epidurals

salliestar · Sep 18, 1998

Dear Nursing Student,

As a fairly new L&D nurse I am amazed at the number of women who chose to have an epidural with their deliveries. I have had 4 children , 3 "natural" births and one epidural. After working in critical care most of my career, I decided to try OB and I love it but I cannot believe how uninformed most women are today . They come to the hospital wanting their epidural and do not give any thought to anything else. I feel that this is due largely in part to the fact that many births are managed and do not occur naturally. they are induced by various methods. when pitocin is used the pain of childbirth becomes unbearable and an epidural may well be the only way that a woman can cope with the fast, furious contractions. My concern is that women need to be encouraged to wait for the natural process of labor to occur and to at least try natural child birth. //and physicians need to better educate thier patients on how the use of pitocin will affect their labors. In general I think it is very sad the so many women allow their births to be managed instead of taking control of the situation. Their is nothing wrong with choosing an epidural but there is a better way. With the right education and support a woman can have a beautiful birth experience without using an epidrual.

kayzag · Sep 25, 1998

I have worked in L&D x 21 years and now having an anesthesiologist available 24hrs a day as been a welcome experience. I feel that women

should be educated as to the pain relief options available to them and feel that if the patient elects to have pain med, she should not be discouraged and she should be aware that epidurals are an option if that is the case but she can be made aware that she may want to try IV Stadol first or whatever you institution uses. Some patients find they don't need an epidural after all if IV pain med does the trick.

cassey · Sep 28, 1998

I have to reply from the patient stand point, as I am a BSN RN on a medical unit. I felt I educated myself quite well on the pain relief options. My husband and I took the prenatal classes and devoted a lot of time trying to get the lamaze breathing and relaxation techniques down, as we didn't want to use any pain medication. Well, when it got down to brass tacks-Stadol and Nubain didn't even take the edge off my pain, so we consented to have an epidural. I have to tell you from that point on I throughly enjoyed my labor. I could rest in between my contractions. I knew the nurses that were with me because I have floated to their unit quite a few times, so we could actually laugh and joke a bit. I was so comfortable with the who process, I was ready to go through the whole experience again the next day.