epidural?

mpstochlinski8

found out we're having twins at the first appointment, when I asked if I'd still be able to deliver naturally and vaginally like I had hoped for I was told they strongly recomend an epidural incase there was a problem and they had to do a c-section otherwise I'd have to be put under which is riskier and of course I won't actually remember the birth. I'm very bummed to hear this, I have always thought that unless there was a problem, I'd try like heck to have a natural child birth. I'm curious if anyone else was told the same thing or if any of you have gone with out the epideral and just had a natrual birth? would love to hear your stories,thanks for sharing. I have plenty of time to think about this but I feel like doc knows best even if its not what I prefer.

OrangeSmoke

You don't have to have an epidural - but most doctors will insist you get the catheter in (but not put any meds in it) just in case you need a c section in a hurry.

McKenna04

OrangeSmoke:

You don't have to have an epidural - but most doctors will insist you get the catheter in (but not put any meds in it) just in case you need a c section in a hurry.

This.  I wasn't really a fan of the idea of getting an epidural so the doctor just put in the catheter (in case we would have done a c-section) and about 3 hours later I was begging them to numb me because I was having the worst back labor. 

schoolsoutbride

Mine would have let me labor without an epidural or a catheter placed (the idea that you can place it but not have the drugs isn't really true as they have to put some drugs in it to find out if it is in the right place).  I just had to agree that in a true emergency, there may be no time for a spinal to be placed and I'd get a general if there were problems with baby B.

The chances of needing a double whammy and it being such an emergency that there was no time for a spinal were slim, so I was fine with that. I was also fine with a breech extraction with no drugs, which is something else to think about.  It involves the OB reaching in and grabbing baby B by the feet.

In the end, my baby A was breech, so I had to have a c-section anyway

macchiatto

My OB was open to the idea of me not having an epidural (just, like pp said, you run the risk of needing to be completely knocked out) though he did recommend it. We really talked through the pros and cons and I ended up deciding I would most likely get one though I wanted to try laboring as long as possible without one. I was handling the contractions fine on just Pitocin but after the dr broke Baby A's water, the contrax became very strong and fast, right on top of each other, so there was no time to regroup in between so I ended up asking for an epidural. I had to wait 2 hrs to get it, and then was ready to push 2 hrs after that. Baby B flipped to breech at some point during labor so I ended up needing a breech extraction. Because of that I was very glad I had the epidural!

Darcie Elicia

I feel like you right now.  It's so disheartening!  Just be glad your doc told you this so early.  I have been working with midwives who just transferred me to an OB at 28 weeks and now I'm learning all of this.  Super frustrating...

caden

I had an epidural places b/c of the possibility of a breech extraction and needing to turn Baby B (aversion I think?) in addition to the c/s risks. But they kept it very low so I still felt everything. I just looked at it as minimizing risks. But yeah you don't HAVE to get one.

Jeffsgurl86

schoolsoutbride:

Mine would have let me labor without an epidural or a catheter placed (the idea that you can place it but not have the drugs isn't really true as they have to put some drugs in it to find out if it is in the right place).  I just had to agree that in a true emergency, there may be no time for a spinal to be placed and I'd get a general if there were problems with baby B.

The chances of needing a double whammy and it being such an emergency that there was no time for a spinal were slim, so I was fine with that. I was also fine with a breech extraction with no drugs, which is something else to think about.  It involves the OB reaching in and grabbing baby B by the feet.

In the end, my baby A was breech, so I had to have a c-section anyway

 

All of this, but especially the bold letters.  I really want a med free delivery, and my doctor's open to it.  But, they can't just have the catheter in place with nothing going to it.  They have to do a "trial dosing" to make sure it is working effectively.  Also, if you were to let it wear of completely by the time of delivery and something were to go wrong with baby B, it would take over 15 minutes to get the epidural going again.  So, if it were to be an emergency situation you would end up with general anesthesia  for the c-section anyway.  I had a "sit-down" with an anesthesiologist at my delivering hospital and this is the info she gave me.

I've decided to just go for the med-free vaginal delivery and take the risk of maybe ending up with general if I needed the emergancy c-section.  I'm due in about 4 weeks so I'll let you know how it goes! :-)

mpstochlinski8

Thank you all so much for the helpful info! I think I'll talk it over more with my doc and really explore options, maybe the catheter idea? Glad I have lots of time to figure it out though!

Good luck to those of you who haven't delivered yet hope it goes nice and smooth for you!