What was your experience with recieving an epidural during delivery?… by Ani
My second son is due in November. With my first pregnancy I did not have any pain medication. I don't think I can handle it again but I am curious to see what other people have encountered during their labor while having an epidural. How long did labor last and did you have any side effects? Thanks.
Best Answer:
I had been given pitocin by the doctor to speed up my delivery, and the contractions came so hard and fast and unpredictably that after a certain number of hours I begged for the epidural. I don't remember the pain from the shot… I'm sure it hurt, but the pitocin induced labor was far worse.
The worst side-effect was being unable to move my legs… at all… meaning that I was paralyzed from the waist down and the nurses/hubby/whoever was there had to move me when they wanted me to move. That was very scary. I remember sitting up and feeling like an egg, I couldn't balance at all, there was just no sensation at all.
The funniest moment was when I asked my mom if she would mind hitting the nurse call button, and her seeing the epidural button and thinking that was it (it looked like the old fashioned call buttons…) and she hit that almost 3 times before we figured out what she was doing. Egads I was out of it for a while…
I felt her coming out, and my pushing wasn't interfered with at all (which they worry about with a first baby and medicine.)
My labor lasted about 36 hours if you count from when my water broke. I did close to 20 hours without pain medicine, got the pitocin about 10-12 hours into it. I got the epidural when the contractions/back spasming/etc were 1-5 minutes apart (some were right on top of eachother…. I HATE pitocin) It was horrible.
Afterwards, my back was understandably sore and I had horrible spasms up and down it, but I'm not sure if that was the epidural or just labor. 
However, my baby was very tired and lethargic, and we didn't bond as well immediately not to mention she had a harder time latching for a while at first. Then they gave me a medicine for the pain that went through my milk to her, and that only made it worse. If you're confident in your ability to nurse and nursed your first with no problems, then the rest isn't that bad.
Add: Just a note, in the US, insurance and medicaid and everything has to allow you to stay in the hospital for 2 days after giving birth. Insist on it! Especially if you're getting an epidural, then it's a good idea. I know I will with my next baby.
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