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Multiples
No epidural as a FTM of multiples?
Did any of you have twins without an epidural as FTMs? If so, can you tell me a little about your experience?
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Re: No epidural as a FTM of multiples?
I had no epidural with my twins. They had been vertex/vertex since about 18 weeks, so my OB reluctantly agreed to let me bypass the epidural. He broke my water on baby A at 7:45am and almost immediately I started having strong contractions about 2 minutes apart (I was ~5cm dilated when he broke my water, but still wasn't in active labor). I just closed my eyes, tried to get in as comfortable a position as I could find and breathe with them. My husband and mom were there and they were both great at reminding me to breathe and stay calm. At some point my OB came back in to check on me, but I don't know what time it was. He just basically poked his head in and said he'd check back in later. I was having a pretty big contraction so I hardly remember him being there at all.
At around 9:15am I asked my nurse to check me because the contractions were right on top of each other and they were BAD. Well, she checked me and I had not progressed at ALL. I broke down at that point and asked for the consent for the epidural. I signed it, and we waited for the anesthesiologist, but after about 5 minutes my contractions didn't stop at all and I started feeling the urge to push. The pain was something that I can not describe. It was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life and it was really hard to stay calm. As a matter of fact, I failed at that and I was howling in pain. Asking for the cervix check completely destroyed my focus (and the dumb thing was that I knew better!!).
Anyway, when I said I felt like I needed to push the nurse told me she wanted to check me again. She checked me and just told her aide to get my OB on the phone NOW. I had dilated from 4-5cm to 10cm in about 15 minutes. As a matter of fact, she later told me that when she checked me the 2nd time she FELT me dilate from 7-10cm while she was checking me. I was begging to push and they were begging me to wait for the doctor. By the time he walked in Baby A was already very low in the birth canal and close to crowning. He immediately sat down and started working on massaging my perineum with oil and warm towels.The contractions were still right on top of each other, literally, and I was pushing with each contraction.
I, of course felt baby A's head when it popped out, and after one more push baby A was out! It was 10:07am. I heard that amazing first cry and the next thing I heard was the sound of my husband's voice telling me that our firstborn child was a son (we were team green). Unfortunately, my contractions were really slowing down so, I literally got to hold him for about 2 minutes before they took him to do all of his well baby checkups with the NICU team.
I got busy pushing again, but my contractions were, like I mentioned slowing rapidly. Also, another very discouraging thing that happened is that it labor moved into my back. Trying to push out baby B was pretty difficult work. My doctor went ahead and had them give me a dose of Pitocin to try and stimulate my uterus (the only one I had during my induction), but after several minutes it was obvious that baby B was going to need a little help. Although my labor was so very fast, it had still hit me like a ton of bricks. The whole theory of approaching child labor as a marathon was not at all helpful in my case. I definitely should've at least prepared for the contingency that could possibly turn into a sprint, especially considering I was waaaay out of shape when I got pregnant and had just been on bedrest for 10 weeks. OK, so bottom line is that I pushed and pushed with no real progress, and when my OB asked my permission for him to assist with the vacuum I said YES! 2 more pushes and lot of pain later, DH told me that our stubborn little baby B was a little girl. It was 10:40am. She were born with a lot of mucous, but in no distress. Of course we had her looked over by the NICU folks, and she was just fine, but as it turns out she was born sunny side up. That's what caused the back labor and all that additional time between births.
Bottom line...if I had it to do over again I wouldn't change a thing because I really wanted to experience childbirth without medication, BUT if I have another baby down the road I'll be asking to sign the consent form for the epidural before the pee on my pregnancy test is dry. Haha!! I don't know if I'd feel differently if my labor had been longer, but it being so short really was NOT the awesome blessing everyone thinks it was. It was the most horrible pain I've ever experienced. I didn't know it was possible to have that much pain. Dilating 5cm in 15 minutes was pretty bad and I also bled a LOT because the labor was so fast. My OB said an epidural likely would've slowed my labor down and made it safer. He said in his 25 years of delivering babies he's only had a handful of women deliver that fast on their first baby and he didn't recall ever having a FTM of twins deliver in less than 3 hours like I did.
Exactly this.
As long as Baby A is in any position but breech (he can be frank breech though) I am allowed to labor anyway I want (e.g., shower, walking the halls, birthing stool, etc.) with as little or as much medical intervention as I want. No mandatory OR for labor or delivery.
My MFM is the 24/7 on-call OB for my midwifery practice and 'hovers' at all multiples births just in case. He has encouraged me to bring food to eat during labor and said if an emergency arises there will be enough time to have everything set for surgery with the safe delivery of my twins with a 'family-centered surgical birth' (i.e., not tying my hands down, drape at any level I want, and babies delivered to my chest assuming no medical emergencies for the babies).
I did! Both babies were head down, which partly influenced my decision. I also have a previous back injury, and my orthopedic surgeon recommended not getting an epidural. The anesthesiologist and one resident doctor tried to bully me into attempting one, but ultimately I refused.
I was induced with pitocin at 1pm, and it took 5 hours for me to dilate from 5cm to 6cm. I was totally comfortable during those 5 hours. They fully broke Baby A's water at 6pm, and then it was game on! Back to back contractions that were manageable, but my back pain was just out of this world. The nurse decided to back me off pitocin completely. I went from 6cm to fully dilated in 3 hours. They wheeled me to the OR, scooted me over to the table and out came Baby A 25 minutes later and Baby B 6 minutes after that. I don't have anything to compare it to, but I would say my labor was easy and apparently kind of short for a FTM. I felt great afterwards.
If you choose not to get an epidural, you are risking being put under general anesthesia in case of emergency. You certainly have to come to terms with that possibility before you go into labor.
Yes, agree 100%. I flat out told my OB that I was not going to be bullied into an epidural if both of my babies were head down. He kept telling me he'd have to put me under general anesthesia if there was an emergency, and I was fine with that. The risk was very low, and we went for it. I was prepared for it to go the other way, though.
Also, I should add that when it came time for me to deliver, he was so sure nothing was going to go awry he didn't even wheel me into the OR.
I also agree. I knew in advance a vaginal delivery was not in the cards. (my guys loved to be transverse and breech and didn't budge). But I would probably have made the same decision as you.
I agree with this statement too, however, I just had my babies 2 days ago on 11/8. I opted for an epidural that was in place and turned on. Had my baby A vaginally with no problems or pain. Baby B had to be delivered by emergency csection yes, I got the dreaded double whammy AND because I could very clearly feel the test poke and there was no time to wait for a higher dose of epi...I was put totally under. So unfortunately, even with an epidural, these things can still happen :