Giving Birth: My Personal Experience with Epidural Anesthetic

When sitting in the hospital bed and feeling horrible shooting pains called contractions all some women can only think about is having an epidural. I myself am one of those women. Two years ago I had a beautiful baby girl, she was my first baby so I was a bit nervous about going to the hospital. I had been experiencing Braxton Hicks Contractions and felt I knew what contractions were like and that I would be fine through the entire birthing process.

Boy was I wrong, I felt the real contractions for about two hours and begged for an epidural. When the person who does the insertion of the needle came I was quite nervous. I am terrified of needles and knowing you will have one inserted in your spinal cord is even more terrifying.
When she inserted it I felt it and it wasn't good, I felt a lot of pain and was concerned because I was told that you shouldn't feel any pain.

After I got the injection I felt no pain at all, I was overjoyed. Ten hours later I had my daughter.

Now comes the second pregnancy, during the half of my pregnancy I had horrible back pain, so bad I went to the hospital about three times because of how painful it was. I had to cope with it and also work while I experienced shooting pains in my back. The big day came and I was sent to the hospital to get induced. I wanted to get the epidural right away because I knew how painful the contractions would be. They made me wait till I had contractions to give me the epidural.

Finally the doctor that does the insertion of the epidural shows up. I was terrified as usual and was shivering so much that the doctor was getting a little annoyed and kept telling me to relax. I tried my best to relax but it was really hard for me. It wasn't this bad when I got the shot, but... yes there is a but, I still felt contractions even though my legs were numb. How could this be? I was crying because the contractions seemed to have gotten worse after I got the epidural.

The doctor came back after an hour and injected a larger dose of the anesthetic in me, about 20 minutes later I felt nothing. I had my daughter about an hour later and thought to myself, "why did I even get the epidural? ".

Epidurals don't always work as planned and this is why before they shoot you up with this stuff they warn you about the risks but they make you feel like you shouldn't worry. What many women don't know is that you can die if an epidural is done wrong. There are many risks to having an epidural, I did some research and found that what I went through is one of the risks.

Here is a list of risks you should look at before thinking about getting an epidural.

The most common: Drop in blood pressure (hypotension)

Urinary retention
After I had my daughter they sent me to my room and asked me to pee because my bladder was full. I didn't have the urge to go or the feeling of having to pee. They told me if I didn't go that they would have to insert a catheter in me to let it out. I sat on the toilet for about 2 hours till I went. After that every time I went I couldn't feel it coming out, I was really numb. It lasted for about 3 days and finally went away. It was so bad that I had urinated on myself because I didn't feel it coming out. (Embarrassing fact).

Shivering: Normal side effect

Postpartum Backache

Maternal fever
It is recommended to eat ice cubes or the popsicles they provide you with so you maintain cool.

Spinal Headache

Uneven, incomplete or nonexistent pain relief
This is the side effect I went through and hopefully won't have to go through ever again.

Loss of perineal sensation and sexual function

Very serious risks: Convulsions - Resp.paralysis - Cardiac Arrest - Allergic shock - Nerve Injury - Epid. abscess

· Maternal death
This is a website for a unfortunate story that falls under this risk http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9818616/

Obviously the risks vary with each pregnancy, but you still should take it into account. You never know what might happen, you might be part of the percentage of one of the risks mentioned above. I for sure did not think I would be one when I got my epidural and it didn't help my contractions.

Make sure you take it into consideration and make the right choice. Is it worth risking your life? Think about it, and think about how quickly your baby will come out if you choose to go epidural free.