Epidural Vs Spinal: pros and cons

roiko411

I had an epidural with my first since I went thro' labor then ended up with a C-section. The epidural wore off before they were done stitching me up and it hurt!! I'll have a RCS and am not sure which one I'll get.

Which one did you get? Do you prefer one over the other? If so which one and why?

Also, how long did it take to wear off?

Please feel free to share any info you might have.

Thanks!

FebruaryMom2012

  I had same experience as pp. Spinal was awesome and no pain for hours and hours.

 

JLDillon17

I had a spinal and loved it. No problems whatsoever.  I had DD at 2:30 in the afternoon and was up and moving at 8:00 that night. 

LanaLoves

quinncat:

I had a spinal (I've never had an epidural so can't compare.)  I loved it.  It took effect instantly.  I didn't feel any pain during surgery.  I didn't need pain medication for over 12 hours.  In recovery I could wiggle my toes a little.  Don't remember when I could totally move again, but my hospital policy is that you can't get up for 12 hours after a spinal.  

THIS.

I heard its way better. Smaller needle, less painful.

kjj834

Another vote for spinal!  I really didn't feel much going in, and it took effect immediately.  During the surgery, they said I would feel tugging, but I didn't even feel that.  During recovery my feet were tingly, and I could move them but I didn't want to.  It felt like when your legs fall asleep, and I hate that feeling. 

Daisy22

I had an epi with my emergency c/s and rcs. My hospital automatcially does an epi b/c they change it to a pain pump during the c/s. You get the pain pump for 24 hours. I would guess if you had a medical reason they would do the spinal but I much prefer to have my pain pump afterwards.

pitterpatter129

An epi goes into the epidural space in your spine.  A spinal actually pierces through the membrane of your spinal cord and delivers medication into the spinal fluid.  Sometimes these cause spinal headaches...  I think an epi sounds safer personally and after watching the video showing the procedures, I never want a spinal!  I had an epi and it was fabulous.

krzynluv1031

I ended up getting both.  They turned off my epi before I started pushing (pushed for two hours) so by the time i needed the unscheduled C-section, they just give me the spinal.  The spinal was instant and look longer to wear off, which was great.  The only thing is that I was shaking the entire time I was on it.

shouldbworkin

My spinal was way better than my epi, which also wore off during unplanned c/s.  The spinal was quick, effective and lasted about 6-8 hours.  I was up and walking by 6 pm that night. 

pepomntpat

I had a spinal. It worked very quickly and wore off relatively quickly as well. I can't remember exactly how long I was numb, but I could wiggle my toes within a few hours and was up the next morning.

I had no issues with it, other than shaking pretty violently right after the surgery. 

cottonlily84

I had a spinal, never had an epi so nothing to compare it to.  It didn't work right - dr had to wait to even begin - and was significantly wearing off as soon as DD was out.  I could feel the dr cleaning me out, pulling things back together and it hurt.  I was wobbly but up going to NICU to see DD in about 3 hours (seriously it wore off FAST).  It made my BP bottom out and they gave me something counteractive that made me feel crazy.  Now I had 2 other spinals during pregnancy and other than one bad spinal headache and the shakes most everyone get had no problems either time.  What I'm thinking with an epi is if you need more meds can't they can give you more?  With a spinal it's either endure or be put to sleep because you don't have the catheter in your back. 

roiko411

Thanks for the responses!!! I just wanted to be mentally ready both coz I dont know which one I'll get.

lucyloo10

My Epidural did not take. I needed a CS after 3 hours of pushing and had to be knocked out b/c I could still "feel" and was not numb. I'm planning on having a Spinal for a RCS.

jjhp2018

My c-sec was more of an emergency one and they gave me a spinal. They said it was quicker and relief was instant for me. I chose not to labor with an epi so when we decided c-sec was the way we had to go I was ready to be done with pain lol.

I didn't have any troubles out of it but I did complain that well into the next day I have no feeling at all in parts of my legs. They were completely still numb in those spots. There was a period of time we started to worry but eventually the feeling came back.

julygirl22

During my first delivery, I had my daughter naturally.  The epidurals never worked, even after they repositioned the needle, I could feel it was trying to work, but it never took the edge off the pain I was experiencing.  Just to give you a background of the pain I was in, I ended up with a 3rd degree tear (end to end), a broken tailbone, 24 hours of labor, and a delivery of a breached baby.  THE 2nd time around, I'm INSISTING on a Spinal.  I had to finally get one to deliver my first child after the excruciating pain.   It took 2 months of healing time (not to mention it took 8 months for sex to feel normal). The spinal I know can make the baby a little lethargic.  But hey, it's better that you don't suffer if the epidural does not work in the middle of the surgery.  It's just crazy to open up someone without some kind of pain meds but to me, the epidural was a joke.  About 20 years ago they took out the local anesthesia ingredient in the epidural dosage, so it's not the same as when your Mother gave birth.  With a major surgery in my path, I'm not even going to give the epidural a second look. 

  

crystaleyes39

I wasn't even offered an epideral w/ my c section. i was given a spinal and had no problems. The shot itself did not hurt and the numbing was pretty fast and not as scary as I thought it would be. I agree w/ previous posts that the only negative was the shaking it causes...like uncontrolable shivers, but that goes away fairly quick after the surgery.

salsa_wifey

I had the epidural the first time because it was not a planned c-section.  Mine started to wear off during surgury so I told them and they upped my dose.  It was not that big of a deal because I told them as soon as I started to feel something so it wasn't all that painful.

This time I don't get a choice.  With a scheduled c-section they do a spinal.  I'm told it wears off much faster.