I had an epidural with my son, after saying it was something i would never do. I wished i had one earlier in my labour. I was in so much pain i did not feel a thing. After having the epidural i felt no pain and made giving birth enjoyable for both my husband and myself.

i had 1 and felt nothing contrctions wer my main concern!!

Although I never have had an epidural personally I have attended many women, as a midwife, who have had an epidural. The process is performed by a very experienced and skilled anaesthetist and can be done very quickly. However they do need a certain amount of co-operation on your part to aid the process, this can sometimes be a little challenging in the middle of a contraction. The most painful part is the local anaesthetic used to numb the area. It can feel a little like a bee sting for a couple of minutes and after that you just feel a little bit of pressure (pushing into your back). Sometimes women also experience a warm pins and needles sensation in their legs as the anaesthetic starts to work. You will have to have an intravenous drip sited as an epidural can lower your blood pressure and this is then used to raise it again if necessary. A lot of women think that the needle stays in their back but it is actually a plastic tube that remains there which feeds through the anaesthetic either continuously or intermittently depending what stage of labour you are at when it is sited. Although epidurals have come along way over the last 10-15 years they still carry a risk of prolonging the labour, particularly the second stage, and they also increase the risk for needing an assisted delivery (forceps/ventouse).

have u decided what your gonna do yet love or are you gonna wait n see wot happens?
xx

Hiya i had an epidural and its true your contractions are overwhelmin that you dnt feel the needle going in, and when they take it out it doesnt hurt either, the only bad thing i would say is u cant get up straight away once u've had baby. But im considerin having another one this time rund.

hi,epidurals:god send.trust me they are great.i dont want to scare you but your in so much pain from the labour that you dont even feel them putting the needle in your back and this is comin from someone who is petrified of needles!!i was in labour for 25 hours and only decided i wanted an epidural 2 hours before my baby was born,so i only had 2 hours of relief but they fantasic.after it took effect i sat there eating a bag of crisps!the midwife asked me if i felt 'that'.she said it was my strongest contraction yet and i didnt feel a thing.highly recommend one.why be in all that pain if you dont have to love.take care and good luck
xx

hey there!
no epidural doesnt hurt at all! u wont feel it! i completely reccomend it!! there fab! cant say anything bad abt it at all! didnt feel a thing! i had such a fab birth! all they do is put a drip in ur hand, u dont even c them puttin it in ur bak, n to b honest u wont even b thinkin or carin abt wot there doin as u'll b w8in 4 a contraction!!
epidural=god send! lol
xx

Hiya hun. I had a epidural after 14 hours in labour as I needed a emergency c-section and to be perfectly honest I didnt feel a thing at all. You do have to keep really still to make sure they get it in the right place. Unfortunately for me mine didnt take the full sensation of the contractions away but it was only on one side and they were no where near as bad as I had been having. I was on the synt hormone drip aswell as I had to be induced and believe me they were really bad to have, so at least the epidural took the edge of them and they were far easy to cope with I even managed to relax for a little while. Hope all goes well hun xxx Jade xxx