epidural or natural birth?

[Tresbn00]

being a an doesn't make me the world's foremost expert on the matter but I witnessed my wife having our two children.  She was in the same quandry before the first was born and I convinced her to go withe epidural. She was sooo thankful...even though the epidural wore off before the baby was born. I think that, generally speaking, the first babytakes a bit longer exiting the womb. Given the experience with our first made the decision to have an epidural with the second a no-brainer.

[foryoutoenvy]

I have 3 kids and with all of them I have had the epi with my 3rd one I wanted to go natural but I just couldn't bare the pain. Maybe, with my 4th one (not sure if we're going to go that far lol) I will have a natural birth.

[LenoraMinogue]

I think it's definitely something to discuss with your doctor. You might consider having the epidural on stand by in case you want it, even if you are going to try for the natural childbirth route. I had a friend who really wanted to go the natural route, but she had some complications and ended up really wanting the epidural. It did help with the pain too. However, she had a really sore back after they have her that shot though and it was sore for a good while, like a couple of weeks. And she said it was a lot harder to push after she got that shot too and thought getting it prolonged her labor because of that. So proceed with caution. I wish you the best.

[LiciaPruitt]

I had natural birth with all 4 of my children, I don't believe in epidurals they cause problems in the long run, My cousin had a epidural 11 years ago and now she have major back pains so I'm glad I just dealt with the pain...

[springsgardner]

I would love to have an epidural. However, I had a problem the last time I tried it. My blood pressure dropped and the baby went into distress. They stopped labor and tried to increase my bp. It didn't go back to normal until after my baby was born. He ended up in the NICU for a week because he inhaled maconium during the time he was under distress. He also ended up on oxygen for a few months.

I've since had two other babies. On the first one w/o an epidural, I discovered that when I REALLY want the epidural, it's nearly time to push. On the second one, I had the same feeling. However, this one was a pound heavier and I experienced shoulder dystocia, which means that the shoulder prevented her from passing through the birth canal and stalled that stage of labor. The dr said it's because of the shape of my uterus. Getting her out was extremely excruciating. So, I wish I'd had an epidural then. I probably will choose no epidural again, but am a little nervous about it.

[jkhanson]

Epidural or Natural Birth?

It depends on each person.  I had four easy natural births. My kids were born 1979, 1982, 1988, and 1990. 

From my personal experience, I think it helps to have done some kind of exercise throughout the pregnancy (as well as prior to pregnancy).  I also believe that being informed about what your body will go through and what you can do to help is good. 

During my first pregnancy, I read a book by Dr. Grantly *bleep*-Read on Childbirth Without Fear.  I helped me a lot. I walked a lot.  Baby #2, I taught Aerobic Dance classes throughout pregnancy.  #3 and #4, I swam laps.

Some people have a higher pain tolerance than others.

My advice is to discuss this with your doctor.  Have a plan.  If you want to try natural birth and find out that the pain is more than you can bear, have a pain medication strategy in place so the doctor can help you.

[bradshaw25313]

i have 2 kids the first one was 2 months early they tried to stop labor it worked for abot a month then i had her i diddnt even fill a conraction at all with her i felt the earge to push no medicane at all near the end befroe i had her she was 3lb 1.5oz 13in long  the my other one i had natural i was in labor for 2 hours 4 pushes and he was out not drugs i felt the pain with him he was 5lb 1.5oz 18 in long and he was 5 weeks early

[Gomer3334]

My wife prefers the epideral. Hopefully this time she will have the epideral long enough before our daughter is born.  With our last child she only received it about 15 minutes before our daughter wanted out.

[lher0277]

Contractions are annoying as it is with pain, I would go for an epidural

[shalah]

I had 5 natural births. Everyone told me how horrible it would be and that I should opt for the drugs, but I was more afraid of the needle going into my back and possibly paralyzing me than going natural. But I cried over the IV and not the labor to. I just don't lie needles of any kind.

I had one premature and they gave me somthing in my IV. She didn't make it becus I was to early but I had never in my life felt pain like that before and I had given birth to 5 childen already. I still refused a needle being stuck in my back but it was becus I was more afraid of it than the pain I was having.

Everyone tolerates pain differently, so its something you should decide for yourself.

[mrstina08]

Got to have that medicine too much pain. Girl!

[Annella]

Whoever said previously that and epi blocks hormones from the mother to the baby for bonding is wrong. I don't know where in the world that information came from.

I had an old fashioned doctor with my son (my son is now 42). He was an OB all his life, and was pretty old when he delivered me. He made his own concoction that he called a "coddle". Yes, it went in the back of the spine somewhere, and he administered it himself. He trusted nobody else to do it except himself. Hardly felt it. He didn't give it to me until about an hour before delivery. Before that, I was on some kind of twilight drip (also his own mix), that made me sleep through most of my labor and helped the pain. I was fully awake during delivery, and could help the delivery (pushing/pausing). I felt nothing......no pain whatsoever. My boy was born fully awake and crying. I was still fully awake when they wheeled me out of delivery with my son tucked in next to me. I could have gotten up and walked home if needed....I felt that good. That old doc knew his trade. Labor only lasted about 10 hours  altogether.

I feel sorry for those ladies who want to go natural and then they are in extremely painful labor for hours and hours. For goodness sake, give them something for the pain. I know women who have been "pushed" into natural childbirth because so and so did it, blah blah blah. It's a personal choice, but I would have drugs again if I needed to.

[surveyking2011]

I didnt read all the responses cause wow there sure are alot, but when my son was being born (1/2010) the screaming and yelping in pain went from a 10/10 to about a 4-5/10 when the epidural was administered. I guess just in terms of pain management it works wonders.

[lywb2168]

Well, I have 2 kids, the first one I had decided to not have an epidural, but my labor was 20 hours long and the doctors convince me to have one that would help with the pain but would let me feel to push when the time came.  And it really helped.  with my 2nd one 5years later I walked to the hospital in pain and yelling for my epidural to be put on right away.  Well I had to wait until I was moved to my labor room before they anethesiologist would come and my daughter decided to be born on her way to the room (1 hour labor) she was caught head first by the physicians in shift since my doctor had no time to get there before her, so I did not have the epidural with her.  But i think that is a decisiont hat you sould talk over with you doctor and family.

[roshelle7]

my daughter had her daughter naturally