Moms who want to feel absolutely NO pain

[HappyNurse2005]

This is another thing I didn't realize was as common as it is-people who want to feel zip in the way of pain. granted, most women who want epidurals do say that they want to wait until the pain is unbearable, or at least hurts somewhat.

I've had a few now that wanted the epidural BEFORE they had any pain, so they wouldn't have any pain at all. Had a pit induction today. her family was encouraging her to get the epidural before we started the pit. she wanted it asap. So technically, she wasn't even really laboring.

here the doc has to give the okay for the epidural. (female)resident says she's not in any pain, i think she should wait. i was trying to get an answer from her as to when she could get it. (ps-pt is 41 weeks, g1, 2cm). she then told me to ask the other resident b/c she didnt know.

so i asked the (male) resident and the (male) attending. they said go for it, but be more aggressive with her pit. actually, the male attending said "if i was going to get pit, i'd want an epidural. if i was in labor, i'd want one asap".

so, are women allowed to get their epidurals as soon as they want them, even if not in pain? or do htey have a centimeter amount they have to get to first?

(my personal opinion is that they should be able to have it whenever they want it, if there is no medical reason to wait. of course, i also make sure they know that though it won't hurt, you can't eliminate the pressure. )

[MamaMadge, ADN, BSN]

Wow! So many differing ways of doing things! At our hospital, if she gets Pitocin, she's offered all pain relief options just like any other patient. It is UP TO THE PATIENT if she wants to use them. We have many very stoic moms who absolutely do NOT want epidurals whether they are in need of Pitocin or not. While I heartily agree that no one should decide when someone gets an epidural, other than the patient herself, our job in advocating for our patient includes helping them have an unmedicated birth if that is what they choose and there is no risk to her or her baby. I think in our type of nursing we all must be flexible and remember that each and every patient, baby and birth are unique!!

[mkeep74]

I started labor at 3 am and when I got to the hospital 2 hrs later at 5am i was already 9cm and almost completely efaced. I was in so much pain that I think I resembled the girl from the exorcist. I may have actually scared the woman pushing my W/C down to L+D. She didn't stop the chair when I asked her to, and I was having a massive contraction. ( I had the good grace to feel bad after) Anyway, they immediately had me pushing but DD would not progress. I couldn't focus and couldn't even stay still, the pain was soooo bad. I was begging for an epidural, but they wouldn't give it to me, because they said the position I would have to be in for the epi would make me sit on the baby's head. After an hour of this, they finally agreed I should get the epi. Anasthesiologist comes up and they sat me up, and the pain was so excruciating from that(sitting up, I hadn't even gotten a needle yet), I couldn't make a sound nor could I even drag in a breath of air. So then they had me lay on my side and gave me the epi. (After having DD I finally wondered, if they could do it on my side, why didn't they just do that to begin with?) Anyway, once the epi was in, the very next contraction didn't hurt a bit. I could feel some pressure but it wasn't uncomfortable. They let me relax for a bit, but after a while had to give me Pitocin because my contractions were slowing down. We were still having trouble with DD progressing. However, once the MD started mentioning forceps, vacuum or CS, I got that baby out.

My point after this long drawn out post is, I was very far along in my labor, but they were giving me a hard time about the epi. Said it was too late, but they finally consented to let me have it. That just made me feel like they were lying to me. I wasn't very trusting of anyone there after that. i agree that the epi probably slowed down my labor, but for me I think that may have been a good thing considering it onlt took 2 hours for me to completely dilate and my contractions almost ran into each other they were coming so fast. i barely had time in between to catch my breath.

Would I ahve another baby? ABSOLUTELY!! Would I have the epi again? I'd try, but considering I seem to have fast labor, who knows. I just believe that noone should make another person feel bad for it. Pain is subjective. I would not wish that pain on anyone, so if they feel they need it I believe they should have it. It's not up to me or anyone else to tell that person how much they can endure. I do know that I told the anasthesiologist that I loved him!!!

For me it was what made the difference to give me a chance to breath and summon my strength. And when she ws born,..... God, how beautiful.

PS my sister in law had the epidural and it only worked on one side of her body. Yikes, that was pretty bad.