No epidural

[jmrarr]

So I plan to go all natural for my labor... I have spina bifida occulta and I just rather not take the risk of getting one... I'm just really scared of the pain. For those of you that went without epidural how bad was the pain? Did any of you chicken out and end up getting one because the contractions were just too painful? I don't want to change my mind about it but I'm curious to know how you dealt with it

[2015Harmony]

It is painful, my water broke & I labored on pitocin for 17 hrs w no pain meds. What helped was just breath.... And focus on baby arriving soon. I did more yoga/meditating style breathing. In for a count of 4 out for 6 when contractions hit. That really helped me. Good luck many blessings.

[lousie_1986]

No idea if spina bifida will cause more back pain during labour or not, but I agree with a poster above, the contractions do get painful but its a gradual increase so you get used to it, and plus you get breaks in between contractions to recover (I'd take labour over period pain anyday). Highly recommend waterbirth as that took my pain from unbearable to about a 5 or 6. It still reached a 10 by the very end but by the end you don't really care, you just want the baby out, and an epidural at that stage would have been too late anyway... Anyway, I think waterbirths allowed me to really enjoy birth instead of being overwhelmed or scared.

[lock23]

I had 2 epidurals but they didn't work.  I was in the most awful pain ever.  And i have a high pain tolerance.  I had rectal contractions,  never heard of them.  But they are horrible.  My best way to describe MY labor is a Charlie horse (muscle pulling) in my *** every minute!  Worst pain lasting 7-8 hrs but overall i was in labor for 34+ hrs abs eventually needed a c section due to failure to descend.  Everyone is different though,  my one friend never got an epidural and said it wasn't that bad.

[Tavie615]

I had both my oldest children natural and plan on doing the same with this baby. The pain does get pretty bad, but breathing through it really does help. In my opinion, an epidural does slow down the labor. I've seen enough family and friends get them and be in labor for hours. My oldest I was in labor for 3 hours. No epidural. My second I was in labor for literally 20 minutes. No epidural. I also was in the room when my sister had my nephew and she went natural. Her labor was 2 hours with no epidural. If the pain gets to where you can't take it, they do have meds they can give you through the IV. Hope all goes well for you.

[J3LLY_B3AN]

After having a csection on my first i was adamant to go natural this time. So avoided the epidural totally as this slowed my labour down last time. Even though the contractions are painful your body adjusts to them. Stay positive, relax & keep telling yourself you can so it! I had a little gas & air towards the end which just took the edge off the pain. Just think though,no pain no gain! You'll forget all about it once you've pushed your little bundle of joy out :)

[scrapinj]

You should see if your hospital will give you nitrous oxide, laughing gas! My sister in law used it and said that it was really helpful! I plan to use it too because it calms you down without any affect on the baby!