Epidural: yes or no ?

I had the exact same feelings and plans too!! But i discussed with my gynae (she was pro epidural and induce). 🥲 Throughout the pregnancy i did my research and debated with her if its a need and the long term consequences too. So based on my exp in February, yes the epidural was bad at labour so it was done on me thrice. Two holes and three insertions and multiple pumps due to ineffectiveness. I felt extreme pain half my body while the other half was numb. So that was just a freak experience for me. Since i took the epidural from the crazy pains at the start, they had to induce the minute they found meconium in the amniotic fluids. My cervix opening was delayed at 1cm for days and then stuck at 4cm for more than 18hours. once again eh😪 my bad luck. The nurses and medical officers will offer u epidural seeing u in pain and if u havent dilated more than 3cm if im not mistaken. so i pretty much had to choose epidural since i couldnt tahan at all. Anyways the only good thing is that my gynae Ada Ng really held my hands through the ride. She guided my pushes in such a way that a tear was avoidable. taking in consideration my baby was at 3.3 and big headed hahahaha. she has her own methods to direct ur pushes even under alot of stress. so grateul for her! Anyway i switched to private at the last month and got her by luck. So might wanna consider a gynae who is gonna be there and kind enough while u lay there dying in pain 🙃🙃🙃

For someone who cannot tolerate being poked and very low threshold for pain, my entire process was painless (induced). Hug the laughing gas when contractions start and you won’t even feel the pain or epidural needle 😅. I did have abit of tear but I was alive and kicking again within a week. I gave birth within 6 hours. Side effects were really bad, I was busy shivering like crazy and throwing up while my gynae is stitching me. I was very weak that I don’t even want to bother about my baby, I just wanted to rest. I gave birth at 6am, only felt like a human at 1pm. My advise is, don’t listen to any stories, don’t read too much online. Go with the flow, don’t scare yourself with stuffs ahead of you. Everyone’s experience is different. I read and hear so much (especially on the birth methods and epidural needle) that I scare myself and was crying while I’m waiting to transfer to delivery suite. Eg my friend told me she almost feel like dying while mine was nothing. I’m also thankful that the nurses were gentle and assuring.

Yes - if you wld rather cut the pain of pushing. No - if you think you can endure the pain & push push push! I didn’t take epidural cos I wasn’t sure I want it or not. By the time I thought why not just take the epidural to fasten the whole process of pushing, I was already 7cm so the head nurse said I can’t take epidural so I have to keep pushing whenever the contractions came (the urge to poop kinda feeling). So I just continued trying till my daughter came out after a few heavy pushing of my tummy (apparently it is to help baby come out). I did get back pain nonetheless arnd 7-8 months postpartum. So I was wondering, what if I had taken the epidural - wld it be more painful & brutal than the back aches I am getting? Okay, just typed out to share that ultimately it is your gut feeling as a first time mom.

I gave birth twice with epidural, because I too have extreme low tolerance for pain. I used laughing gas to help me get through the pain when the needle was being poked in. First birth; I only used the epidural for 15min because I gave birth immediately after. Second birth I was on epidural for at least 1-2hr before I gave birth. It’s really your call if you’d like epidural or not. And for me, I knew I couldn’t take the pain so I just went for it.

I feel epi was more painful than my contractions cos the doct who injected into my spine was a grumpy old man. Hais. Nearly paralysed cos I moved abit due to my auto reflex. It was baddd. Then I had emergency c sect and they need to put more epi and side effects were shivering and dozing off. I heard some ppl worse, vomiting and fever. Actually my advice is to play by ear and see how on that day. It will be good if you dilate very fast and dunnid any epi.

initially didnt want to take epi cos i tot my pain tolerance is high and kinda wanna try to endure. however as i did induction, the pain was managable yet crampy. and to think if i can endure for a long time is tough so i decided to went ahead. had 2 injections as the first one has blood flowing thru so redo. pain is ok, and instant pain relief aft that. i just felt v numb on my legs. aft giving birth, i vomitted and v v v tired.

I was induced without epidural as it dilated 10cm last minute and ready to birth! No regrets at all! Amazed that I did it without epidural, and glad that I didn’t suffer from any heard of side effects of epidural too! Our body are made to birth! You can try! It was painful definitely, but I’m glad I experienced it all too! So it’s really up to you! :)

Laughing gas didnt work for me so i chose epi or happy-dural heh. I came to the labour room at ard 6am, tried the gas, didnt work so epi was administered at ard 10am. I managed to nap for awhile before all that pushing etc happens so it think its great. Oh plus you dont really feel whenever the doctor check your dilation manually.

I took epi as I was induced! I failed to dilate throughout the induction but the epi helped in numbing ALL my pains! The process was pretty hurtful though. I could feel the insertions of everything in my spine but the numbing effect was fast. My side effect from it is just random back pains now 😅

I was leaning towards no epidural however laughing gas did not work n make me felt horrible. Gynae suggested for me to consider taking to speed up cervix dilation as i was very tensed. Took at 7cm and was a savior. No pain n side effects. One jab was all was needed! 🥲