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epidural question
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Anonymous
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I am only 25 weeks but slightly obsessed about the pain of child birth. I know I want an epidural but don't really know when. I have read that it can take 40-60 minutes to administer then another 20 or so to actually start working. The whole process seems rather lengthy so perhaps you'd want to get it sooner rather than later? Can anyone share their experience?
Thanks so much! |
Anonymous
| In terms of time to administer, I think it really depends on the hospital. When I delivered my first, they told me to request it early because it would take them 30 minutes to get the doctor to administer it. Once he got there, it was in within 10 minutes and it took affect immediately. With my second, the doctor was there within 5 minutes of my request. Again, I felt it immediately. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| My childbirth class instructor said the best time to get the epi is when youre about 5-6 CM dialated. That way, there is less of a chance of it slowing things down naturally since you're past 4cm. If you get it too soon then you run the risk of stopping the contractions, when then requires other interventions, e.g., pitocin. If you wait until 8-10CM then the contractions are too close together and it's very difficult for the anesthesiologist to insert it. Evidently, unbeknownst to me, the anesth. has to stop working on inserting the epi every time you have an contraction...so you dont want them to be too close together. That's why it takes so long. |
Anonymous
| Not sure when the best time to get it is--certainly WAY before I did (after 12+ hours on pitocin--foolish me wanted to go natural--ha!). But, I got one within 5 minutes of requesting one at Sibley and it took 7 minutes for relief--one of my most vivid memories of labor was watching the clock--the anesthesiologist put it in at 5AM and told me I would have relief at 5:07AM. Worked like a charm. Best decision of my whole 42 hour labor |
Anonymous
| They have to give you IV fluids first...and this can take awhile, so I would ask sooner than later. It also then took the doc a few minutes to get there and I was dying. |
Anonymous
| They started my epidural around 10am and it did not kick in until 11:52am (its seared into my memory). Ask for it EARLY, because in that 1 hour and 52 minutes, I went from 3 cm to 10cm. Holy god did it hurt. And then, once it kicked in- heaven! And, the doctor did not stop inserting the epidural when I had a contraction. I just tried to hold as still as I could, but he didn't ask me to do anything special. |
Anonymous
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I have had two epidurals.
The first time, I had labored at home for for about 15 hours (back labor - very painful) before going to the hospital. When I got there, I was only about 3 cm but they gave me the epidural immediately. After that I got Pitocin, got into a good pattern, and had a good vaginal delivery about 7-8 hours after the epidural. Second labor - my water broke, I went to the hospital, but wasn't having contractions. They put me on Pitocin and I got into a good pattern. The nurse told me I could have an epidural whenever I wanted - they weren't going to tell me when to get it or that it was too late - I could have it at any time. I labored for a while, got to 4-5 cm and was not in crazy pain but starting to feel uncomfortable. I asked her if she would recommend getting it before I was really uncomfortable or if I should wait - my concern was that it would slow my progress. She said she didn't think in my case it would slow the rate of dilation and so I got it at that point. You do have to wait for a certain amount of IV fluids to be administered but it really doesn't take long. |
Anonymous
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Oh - one more thing - PP here.
With my first labor, after I had the epidural I could feel nothing. I couldn't even feel my legs or any pressure to push, really. With the second, it seemed to wear off after a point, or at least not give the relief I was needing. There were about 30-40 very painful minutes as I was rapidly reaching 10 cm with no discernible relief from the epidural and the doctor was coming up to readminister it - after he did I was good again but still had more feeling than the first time. Good news is I felt like pushing and could push better and only pushed 10 mins or so compared to over an hour the first time.... |
Anonymous
| I was in significant pain when I got to the hospital, after my water broke. It felt like ETERNITY!! Sorry to make you more anxious, but I am convinced after that experience that I have a low threshold for pain. It probably took about 45 minutes. Ask for it as soon as you know it's the real deal.... |
Anonymous
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Having watched numerous women go through birth and get epidurals, I would say that it takes about 30-60 minutes from the time you make the request, until the time you get pain relief. Unless your labor is progessing VERY rapidly, then the pain is not going to get too bad in that 30-60 minutes (labor usually moves slowly).
As far as when to get an epidural, that depends somewhat on how you are coping with the pain and what your goals are. It is true that if you can make it to 5cm without an epidural, you have a better chance that you will go on to have a vaginal delivery. Oftentimes an epidural given earlier in labor will slow the labor, or prevent the baby from lining up correctly to be born. If you are someone who is not that concerned with the potentiality of other interventions as a result of the epidural (pitocin, higher risk of fetal distress, higher risk of c/section) then I think the right time to get the epidural is as soon as you want it, even if you are only 2cm. On the other hand, getting it when you are 8 or 9 cm is just not worth it (in my opinion!!). If your body has made it that far and you are coping reasonably well, then you usually can make it the rest of the way, even though you might have an hour of more intense pain. No matter what, you should plan on learning some coping techniques to help you with the pain, and make sure that whoever is with you understands how to give you some support. Sometimes the delay to get the epidural is unusually long, or sometimes the epidural does not actually work or has some breakthrough pain. |
Anonymous
| I gave birth at Sibley hospital two weeks ago. When I arrived at the hospital I was 10cm. dialated and in significant pain. It took about 45 minutes from the time I arrived for the epidural to be administered and for it to start working. Once the epidural kicked in, my birth experience was very painless and peaceful. Before the epidural I was in agony. I didn't go to the hospital earlier because I wasn't having regular contractions, nor was I in significant pain until my water broke and then within minutes my contractions became incredibly painful. If I had to do it again I would have gone in earlier because you have to wait while paperwork is filled out, they take blood tests and administer fluids. Since I was significantly dialated, my doctor suggested that I not have the epidural and just tough it out. I insisted however since it was so painful and I'm glad that I did. Having the epidural allowed me to enjoy the birth process. |
Anonymous
| I had an epi at Shady Grove and felt relief as soon as it was administered. |
Anonymous
Why did you get an epi at 10cm? At that point you are through transition and fully dilated and ready to push. I am genuinely curious as to why they agreed to an epi at that point. |
Anonymous
I had a similar experience. Had really bad back labor and my water broke when I was about 3cm dilated (I was already in the hospital). After my water broke I couldn't stand the pain anymore (I ended up breaking my tailbone during delivery and I could feel the baby pushing my pelvis apart) and asked for an epidural. I wouldn't worry about the epidural slowing down labor, in fact, after I got mine I dilated from 3 to 10 cm in just over an hour! That probably never would have happened without the epidural. I delivered about 4 hours after getting the epidural. I think it allowed me to relax. (When you get it, it is the best feeling in the world!). Get it when you feel you need it and don't worry about how far you're dilated (unless your doc thinks differently). |
Anonymous
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"Why did you get an epi at 10cm? At that point you are through transition and fully dilated and ready to push. I am genuinely curious as to why they agreed to an epi at that point."
I'm not the PP but I had one at 9cm. I had PE and my BP was going through the roof. The meds were not bringing it down and the ob suggested that an epidural could lower my BP. I was over 200s at the time so anything was OK. They did not give extra fluids in the IV since the fluid is to keep your BP up. Once they did the epi without the fluids my BP crashed, I almost passed out, and they had to then give me something to raise it. It was relaxing for a few seconds though. Highly recommend the fluids if your BP is normal 
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