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Epidural, yay or nay?
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Epidural, yay or nay?

  1. <span  class="bbp-author-name">K. Blackford</span>
    K. Blackford

    Hello ladies, I’m 34 weeks pregnant now and ready to have my baby 🙂 and I’ve decided I’m trying without epidural. My best friend is a doula and she has 3 children. She did one delivery with epidural and 2 without. She says she would never use it again and so says another mom I talked to as well. According to them, they messed up and she couldn’t feel anything for 3 days or longer, nor even walk.

    04/17/2016 at 7:39 am
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  2. Dear K. Blackford,

    Some women prefer to use epidural anesthesia for pain relief during labor, while others consider it makes it a less natural process and prefer to have a natural childbirth. It is a very personal decision; however, I am going to list the most common advantages and disadvantages so that you can have an idea:

    1. Epidural anesthesia is not effective in every patient.
    2. Using it implies that labor will be medically manipulated from beginning to end, in which case the performance of episiotomy and a forceps delivery are likely to become necessary.
    3. The concentration of epidural anesthesia may cause the loss of muscle strength, thereby inhibiting the feeling of labor contractions. This causes the second stage of labor to develop more slowly, since the woman will have to rely completely on the midwife’s instructions to know when to push.
    4. Its effects lasts around 2 hours and can be increased or reduced if necessary in the very moment of delivery so that you can have total control of this moment.
    5. It usually makes the process longer, which can be useful for some women.
    6. It is a great painkiller without at the same time it does not inhibit mental faculties and allows the woman to participate actively even when a C-section is required.

    I hope this helps you make up your mind and have a wonderful labor 🙂

    All the best

    04/21/2016 at 3:24 pm
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