When I had DS, the epi was continuous and all I had to do was hit a little button to get more (couldn't overdose). On some of the birth stories lately, they've been talking how their epi ran out and they had to give them another dose...did I miss something? How is that possible? Just curious!
Re: Epi Question...for those that have had them
Elijah Matthew - 5/3/07 ~ Adalyn Rosemary - 3/23/11
*Photos by Kacy Cierley*
It must just differ from hospital to hosptal. Scares me to think that it could run out! lol I def. hit it before I started pushing and could still move my legs and everything...but could not feel pressure or pain. AMAZING!
I couldn't self medicate with mine either. I got my epi just shortly before I ended up getting my c-section so I have no idea if it would have run out or how it was controlled.
I was terrified about getting it before I was in labor, but once I got there it was such a breeze and I was thankful to have it!
I had no control over mine either.
They put mine too high and my vagina wasn't numb at all but my neck and chest were so I had problems breathing. I, however, felt everything down there. I would have had them just take it out but I was in active labor for so long that I couldn't. It did run out just as they were about to stitch me up but it didn't even matter because, like I said, they missed the mark and numbed the wrong place.
I had planned on not getting an epidural, but I had back labor, and by the time I was at 4 cm and ready to be admitted, I was shaking like a leaf, so I requested one. It was good for about a 3 hour nap, which I guess was nice, but I woke up because it was starting to wear off. I started pressing the nurse button, but no one had told me that the one on the bed didn't work and to use the other one, so that didn't do me any good. I tried waking my husband, but he's half deaf and sleeps like the dead, so no luck there, at least until his phone alarm went off a little while later and I sent him out to the nurse's station. In the meantime, I was hitting the button for more every time I had a contraction, but I had maxed it out already. Anyway, he lets them know, and they can't get the anesthesiologist for another hour. I get another dose, it makes no difference, time to push, have the baby. I remember feeling like I needed to push while the anesthesiologist was still there. I could feel most of it. After, the [on-call] doctor asks me if I'm still numb down there, but I didn't understand what he said, and he didn't repeat himself, so he proceeds to stitch me up. I barely made a peep through labor and delivery, but I busted out with "MOTHERF*CKER!" during the last stitch. Not a pleasant experience.
Turns out, all of the medicine was somehow funneled into my left leg. It took hours for the feeling to come back, and I couldn't move it at all. Numbness in the genital area was spotty. I could feel the urge to pee during recovery, but I couldn't physically make myself pee for a long time.
I don't think I'll be getting another epidural. Applying pressure to my back really helped before the epidural, but after it wore off, I couldn't do that because I had a needle in my spine. So I just had to lay there and take it. In the grand scheme of things, the little nap in the middle wasn't worth it. I think it slowed down the labor, anyway, because I was dilating quickly before, dilated 1 cm during those 3 hours, and then went from 5 to 8 to 10 in just a couple of hours after I woke up.
I'm sure they're just great when they work, though.
(slightly rambling here and not meaning to scare anyone....)
My epi was just a shot, they didn't leave the tube in me and they injected it off-center, so just as my son was crowning, I re-gained full feeling in my left side while my right remained completely, couldn't move a musle, numb. At that point, there was not time for more painkillers. I made it through the rest of the delivery without too much pain, but screamed like heck when the doc reached for the scissors to do an episiotomy...lol. I was really scared I was going to feel the cutting, but I didn't feel that part and barely felt the stitches afterwards. The next day I had severe back pain though. I was initially told it was bruising from where the injection was made. 3 years later and 3 doctors later, it was finally confirmed that I had torn a ligament in my spine due to the un-even pressure applied during labor.
Despite all that, I have spoken to my OB about painkillers and I've decided to have another epi. He told me to make sure I remember to talk to the anesthesiologist before they do mine this time and to try not to worry about it. He told me to explain what happened to me and show/tell the anesthesiologist where the scar tissue is from the torn ligament, so he can make adjustments to the injeciton if needed. (I really trust my new OB and the hospital I will be delivering in this time; they've delivered 5 kids between my 2 older sisters and 2 of those births were emergency c-sections, all of which were handled amazingly well).
I still worry sometimes, but, I really don't think I would have survived the almost 12 hours of labor I endured without it.
That is exactly how mine was both times. With my first son I told them it ran out and the dr didn't believe me. By the time she was finally willing to give me more it was too late. I felt everything. With my 2nd the epi was aaaamazing!