what is the diffrence between eperdural and spinal tap?

[Tennesseegirl]

Has anyone looked this up? or has information on the best one to do?

[tahariel]

I had an epidural with my first because we were trying for a regular delivery that ended up as a c-section. It took a while to take effect, but went fine. Had the spinal with the 2nd because we went right into a c-section after doctor determined baby was too big to drop, again. I don't know if it was from the spinal, but I threw up for several hours after. My doctor and I had a preliminary talk last week about what to do for this delivery, but I may request the epidural instead of the spinal if he thinks it may prevent me getting sick after.

[pertykitty]

yep that is the most predictable thing about delivery, its highly unpredictable!! lol.

[Regggie]

Not that this would happen to you because apparently, it was very rare, but I had BOTH and neither one WORKED! They tried both for over 45 min with wait time and 2 different people doing it and NOTHING WENT NUMB! Finally, they just gassed me and I woke up 30 min later with a baby! Not ideal because it was 3 hours before I got to see him, but sometimes, you just have to go with the flow. Birth plans are nice, put it's kinda like planning for an earthquake or tornado, even the best intentions are at best.... intentions.

[Lezzart]

I had two epidural. My first pregnancy my son was just way to big and I needed help and he did to...BUT... it did not work, it numed my ankles only!!! Not much good that did!

With my third child, I worked till I was 40 w pregnant, I was to tired and even if I had intensive labor keeping me up at night, I was not dialating, I was too tired. The epidural just opened me up from 2 to 9 within 10 minutes and I did not feel a thing.

You just need to stay still, takes maybe 1 minute for the entire procedure and all it does is pinch a little when they insert it, there is a tube attached and all they do is inject more med in it when you need it.

BTW: Having an epidural is OK, it's not a sign of weakness. If you are exhausted and you reach your limit, tell yourself that your baby is working has hard as you and he is probably exhausted to, so for me it's just being responsible and logical to ask for it when you can't do it anymore.

My second was delivered without any outside help, my first, the epidural did not work and the labor was so intensive and long that my son was not breathing when he came out... they brought him back, but he was exhausted. My third, same thing, but it was my fault, I did not rest my body, so the doc's (6 of them) "opened" me up to 10 and helped me get her out...she was not breathing either... to tired. But they brought her back as well.

You need to be able to take care of your little one after...so don't push yourself beyond the limit.

:)

[pertykitty]

i have had both.  an epi is a tube that stays in and delivers meds for the duration of labor/del.  its a godsend lol.   i had that with my first.  second time i had a spinal.  just a single injection that will wear off after a few hous.  i didnt want one before i had my first, wanted au natural but then holy cr@p back labor, side labor haha.  i did get headaches after my spinal but with a c saction you dont have a choice.  really be educated,  ha ha and then you will decide when the pain hits.  really we all sense pain diff.  i was watching a tlc or discovery show and our wiring is different in each one of us.  some are able to feel more than others.  so its not that you handle pain better (ok some can to an extene) its that you are more sens. to the pain.  good luck who is delivering next?

[kellym]

It is a spinal block not spinal tap, hee, hee. The difference is that the epidural is made to gradually introduce the medicine as needed.  The spinal block they can put the medicine in to totally numb you immediately. I had an epidural w/dd because we WERE going natural but things didn't end up that way and they just put the medicine for the c-section thru the epidural. I was talking to dr. about the horrible experience and he said this time will be TOTALLY different because I will be getting a spinal block and it will work immediately and better. I don't know about the depth and all of that but it makes sense what Brandi said about the spine. The meds probably go right in and numb immediately. Yuck, I hate the thoughts of both!!

[Brown Eyed Gurl]

There are always risks even with the epidural....for one you could end up with a migraine out of this world if they go to deep with the needle and the spinal cord starts leaking fluid and there are instances of being paralyzed and even death but those cases are few and far between.  There are more cases of problems with the spinal.  I personally am going to try to have these little ones naturally and unless I have back labor or a C-section then I'll get the epidural not the spinal....I'm just a total parnoid person and so is DH so if I don't have to take extra risks then I won't......but you have alot more wires ands stuff when you have an epidural and you can't just get up and walk around cause obviously you won't feel your legs....and they have to keep monitors on you and your little one the whole time where if you don't have the epidural you can get up walk around without the monitors for a while......and then come back for the monitoring.....and you can have more birthing positions without it.....but it just all depends on your birthing plan....I am hoping to be able to be mobile as much as possible .....but heck I'll probably be the one who screams EPIDURAL!! before anyone LOL

[Tennesseegirl]

thanks brown eys... I went natrual with my first.. did you learn anything bad about the eperdural? figured I was going on the painless side this time.. around. smile

[Brown Eyed Gurl]

The epidural doees go as far into the spine it just goes into the first layer and the spinal tap goes deeper into the spinal cord and has more side effects.  If I were to chose I'd definatly choose the epidural it's safer....I can't remember all the special words but I just had my epidural class a few weeks ago and that's the difference.......I don't plan on doing either but if I did epidural is safer.