Making the epidural decision

[djeter2fan]

Hi everyone! My name is Holly and I am 34 weeks pregnant with a baby boy. This is my first child. I am 28 years old and I live in Pennsylvania.

As I am getting ready for childbirth, I am trying to decide what I may or may not want to use in terms of pain relief. I do not want to be in terrible pain for hours and hours! However, I am planning on breastfeeding, and I have heard a lot of information about how babies born with epidurals involving narcotics were very sleepy after birth and had a hard time getting started nursing. Does anyone have experience with epidurals and nursing that they are willing to share, either positive or negative? Also, what pain relief options are there that don't involve narcotics?

Thanks for your help!

[skipnjif]

Hi Holly!

First, congrats on your upcoming delivery. I have done it twice and actually look forward to doing it again sometime soon. No matter what choice you make in terms of pain releif, it is an amazing, empowering, exhillerating experience.

When my first child was born two years ago, I opted for an epidural after six hours of active labor. I had a relatively uncomplicated delivery six hours after that (pushed for one hour). Like you, I had chosen to breastfeed and he did great, overall. The only thing was, that they did not give him to me to feed initially for an hour and a half...after he had been bathed and everything. Because of that, he was kind of sleepy, but would have been fine if I was able to have him sooner. He was alert and lively just after birth.

When my daughter was born four months ago, I had no meds whatsoever. I found that spending time in the tub was VERY beneficial...in fact, I "missed" the sensation of pressure while I was transitioning in the water, and nearly delivered in the standard size bathtub they had in my birthing suite (not intended for delivery). Again, she was very alert and, because they left her with me for as long as I wanted her, I was able to nurse right away and she did GREAT!

There is a great discussion and explaination by Veronica Tingzon in a thread called "comments on natural childbirth" about this topic. For me, the major differences I found were that I was much more able to move and I recovered much more easily without having had the epidural (not to mention that you do truly feel like a wonder woman). More importantly, I found it SO vital that I have my baby AS SOON AS POSSIBLE afterward. Although my son was a very successful breastfeeder, despite the delayed start, it was a very different and kind of frustrating experience the first time I tried.

No matter what you do, enjoy your birth experience as much as you can. Yes, it hurts A LOT...but it is so rewarding to know that you are taking part in an incredible fete of nature...and it's one that you don't get to/have to do too many times in life.

Paula

[preggers]

Hi Holly,

We will have a guest on PregTASTIC addressing exactly what you are thinking about in dealing with pain in childbirth. The second week of July we'll interview Dr. William Camann who wrote a book called Easy Labor: Every Woman's Guide to Choosing Less Pain and More Joy During Childbirth. You can read a little about it at easylabor.net. He's a director of obstetric anesthesia at Brighams and Women's Hospital in Boston, president of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, and an associate prof. of anesthesia at Harvard Med. School.

We hope the information he shares is helpful to you. If you have specific questions for him, please email us, info@pregtastic.com, and we'll try to get all of the listener questions in on the show.

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

patti

[MyIzumi]

I had an epidural with my toddler after some painful labor stuck lying in a bed (do NOT stay in the bed if you want to go natural! Get up, walk, get in the tub, on a birth ball, anything but lying down flat) and it sent her into fetal distress. Yikes. So, I'm not really wanting an epidural this time. Instead, I am doing HypnoBabies with a doula (dh was great while he was helping but he couldn't keep it up for very long). In the Easy Labor podcast, one of the authors said epidural or hypnosis birth method were the only two birth choices they found that produced a pain-FREE birth. I'd much rather use the HypnoBabies than the drugs, myself. Good luck with your decision and birth!