epidural

jessicanicole114 · January 2014

36 weeks and cant wait for my little one to be here! what kind of side effects does the epidural give off? this is my first time and i get a lot of bad headaches. and the last time i got anesthesia, it made me horribly sick afterwards. does the epidural have the same type of effect? i really dont want to be sick after having my babygirl thanks !

gobbo1985 · January 2014

Your should really do some research on epidurals. Some people do say they get head ache after getting one and the recovery time is also longer than having a natural birth. And I've also heard some women do get sick from the epidural.

https://www.babycenter.com/0_epidural-pain-relief-for-labor_1489911.bc?page=2

mysticl · January 2014

Also, sometimes they don't work. My first one numbed my legs but I could still feel every contraction and they were coming right on top of each other. They placed a second epidural which did work but they told me it was possible that it wouldn't.

iverske9 · January 2014

Unfortunately just like anything else medical it varies from person to person. I had no issues at all with my epidural. It worked perfectly (I could not feel pain but could wiggle my toes) and had no after effects. Other women have had headaches, etc.

Just like c-sections, some of my girlfriends recovered quickly while others slower. Go online and do a little research but do remember Dr. Google will scare the crap out of you, lol.

Good luck with your LO

cMichelle0423 · January 2014

I'd talk to your OB about it. For me, I didn't really have any issues. After the unbind wore off I felt fine. My legs felt like jello whenever I tried to walk, which was about an hour after they took out the epidural.

About a week later though, I had some back pain which was around where they put in the catheter. But that wore off about a month later and the pain was pretty tolerable. Either way, good luck.

dunvilles · January 2014

I agree with PP's, you need to discuss this with your doctor. It is like with any medication/procedure. The effects are wide and vary by person.

That said, my epidural experience was AWESOME! No issues here and I plan to have one with this pregnancy as well.

PrimRoseMama · January 2014

First I loved my epidural & would get it again for #3. Baby #1 was a med free birth.

Side effects for me:
Shaking to the point it looks troublesome

Spinal headaches

Numbness in my lower back & butt off/on for a couple of weeks

Millie1984 · January 2014

Everyone is different. If you typically have uncomfortable side effects from anesthesia, then that is obviously something to factor into your decision of whether an epidural is for you.

My experience, personally, was positive. I was in labor for 13 hours. I was able to feel enough to know when to push, but the epidural helped a great deal with the pain (I do not handle pain well). I did not experience any negative side effects and I will be getting one next time as well.

bumpuser9058414 · January 2014

Agree with PP, everyone is different but I had zero bad side effects from mine and will be getting one with #2 as well.

YummeeCookee · January 2014

Mine was great during the initial contractions. I was even able to get a small nap in! However, it all seemed to magically fade away and not work at all during the pushing stage, so I felt everything - the most excruciating, terrible pain that I can only describe as true agony. As far as lingering side effects, just a very sore back. My mid and lower back was sore for at least a week. In the first few days, it was very difficult to bet out of bed on my own or even scoot to a more elevated position for BFing. Would i get an epidural again? Yes.

mysticl · January 2014

YummeeCookee said:

Mine was great during the initial contractions. I was even able to get a small nap in! However, it all seemed to magically fade away and not work at all during the pushing stage, so I felt everything - the most excruciating, terrible pain that I can only describe as true agony. As far as lingering side effects, just a very sore back. My mid and lower back was sore for at least a week. In the first few days, it was very difficult to bet out of bed on my own or even scoot to a more elevated position for BFing. Would i get an epidural again? Yes.

It's possible the nurses turned it down. The nurses as my childbirth class told us they will sometimes turn the epidural down because it gets in the way of the mother feeling when to push.

ktpaladino · January 2014

My epidural was fabulous and made birth a piece of cake for me, but you'll probably get a lot of varying opinions on this. I had no problems with sickness or headaches afterwards, only some pretty intense swelling/fluid retention. It also could have contributed to some nursing problems, as I had a very sleepy baby that would not stay awake to latch or nurse the first few days. (He was also three weeks early which I'm sure had something to do with it as well) I went in wanting to do a natural birth but I progressed so quickly (from 1-5 cm in about 45 min) that I was in shock over the sudden severity of the contractions, so elected for the epi. This time around I would like to try to go natural as well, but would not hesitate to get another epidural if need be.

