What are your thoughts on an epidural during labor, and is it harmful to the baby??

I am from India, I was going to deliver first baby and had started pain my doctor asked for epidural. I consented, A doctor who was expert of painless deliveries came and put the epidural and left a catheter in epidural space. After this I did not feel any pain,
I delivered child after 9 hours and sensorcaine was given through this catheter after every three hours,
I had no headache, no backache, and I was taken to the labour room walking on my own legs, I expelled child with my own and no instrumentation applied, there was no bad effect to my baby
my experience is if it is given by an expert hands nothing better than epidural for comfortable delivery of child.

It's hard for me to tell you that an epidural is the way to go. I didn't start my own labor and had to be induced. I was 3 weeks overdue. LADIES, that I would NEVER recommend for anyone. Too many risk factors.

By the time I got into hard labor, which was instantly. When you are induced, you go from no contractions to major contractions. It was too late for the epidural to take effect. They did give it to me however, it made me physically sick to my stomach and that wasn't something I needed at the time. If you get my drift.

My daughter, Amanda, arrived safe and sound. All 9lbs 6oz of her. She looked like a one month old baby who'd been left in the maternity ward. She was so much bigger then all the other babies.

Coming to the site and asking the question is a great start to doing your homework. Once you've done your homework, you can choose what you think is best for you. Some women will want something to relieve the pain. Others will schedule a "C" section. Now there's a great topic for discussion.

My feeling is...if you can avoid the pain and it won't harm the baby. Then go for it!!

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Just go to the "SHARE" section. It will only take a minute and will be so helpful to so many other women.
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Thanks so much,

Michelle

Everyone has a different opinion on pain management, whether it be to help ease/stop pain of a minor headache, migraine, recovering from surgery, labor and delivery or an insect bite! For some reason, the management of pain during labor and delivery has become a moral issue, one that women should feel ashamed/guilty of, instead of one of many decisions made by the woman and her health care provider(s) during this new, terrifying and exciting time!

According to the Mayo Clinic, the research on effects of epidurals and newborn health is "ambiguous", because there are so many different factors that differ from woman and baby...to woman and baby...including mom's and baby's prior health, length of labor, length of delivery, dosage of medication, type of epidural, etc.

There are many different types of medication that are put into the epidurals, including anesthesias and narcotics, that it's probably best to talk with your health care provider(s) about the actual substances they are putting into the epidural.

Everything I've read & researched has come to the same conclusions: epidurals themselves do not harm the baby (long-term), but there are side effects (short-term) including slowed heart rate, breathing rate, lethargy and trouble latching. These "side effects" resolve themselves.

There are pros and cons to every situation, whether the soon-to-be mom chooses to use medication or not to ease/stop pain.

Personally, I was prepared to take pain management drugs during my labor & delivery, but was not able to. I wanted to go as long as possible without any drugs, but once you are in that situation, your prehistoric self comes alive and you might be begging for anything to help with the pain, regardless of your prior plan! I delivered too quick to receive any drugs, but was yelling at my hubby to poke me as hard as he could in my lower back with his thumb...I don't remember this, but I guess it provided some counter-pressure (counter-pain?!). (okay...that might just be me?!).

My advice: research the drugs that your doctor would use in the epidural (MedlinePlus is best for this: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html), talk to other women (like you are!), and choose a few pain management strategies that you're open to. You may not even want/need them, but at least they're in your repertoire of possibilities! Plus, if you are unable to deliver vaginally, it's best to know the alternatives, because you WILL need drugs if you have a C-section or need to be induced, so it's best to know the options and feel good about your choices. All drugs have positive and negative side effects, and the degree of these depends on prior health history, dosage, length of time, etc.

Anyways, what are your pros/cons to epidurals or other pain medication during your labor and delivery?

My first labor took 24 hours -- almost to the minute -- and I wanted to tough it out. At hour 16, I finally asked for an epidural and it didn't take. I was miserable. I believed that the epidural would interfere with pushing and was afraid of the drugs.
Second pregnancy, my contractions were every two minutes but i was less than 3 centimeters dilated. I think I would have put the epidural in myself. It was a MUCH better labor and I really felt present the second time around. They took the epidural out about 20 minutes before I needed to push. I only had to push twice for the my second daughter to arrive and honestly, having been able to relax during labor was such a blessing because i have very clear memories of the birth of my second. The birth of my first is really a fog of pain and exhaustion.