My experience with epidural

I am writing this post to share my experience with you. These are the things “I wish I had known before my delivery”. But obviously, you don’t know what you don’t know.

My labor started when my water broke. However, contractions never came. So hours later, they administered pitocin to start to contractions.

After a while, pain started to become unbearable. It was my first baby and I still had a lot of way to go. I was open to having epidural (it was in my birth plan), and I was advised to ask for it when I felt like things were going to get intolerable.

1. First things first. You cannot eat or drink after they administer epidural. So you have to feed yourself in advance. Ii is really bad when you are thirsty, because they only let you chew on ice and I hate it.
2. You cannot walk around much after the epidural is in.
3. You have to be able to curve your spine really well for the anesthesiologist find the right spot. If you are planning on asking for epidural, exercise on bending forwardand curving your spine really well.
4. It took about an hour, between I asked for (cried for)  the epidural and the anesthesiologist to put in the needle and the epidural to work. The procedure takes time. They need to get the approval of your doctor, then explain you the risks, then ask you to sign approval papers etc. I wasn’t able to pay a lot of attention to the “risks” speech anyway. I was already shaking with pain during distractions, when it was time to put in the needle.

After the procedure, that relief spreading through my body was priceless. I don’t think I would have handled the contraction pain, artificially induced by pitocin. I was able to regulate it and had no problems during the labor, delivery or after. Labor progressed as expected (not slower, not faster) and I was able to push my son without a problem.

I think the anesthesiologist who administered the epidural was a great doctor. He was very comforting and had a light hand, as we say. He was able to find the right spot at the first try, as I was trembling through a contraction.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor or a certified expert. This article intended for informational purposes only. It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider. For any medical issues, please consult your doctor or ob/gyn first.