Epidural?

There are always pros and cons to the epidural! It can be helpful to have it in case you need an emergency C, but it can also slow labor and make it harder for you to have a vaginal birth

With my vbac in feb, I tried to go without the epidural. I was stuck at 4cm and the gas was doing nothing for me. After a particularly intense contraction I opted for the epidural right before they broke my water. (For reference, I went into labor at 4pm, went to the hospital at 8pm and was admitted at 4cm, decided on the epidural and breaking water at almost 2am still at 4cm) Ultimately it's up to you! But the best advice my midwife gave me was sign the paperwork for the epidural so it doesn't slow down the process of getting one if you decide you actually want one.

Have you seen the documentary “the trial of labor?”

@Arianna what time did baby come?

I begged for an epidural from the moment I arrived at hospital at 5-6cm but there was no anaesthetist available so I never got it and birthed with just gas and air and in the end it was actually fine- I’m glad I didn’t have to recover from the epidural in the end

@Ema he came at 11:36am. At about 8am I was finally 5cm and when the dr checked he found that the catheter wasn't in far enough so it was blocking baby boy from being able to fully put pressure on the cervix. He also realized that as we were rotating side to side he kept popping out of my pelvis. Once he pushed the catheter into the right spot and we put something under my belly while I was on my side it progressed SUPER fast. When he checked again at 11am I was at 10cm. Pushed for 31 min and he was out. I think if everything were right at the beginning, he probably would've been out sooner

@Arianna that’s amazing, it’s a good thing they let you go that long. Some doctors would have unnecessarily suggested a section earlier on but thankfully that was the case

I really didn’t want one incase it slowed labour down however I was screaming and crying for one at 2cm due to back labour and pitocin 🫠 if anything I’d say it helped because I was able to relax a bit and maybe that helped things progress, as labour was slowing when I was screaming going wild 😂

@Arianna I've heard it can speed up labor because it helps you relax.

@Kaitlyn this makes sense!

@Valerie no but I'll look into it

I was induced for my TOLAC at 41+2 and decided to get an epidural when they broke my water, at like 3/4cm I think. I was glad I did because I ruptured and was able to be awake during the C-section

@Ema oh definitely! I was thankful that they let me go that long (though i was super tired). I forgot but at somepoint they also started pitocin, extremely low dose (started at 1, ended at 8 from what I could tell on the machine lol) which helped move things along as well

I went without bc I wanted to have more mobility. I was standing/walking for a lot of my labor. I did need the antibiotics for GBS+ but that was only 30 minutes at a time that I was limited mobility. I was willing to get the epidural if I thought I needed it to relax and let my body dilate but doing my breathing exercises got me peacefully through until 8cm when it started getting difficult to get through the contractions. But then everything was took 45 minutes and baby was here.