PP talk to an anesthesiologist and your OB. But I have had similar reactions to general anesthesia and explained my history to the anesthesiologist in labor (vomiting after two surgeries I’ve had) and they gave me anti nausea meds. I then had absolutely no trouble with vomiting or nausea with the epidural. My only mistake was waiting too long to get it and it didn’t work as well. But the idea of a big needle in my back that could deliver pain relief (which as a non laboring person seemed terrible and frightening and invasive), during labor actually seemed like welcome, sweet relief and all my big fears about it were largely dissipated. The pain of unmedicated labor can really change your mind about pain relief, even if you planned to go unmedicated and really prepared for it like I did. So it’s good to be open to it and to discuss any concerns ahead of time.

Can anyone weigh in on choosing an epidural with history of bad reaction to anesthesia and opioid pain killers? I've had a few surgeries in my life and a few prescriptions for hydrocodine type pain killers and have always had horrible reactions to anesthesia and opioids - horrible nausea/vomitting/diziness/etc.

I don't know why I hadn't realized until the other day that an epidural is a localized version of the same thing (don't know what I thought it was?!) and now I'm freaked out that the pain relief won't be worth the terrible side effects. Can anyone with similar reactions weigh in on how an epidural went for them?

People are still doing this fad?

Anonymous wrote:Only a fool wants an unmedicated birth! Giving birth hurts and you donot forget it immediately.

I had 3 un-medicated births and correct -- you do not forget the pain. I don't know where that ever came from

OP here. Wow, okay I didn’t ask for people’s opinion of epidural vs no epidural. I’m literally just asking for people’s experience with the CWC K street practice if you had or tried to have an unmedicated birth...

Thank you to the first 2 replies that were actually helpful and relevant to the question.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only a fool wants an unmedicated birth! Giving birth hurts and you donot forget it immediately.

Wow. So ignorant.

I’ve had surgery before and I know how my body reacts to anesthesia - which is not well. It was an easy decision to cope with the moderate pain of childbirth for a few hours instead of the terrible side effects of anesthesia for several days - while caring for a newborn.

That’s you. I loved my epidural. Loved it. And so did nearly all my friends.

Anonymous wrote:Only a fool wants an unmedicated birth! Giving birth hurts and you donot forget it immediately.

Wow. So ignorant.

I’ve had surgery before and I know how my body reacts to anesthesia - which is not well. It was an easy decision to cope with the moderate pain of childbirth for a few hours instead of the terrible side effects of anesthesia for several days - while caring for a newborn.

Anonymous wrote:Ugh stop fear mongering. I had 2 unmedicated births and they were each a 5-6 on the 1-10 scale for pain. Everyone is different.

That said, if you want an unmedicated birth, op, maybe consider a practice that is known for supporting them, which cwc is not.

Stop bragging. And answer these questions:

How long were your labors and how long did you push?

How big are you and how big were the babies?

How long ago was this (some people’s memories of the pain fade with time and there’s a bunch of old moms trolling here who gave birth over a decade ago and yet will insist on visiting the unmedicated birth threads because they feel superior to moms who had pain relief and somehow still need to keep gloating about it and trying to say it’s not that bad. Yeah right. At the end of the day a watermelon is still going through a hole the size of a dime.)

I had a 24-hour long, sunny side up unmedicated birth at CWC. But it was 13 years ago. The doctor was almost irrelevant -- it was the nurses' support that I needed. It took some advocacy to only need to be tethered to the monitoring for part of the hour, so I could spend the rest of the time walking around the room/ in the shower, but in the end, they were fine with it.

Ugh stop fear mongering. I had 2 unmedicated births and they were each a 5-6 on the 1-10 scale for pain. Everyone is different.

That said, if you want an unmedicated birth, op, maybe consider a practice that is known for supporting them, which cwc is not.

OP you might find you want an epidural in labor. Most women do. The pain of natural labor is quite horrific.

Only a fool wants an unmedicated birth! Giving birth hurts and you donot forget it immediately.

I didn't have a C-section and did end up having an epidural (similarly to the poster above, I didn't think I would but I did), but all the docs or nurses I saw while I was in labor explained all of my options, gave me time and space to make my own decisions when they could, and no one pressured any pain relief.

Nope. I tried but the pain was so bad I asked for an epidural 10 hours in. I had a vaginal birth after 21 hours of labor. The doctor was supportive though and no one pushed me to get the epidural or to have a C-section. Dr. Malis delivered my baby.

Has anyone had an unmedicated birth with CWC K Street in the past few years? Were the doctors at this practice supportive? I’ve read some old posts about some of the doctors being C-Section happy, but wondering if that’s still the case.