a catheter? Never even thought about this, and it didnt even cross my mind to ask during my birthing classes. This may sound silly,but I am absolutely petrified of catheters and I've never had one!
  • imageDaizy0628:
    imageklyann:
    I could still feel my legs, and felt quitenbsp;a bitnbsp;during pushing, that part was actually painful, but probably not as bad if no epi.nbsp; I was given a button to increase the dosage if needed.nbsp; Just an FYI, make sure they put the epi in BEFORE they Cath you.


    Catheter?? If I get an epidural do I have to have a catheter? Never even thought about this, and it didnt even cross my mind to ask during my birthing classes. This may sound silly,but I am absolutely petrified of catheters and I've never had one!


    Yes you have to get one but its NBD. You can't get up to walk so won't be able to go to the bathroom. I was scared too but you don't feel it because you're frozen. And it is honestly so nice not to have to pee all the time for once! Lol
  • By the time I had one I was well over 24 hours into labor without any real sleep so I could honestly care less if I felt anything at that point. I just wanted to sleep. During the pushing phase, which was 7-8 hours after getting the epi, I could feel the contractions though they weren't painful until I was pushing him out. I think they must have turned it down during the sleep/before pushing.
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  • Maybe you should wait to see how you feel at the moment since you have a) no idea what labor is like and b) don't know how much you can tolerate and c) loss of sensation might be the greatest thing in the world in comparison to feeling like your body is being ripped apart.
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  • imagepgermain11:
    Maybe you should wait to see how you feel at the moment since you have a) no idea what labor is like and b) don't know how much you can tolerate and c) loss of sensation might be the greatest thing in the world in comparison to feeling like your body is being ripped apart.

    Honestly I can understand where the OP is coming from. I have a big fear of immobility and claustrophobia. If I feel trapped or something it's an issue for me. Being able to feel my legs and change positions seriously helped me. I don't know how I would have reacted if I didn't feel like I had some type of control. No matter how little I ended up having in reality I felt like I had SOME. Does that make sense?



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  • It was wonderful! 
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  • I had an IV epidural. I couldn't feel a thing below my boobs, couldn't move, And I had a catheter. Honestly, I could have cared less, I was just thrilled that I couldn't feel the contractions. Before I got it, I was curled up in the fetal position in a lot of pain. I didn't want to walk it out or sit on a ball. That's just me.
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