Epidural, c-section, natural?

Question

I need advice! I am someone who has extreme anxiety when it comes to health. I am 25 weeks pregnant with my first and need to start looking at my options. Anxiety has always been the worst for me. I am scared of having a heart attack, a brain anurism.. I am more scared of these things than actually giving birth. But I know they are not the reality. For someone who's got anxiety... If you've been through it. What would you recommend? Here I have the choice for c section. The epidural scares the crap put of me. And the best case scenario that I'd love... If I can calm my thoughts.. Would be to give natural birth without epidural while.. Yes... Squatting. I'll let gravity help me on this one. Without judgment please, what do you think?

Answer

I had an epidural and would get it 100 more times. It made my labor such a great experience and I was able to enjoy it instead of being in pain for 18 hours.

Answer

The epidural actually really helped with my anxiety and I was able to relax. I ended up needing a csection in the end and being rushed into it spiked a panic attack but the anesthesiologist put me under fully because I was apparently saying that I could feel everything. Despite all of that, I’m having a repeat csection and feeling a lot more positive about it. Talk with your doctor about what would be absolutely best for you and your mental state during delivery. 💛

Answer

I had an epidural for my csection and I've had severe back pain every day since and my daughter is just over 4mo. If I could go natural I'd definitely try to avoid having another epidural, I know there are other types of pain relief and personally I'd rather exhaust all other options. If I were to have another C-section I don't have a choice because being put totally under with general anesthesia is totally and 100% out of the question. But again this is me personally.

Answer

I had a home birth with my oldest. 37 long labor hours. Hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but most amazing thing ever! Then I got pregnant with my twins and had to have a C-Section. Definitely a easier process to get them here, but recovery was harder. We are currently TTC#4, and while I loved my home birth, I had a lot of labor complications that kept making me stall out, so I’m thinking this go around I really want to go for a VBAC, but in the hospital...and definitely not against an epidural. I feel like I would enjoy the labor more if I wasn’t in so much pain. And I have a ridiculously high pain tolerance.

Answer

Go for the squat! You can do this (coming from someone with through the roof anxiety that had a home birth). When I was pregnant, I found myself panicking over every possible labor complication and decided I needed to feel as “in control” as possible (there’s no way I could manage the unpredictability of an epidural) and be in a place where I felt most comfortable (imagining laboring in a hospital setting freaked me out), so I took things into my own hands. Weirdly enough, shouldering more responsibility and taking ownership of my birth eased my anxiety.

Answer

I have bad anxiety about a C section I’m terrified I’ve never had surgery I have my tonsils, appendix, and wisdom teeth. I can’t imagine being cut open anywhere on my body it terrifies me to my core

Answer

You would prob benefit from having a midwife or doula present. My friend has bad anxiety & she managed to have a natural birth despite all her fears with a midwife who helped ease her anxieties. 
She said it really empowered her & she wouldn't have done it naturally otherwise, which was whet she originally wanted.
I haven't given birth yet & I don't have any anxieties, but that's what worked for my close friend who had a lot of anxiety.

Answer

I’ve done all three & the least anxiety provoking for me was an epidural. 😓 Csections make me panic & natural with no pain meds almost killed me & my daughter because I have a really low pain tolerance.

Answer

Epidural for sure. I have bad anxiety too and was terrified but I’d do it again. I went from the worst pain imaginable to actually being able to enjoy my labor.

Epidural, c-section, natural?

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