I figured that instead of my usual ramblings, today's posting is going to focus on the process of delivery... or rather, how should I cope with the pains of labour. I'm sure there are scores of women who were petrified of the pains of delivery but have gone through and lived to tell the tale. In part, this posting is a little bit of "research" that I'm taking so that I can better cope with my personal demon.
So, to all the women out there (ok, and maybe some men who have lived through their wives' own delivery process) who have gone through the pains of delivery, I was hoping that you would be able to share with me your thoughts on epidural. Consider this a little fact finding so that I can weigh the pros and cons of epidural and any lingering side effects of it. And for the brave ones out there who chosed not to use epidural, how did you cope and what was the pain like? What other unknown facts should I be aware of going into the delivery ward?I've asked my hubby a few nights about whether he think I should use epidural during delivery and his frank opinion was that I should go ahead and do it. His rationale? Becos he felt that I have a low threshold tolerance for pain. Oookkk... that doesn't sound very encouraging, although he could be right for a number of reasons. Firstly, I lucked out and have not really had to go through excruciating menstral cramps. Secondly, on the 2 ocassions where I experienced close to feelings of cramps due to severe food poisoning, I was in a real pathetic state and probably scare a few years off Louis' lifespan. To top it off, during the last blood tests that I did 2 months ago where the nurse had to draw 4 vials of blood from me, I nearly fainted, this time, scaring the nurse right out of her skin.
So... maybe Louis does have a point and since we do have every intentions (at this juncture) to have another kid in the future, I shouldn't try to be too gung-ho and go through labour sans epidural.
But before I commit and agree to let the anesthesiologist plunge that needle into my spine, I wanted to have the deck of cards laid out in front of me.
Hence, I'm inviting you to share your thoughts, experiences, tips or advice with me via comments on this blog or email. Merci beaucoup :)
4 comments:
Use the "Laughing Gas" or pain-killer jab for the inital stage.. until its unbearable then use Epidural. That was what happened to me.. Cos inital labour pain was still bearable. :-)
As for me, once I had the Epidural, I just kept shivering. Side effect after that? Backache now lor.. But then, no regrets using it!
Dunno if I qualify to pass my comments since I will never be the one in pain. But I shall assume your invitation to comment is open to all.
I guess even though you might not be the type that can tahan a lot of pain, when it comes to such a special moment, you have the courage to face it. My sis in law is supposed to be one that cant take pain, yet she went through without it for 3 times. Although every time she would say she was nuts not to have epidural and vowed never to do it without again :-)
At the end of the day, if going through without epidural has a special significance to you, then its sth to consider. For psychological differences, only bearer knows best. If it doesn't matter at all, then my doctor friends will say, just trust medical advances and go through it with less pain. Decision is yours. When time comes, am sure you will arrive at the best decision :-)
Hi,
I used epidural too 'cos my pain threshold is very low. Hubby encouraged me to take. I asked my gynae "how painful would it be?" she said "10x more painful than now!" (that time i was 2-5mins in contraction) oh dear... so i took it.
so far, no side effect for me like backache or vomitting or shivering so i think it really depends on individual body make up. But a friend of mine said that it does affect milk supply initially so have to breastfeed frequently after birth.
I didn't take laughing gas or pain killer, i straight away ask the doc to give epidural 'cos my thoughts was why go thru the pain then take. Sometimes it doesn't really relieve pain at all if used too late. Anyway my labour is abt 4hrs...so it didn't take too long for lil grace to see this world. And with this comfort labour, I'll definitely try again :) just my 2cents worth of thoughts.
Thanks all for the feedback and comments on the blog or via email/IM. So far, it seems that most would start out without epidural but might have to use it for one reason or another.
A colleague who's wife just gave birth shared that his wife endured for 1 hour before deciding to take so that she could rest a bit.
Frankly, I think I would still be pondering about this up till delivery. Right now, it seems that ideally, it would be best if one can endure. Until the time when the pain becomes unbearable or that the labour would still take a long time, that's when the critical decision on using epidural would be made.
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