3rd Trimester
fallenpegasus
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Pain management during birth
fallenpegasus
member
FTM and first time poster on here. I am 36 weeks today. Just a question to everyone about their plans for pain management when they have their babies. Do you plan to have an epidural right away, no epidural, or only have an epidural if you cant stand the pain?
I have allergies to many anesthetics, but have been told I can still have an epidural with a mixture of drugs that I am not allergic to. I would really like to try to give birth with no drugs because I am worried that with my allergies, my LO could have allergies to other anesthetics that I may not be allergic to. Not sure if there is any research that's been done on this, but when I talked to my doctor, he said he hasn't seen any research on it. I'm sure I'm over thinking everything. In the end I'm going to have an epidural if I cannot handle the pain. Doctor basically told me not to worry. As a FTM, I think I'm just so worried I could do something to put my baby in danger. That terrifies me. Sorry about the rambling post...what are your plans?
I have allergies to many anesthetics, but have been told I can still have an epidural with a mixture of drugs that I am not allergic to. I would really like to try to give birth with no drugs because I am worried that with my allergies, my LO could have allergies to other anesthetics that I may not be allergic to. Not sure if there is any research that's been done on this, but when I talked to my doctor, he said he hasn't seen any research on it. I'm sure I'm over thinking everything. In the end I'm going to have an epidural if I cannot handle the pain. Doctor basically told me not to worry. As a FTM, I think I'm just so worried I could do something to put my baby in danger. That terrifies me. Sorry about the rambling post...what are your plans?
Re: Pain management during birth
Breathing helps a lot with pain management. Have you taken any birthing classes? I haven't and won't be but everyone tells me they teach you breathing techniques.
I have learned breathing techniques on my own, and although I plan on an epidural I'm going to hold out as long as I can by using breathing techniques...( but not too late that I miss the window for it, of course.
Elizabeth 5yrs old Jane 3yrs old
I wasn't able to take a birthing class because the only ones they had available when is asked were on the day of my baby shower and the next is four days after my due date.
I would love to be able to make it through labor with just breathing and relaxation techniques, but whenever I tell someone that, they laugh at me and say I'll never be able to do it. I try to ignore them and brush it off as everyone is different. We will see soon enough if I can do it or not
Elizabeth 5yrs old Jane 3yrs old
Personally, I know I am a huge wimp and will end up getting an epidural eventually. I do still want to experience labor first, so I plan on holding off until I can't stand it, but pain management WILL happen.
If you want a med free birth you can do it but also know the option is there and every experience is different. Be flexible though bc you can plan all you want but things do happen.
This is patently false. please link the study where you are seeing this information. The real number of women who experience spinal headaches after having an epidural during labor is about 1%. Spinal headache is a VERY serious VERY painful condition and it is not at all common. My friend had one with her third child (but not with either of her first two, despite also having epidurals then) and she was basically bedridden and out of commission for almost a week. She couldn't even feed the baby. It required multiple procedures to fix. While this is terrible and serious, it is so incredibly rare...using it as the main reason you don't want an epidural is kind of ridiculous.
FWIW, my friend says that if she had a fourth baby, she'd STILL get the epidural again, even after the spinal headache. Because it's so rare it would be almost like lightning striking twice for her to have it happen again.
Here is the URL of a major wide study still in progress. It is published by the International Medical Journal, read by doctors for information. I have a total of 47 URLs that I can send you if you like. It is each persons opinion. And if it is her choice for the epidural then that's her choice. The risks are too great for me. I have 7 kids never had one. Most of mine were natural with NO pain management and I do not regret it at all. Didn't mean to make you upset. I just went by My best friends husband who is a medical research doctor (one who gave me this journal) as well as several opinions once I had my information. Also in that huge stack of paperwork they make you sign prior to epidural list all the risk. Jair let me know if you want the other URLs or you can look up studies of side effects of epidurals and spinal taps through Google.
It is 100% any woman's right to not have an epidural. I support any woman's pain management decisions. I may not even have one myself - for me it will depend on the severity of the pain. I just don't want false information to be spread about the risks associated with receiving an epidural.
The below is directly from the "headaches" portion of the study that was linked to:
24. Headache:
Headache after epidural is a persistent problem that is more pronounced in younger patients.57 One study found its incidence after epidural anesthesia to be 4.6%, significantly more often than women not having epidurals.58 It usually occurs from the effects of puncturing the dura. Headache can also occur from air getting into the spinal fluid (called an iatrogenic pneumocephalus). The air is introduced into the spinal fluid and column when the test dose is given that is assumed to be in the extra-dural space. When the person giving the epidural feels a loss of resistance to the injection of air, this is when a pneumocephalus can occur. The patient that was described complained immediately of severe headache on both sides of her forehead followed by vomiting. The baby had to be delivered by Cesarean with general anesthesia. The patients headache resolved in 24 hours after Cesarean.
Of 34 women with spinal headache (from 4766 epidurals), nine had long-term disability from headache. Five of these were from accidental dural puncture and four occurred after accidental spinal block.59
So this study said that getting a regular headache after an epidural happened in 5% of cases, and that an actual spinal headache happened in 34/4766 cases - which is less than a 1% chance. A spinal headache is not the same as a headache you can take a few Advil for and easily move on from, and it is very unlikely to happen. Just want to make sure that is understood among the other women reading this thread.
But again...it's any woman's right to read the research and decide for herself whether she'd like an epidural or not. But please actually read the research and don't just rely on percentages thrown out on public forums.