They can give you a pain medication in your iv and if you are still uncomfortable usually they tell you its your last chance to opt for the epidural. I didn't have one I don't like the thought of a needle going in my spine and honestly after your baby is born you'll forget about all the pain
I didn't get the epidural either. I did get iv meds tho, which made me feel very loopy and out of it. But you forget about all pain once that sweet baby gets here! Good Luck!
I went without with my first for 24 hours I got an epi for the last 8 hours. I did a lot of reading but with this pregnancy im taking a hypnobabies birthing class. i would recommend not just winging it and learning hpw to relax and breathe now not when the pain starts. I practice now with the little pains like from growing and stuff.
Tlynn is right. The pain disappears as soon as the baby is out. It's like magic lol. I've had 3 completely natural labors so far and I pray my fourth will be the same. So Here's my advice... Don't go into it with your mind made up. Labor is completely unpredictable. Take it one contraction at a time. (And as the contractions come, make sure you relax your cervix - it sounds stupid but its important) If you get to the point where feel like you can't take it, then get the epidural. But the point is, is don't anticipate the next 7 hours of pain, just prepare for the next One coming up.
Also, to help with the pain, ice packs help and the best thing for me was breathing. Exhale as the contraction is there and it honestly takes the edge off.
I got pain meds and they didn't help me at all it just made me loopy so I got the epidural later on, obviously it's possible to birth a child without it but I personally LOVED LOVED LOVED my epidural it was nice because I got to enjoy the birthing process, it was very calm and sentemental ... My advice is wait till you feel the pain of labor to make your decision, words can't describe the pain so make that decision when your in labor
When I got the epidural they said it was only going to take 15 min well they ended up taking 1 hour. I was so scared something would happen because they poked me like 3 times and it wasn't working. But sonotech55 is right they are very unpredictable I thought I was going to go natural since I have high tolerance for pain but my doctor never bothered to check the size of my baby and she was 10lb9oz so I had to get an emergency c section. Good luck!! Hope you can go natural!
The pain meds that go into ur iv actually affect the baby before its born... my father in law is an anistialogist (or how ever u spell it) n my sister in laws r nurses (ones in l&d) they recommend the epideral bc it doesn't drug the baby n my sister in laws both have had kids...
I didn't have one with my little girl. I was really scared to get one and was set against it until I was in labor. They gave me something to relax me and it worked at first then I wanted the epidural. Well I didn't have time, my labor was very fast and scary, I was at 2 cm when I got to the hospital, was at 4 cm when I was admitted, and 20 minutes later I was at 10 cm and it was too late. My labor lasted like 2 hours, if you can keep yourself calm and breath through the contractions and you will be fine. Your body is made to do this and you can do it with or without an epidural. Like some of the other ladies said once you have the baby the pain is gone. And you will be amazed at how high of a pain tolerance you really have.
Im a first time mom and also don't want the epidural, might sound weird but I actually want to feel the pain I want to know how it feels and plus my aunts neighbor had a really bad experience with it which scared me so I want to have my daughter natural.
Honestly the best thing you can do is try to keep calm and breath through your contractions trust me it helps a lot. this will be my third without any pain meds.
I went all natural with my bby boy.no epidural ni medication,i did get iv,nf later on,cldnt take pain so i took half of the pain killer they give u.nd it only worked fr 5 minutes..i hated it..but this time im gonna have more strenght nf gonna go all natural,nd hive birth at home by a midwive :-).super excited