Question about your labor

I figure because you had your babies already you can answer this question.

If you had a vaginal birth, did they make you have an epidural or were you allowed to go natural if that is what you wanted? Thanks

 

I was told I could make the call. I was sent to the hospital to be induced at 5pm asap due to pre-eclampsia, but when I got there I was already in labor and didn't know it. The cramps I was having for 24 hours my OB's nurse said were from my pelvic exam the afternoon before. They decided to let my labor take its own course, but it totally stopped at midnight, so they started to induce me slowly. In the early morning I thought these contractions aren't so bad I don't need the epidural. Well by 11am I was asking if it was too late to have one, so they administered it for me. Max & Lily were born 4 hours later.

I am glad I got the epidural. I have a high pain tolerance due to a herniated disc in my back, but when those contractions really started to kick in I felt like a total wimp and wanted relief asap. I hope this helps you in your decision process.

 

that's up to you. I think unless your contractions get so intense that you hyperventilate, they may give you some pain relief.

 

When I was admitted (my water broke), the plan was to go natural and after 24 hours, I took the epidural--what a relieft! It was all my choice...I did end up having a c-section the last minute, though. Good luck!

 

I'm sure it's the same across the board -- the dr can't MAKE you have an epi unless you want one. I had done the last 2 deliveries w/ no drugs... but opted for the epi this time due to the fact that Twin B was breech and they were going to manually attempt to turn in (from the inside)... :shok:

 

i did not have an epi although my OB strongly recommended it (in case of emergency c-section). that was my choice before labour started and in the end my labour went too fast to get an epi anyway, so it all worked out.

 

No one made me have an epidural! But after being in labor for about 6 hours with no pain medication I was screaming and begging for the epidural. LOL

 

It was ultimately my decision, but my doc did highly reccomend an epi just in case Baby B turned and she would have to turn her or pull her out. Thank goodness that I got an epi! Baby B did turn and my doc grabbed her by her feet and pulled her out. I'm so glad that I didn't completely feel that!

 

no epi here. baby b was pulled out but i didn't find it that terrible. babies were born 2 hours after my water broke so it was real quick and i could tolerate the pain. actually for me the worst part was the placenta and getting sowed up after. maybe it's because i was done having the babies and i was surprised to still be in pain or it really hurt alot.
you call the shots with your birth. go with whatever feels best for you.

 

Epidurals are 100% your choice. They can suggest for you have one. Or if you end up having to deliver by C-section, then they'll have to an epidural or spinal.

 

Thanks everyone. I've been through labor before with my 10 month old and didn't have one because i didn't want one. I want to go again as natural as possible with the twins, i just wasn't sure if they force you as a 'just in case' measure. Thanks!

 

It was totally up to me. I got my epidrual at around 5 cm and 3-4 hours into my labor! GL!

 

QUOTE(aimeethomp @ Sep 23 2008, 01:15 PM) [snapback]993473[/snapback]
No one made me have an epidural! But after being in labor for about 6 hours with no pain medication I was screaming and begging for the epidural. LOL



Same here...but by the time I asked for it, it was too late! So no epi for us, and my doctor was really supportive of my decision to try to have them without it.

 

Talk to your doctor. I pretty much knew I'd have one, but I tried to last awhile w/out one. I think my doctor wanted me to have an epidural, but we didn't really discuss otherwise.

My water broke, but I wasn't having strong contractions and they weren't doing anything. They wanted to give me pitocin, but I made them wait till 7 am when my doctor would be there. Was on pitocin for about 3-3 1/2 hours and got the epidural. About 4 hours later they were born. A friend of mine got an epidural but it didn't work!

 

I also had mine without one, although I think some doctors really push them "just in case." Fortunately my Baby B turned vertex at 37 weeks so I wasn't worrying about having to do a breech extraction; otherwise it was just like a regular labor and I was very glad to be able to be fully mobile.

 

I wanted to go totally drug-free but my baby B was breech and my Dr. was most comfortable doing a breech extraction so he strongly recommended that I have an epidural and basically said he wouldn't be comfortable doing the breech extraction without it. I had the tubing place during the labor but had no medication until about 2 minutes before delivery. I did hypnobabies and found the labor to be totally manageable pain wise. Looking back, I think I could have handled the breech birth unmedicated with the aid of the self-hypnosis- that stuff really worked for me! However I really wanted a vaginal birth (very uncommon in my area for twins, let alone one breech twin) so I was willing to compromise. I think you can do a natural birth with twins if you want to- go for it and good luck!!

 

I had to have an epidural b/c we were in a very small town and if I needed an emergency section it was the safest way to go. Not like I would have chosen not to have one, I'm just not that tough I had my girls vaginally with no problems at all within 11 mins of each other. Good luck!!

 

I was induced due to PIH (high blood pressure) and other signs of pre-e. Both babies were vertex. When they broke my H20, holy crap. I opted for the epi (had always planned on drugs if it got bad). My Dr. said it was totally up to me. HOWEVER & THIS IS THE BIG ONE... if something happened and I had to have an emergency C section (which I came much closer to than I would like to think about) if I hadn't of opted for drugs by that point they would have had to do general anesthesia and knocked me out cold so I would have missed the birth all together.

FYI... I pushed for a total of 10 minutes. Delivered the first baby on the 2nd contraction we pushed on and the second baby on the next contraction. Placentas the contraction after that. My labor went by in the blink of an eye. And they were 5lbs & 6lbs, so small, but not tiny. Dr. seriously recommended for future children to get my butt to the hospital the second I felt a contraction so I didn't have them in the car.

 

There are many (if not most) OBs who will want you to get an epidural with twins in case they need to do a c-section. You don't have to get any medication in it though.

 

QUOTE(Elisabethcogdill @ Sep 23 2008, 11:59 AM) [snapback]993334[/snapback]
I figure because you had your babies already you can answer this question.

If you had a vaginal birth, did they make you have an epidural or were you allowed to go natural if that is what you wanted? Thanks


The hospital where I delivered required that I have the line in just in case we needed to go into the OR...since the worst part about an epidural is getting the line put in, I just opted to have the medication, as well. I didn't ask to have it put in until I was fairly well dilated, though (6+ cm).

 

I was given the option, but was strongly advised to have an epi. I did the first few hours without the epi and then decided to have one. I was sooo glad I did, it made the pain much more manageable. But I was one of a few whose epi wore off right when I was in the middle of pushing, they tried two more times and I had no luck in making the epi work again. I was exhausted at that point as I had been in labour for 19hrs with 3 hrs of pushing, so we decided to do a csection. So they did a spinal, and I didn't feel a thing after that.