YummeeCookee · January 2014

mysticl said:

YummeeCookee said:

Mine was great during the initial contractions. I was even able to get a small nap in! However, it all seemed to magically fade away and not work at all during the pushing stage, so I felt everything - the most excruciating, terrible pain that I can only describe as true agony. As far as lingering side effects, just a very sore back. My mid and lower back was sore for at least a week. In the first few days, it was very difficult to bet out of bed on my own or even scoot to a more elevated position for BFing. Would i get an epidural again? Yes.

It's possible the nurses turned it down. The nurses as my childbirth class told us they will sometimes turn the epidural down because it gets in the way of the mother feeling when to push.

Possibly? They were well aware that I was in a lot of pain and didnt mention having changed the dosage. The anesthesiologist who initially set it up did say she would make it a low dosage - a walking epidural, she called it. I just thought it was weird that in the beginning I felt nothing yet towards the end, felt everything.

mysticl · January 2014

YummeeCookee said:

mysticl said:

YummeeCookee said:

Mine was great during the initial contractions. I was even able to get a small nap in! However, it all seemed to magically fade away and not work at all during the pushing stage, so I felt everything - the most excruciating, terrible pain that I can only describe as true agony. As far as lingering side effects, just a very sore back. My mid and lower back was sore for at least a week. In the first few days, it was very difficult to bet out of bed on my own or even scoot to a more elevated position for BFing. Would i get an epidural again? Yes.

It's possible the nurses turned it down. The nurses as my childbirth class told us they will sometimes turn the epidural down because it gets in the way of the mother feeling when to push.

Possibly? They were well aware that I was in a lot of pain and didnt mention having changed the dosage. The anesthesiologist who initially set it up did say she would make it a low dosage - a walking epidural, she called it. I just thought it was weird that in the beginning I felt nothing yet towards the end, felt everything.

The nurses in my class made it seem like they don't tell the mother when they do that. As for what you are describing it makes sense. You weren't feeling anything at the lower intensity of pain but when the intensity increased as your labor progressed then the low dose epidural wasn't enough to combat it. When my second epidural finally kicked in I didn't feel anything, but when they started pitocin the next morning I started to feel pain again because the contractions became more intense. I'm curious as to why you would get another one because my interpretation is that it sounds like you had a negative experience.

YummeeCookee · January 2014

I would get an epidural again because when it was working, it was awesome. I didn't feel the contractions at all. So at least I got that benefit from it.

DTNZ4Ever · January 2014

The only side effect I had was that I couldn't feel the top if my left theigh for a couple of days after giving birth.

TexasGirl81 · January 2014

mysticl said:
Also, sometimes they don't work. My first one numbed my legs but I could still feel every contraction and they were coming right on top of each other. They placed a second epidural which did work but they told me it was possible that it wouldn't.

This! Minus the second epi. That damn epi did not work for me. I had no side effects.

Chichigo · January 2014

I didn't get an epidural, and personally did fine without it. But I agree with all of the PPs who said to talk to your OB. When I said I didn't want one, my doctor took time to discuss it with me to make sure I didn't have irrational fears from other people's horror stories. If you know the type of anesthesia you had an unfavorable reaction to in the past, that will help your doctor advise you of benefits and risks involved with different types of pain relief.

Ashleypixie · January 2014

Really bad shakes as it wore off, but didn't last long. And TERRIBLE spinal headaches. But those are very very rare. Ultimately, it was the greatest thing ever. Felt everything BUT pain, which made me very connected to the whole experience and probably made the process a lot smoother.

laurakaz13 · January 2014

I had no side effects. My epidural was amazing!

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