Natural birth or pain medicine?

Question

For the mommies who've had natural births, how bad is it?  Is there anything else that you can do to help soothe the pain a little? For the mommies who've had epidural,  did it help?  Have you had any side effects since then? Any back problems? Even the mommies that have done both, what were your experiences? I'm thinking if possible when the time comes I want to do a Natural labor because I'm afraid of the epidural,  the needle itself.  I've also heard from friends the back pains that they have now from getting an epidural are bad.   Of course if things don't work out as planned then so be it. But u would like to hear your stories 👋

Answer

I had a natural birth. I planned on an epi only if I needed to rest to keep going. It was PAINFUL. Not gonna lie to you. But it was bearable, and when it was worst, it was nearly over. Once the baby was out, the pain was gone and the recovery was so fast. Research pain management techniques for labor and consider a doula. I found some things that really worked for me. You can do it!

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I have always done natural birth... I am too scared to have a needle put in my spine. Honestly natural birth is different for everyone, it depends on your tolerance for pain. And not everyone has hard labor. I don't think I've been in labor that was over 7 hours once but it wasn't real active until my water broke and then 15 min later I had a baby. I would suggest trying natural labor first. And if you really really can't handle it take the epidural, but you'll be surprised what you can get through.

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I had an epidural with my first. I got it halfway through. I hated being unable to move during labor and I have always had back problems since then.

2 weeks ago I had my second child naturally. I did it in the hospital and I had pitocin. I had a doula and my husband with me. I did almost all of my labor on a birthing ball and tried to move around the whole time. The doula rubbed my hips and back and helped a lot. It was bearable until about a 7 and then it was very painful, pushing actually made it feel better. I didn't need any narcotics except for a half of a Percocet after and then I switching to IB/Tylenol. I did tear but they numbed me during stitching. The pain is really intense but it goes quickly when it's the worst (like the other poster said) at the end. I would do it natural again even though my first birth was nearly painless.

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Have you looked into Laughing gas? It's a great step before deciding whether to use an epidural or not. Plus it does carry risk. Baby won't go into distress from laughing gas.

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I had an epidural & habe neber had any issues from it. Don't know anyone who has either.

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My husband and I had talked about it before hand and heard stories of the epideral causing people to be paralyzed or have back problems and that was not something we wanted to have to worry about. So we opted for natural. I had no clue I was in labor and our doctor was an hour away from where we live. When I finally realized we should probably go to the hospital ( i was beyond miserable) we got in the pickup and headed there. I ended up having my worst contractions in the truck on the way over. I still had no clue what was going on. I had never went through this before. Needless to say by the time we got to the hospital I was at 9 and it was way to late for one anyways, they did however numb me so it wouldn't hurt if I did tear. I can say it honestly wasn't that bad and I'd do it again next time. But I've been told my labor was an easy one.

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Pain medicine 😰😰 well depends on how you tolerate pain.  I can't tolerate pain. So for me pain medicine 100%

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The pain is different for everyone and with every birth. With my oldest I had it, with my middle son I did not and with my youngest I didn't want to but then they had to give me Pitocin and that makes contractions even worse so I wound up getting it. The epidural is a wonderful thing.

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I went 20 some odd hours out of 32 hours total of labor with no medication. I was dialated to a 6 but for hours didn't others any further so I caved for the epidural. That was the only reason I went for it and once that kicked in I was able to relax and let my body do what it needed. Sweet and sour for me as I loved it at the time but I know live with back pain from it. Any time I stay active for a lengthy period of time the pain starts where the epidural was placed and radiates down the rest of my lower back.

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My epidural was the best thing ever. My labor was so incredibly painful compared to the little pinch from the numbing agent. I would do it again in a heartbeat! Now, my SIL's 2 "attempted" epidurals were horrendous. Searing pain worse than labor, digging in her back to get it positioned correctly (they never were, she didn't get much relief) and blood pouring out of her back. She won't even attempt one this pregnancy bc it's worse than labor/delivery. It really depends on the person and you won't know until your going through it. I wanted to go natural and that just ended up not being an option for me. I was completely miserable until I got the epidural. My back did ache in that spot on occasion for a little while but nothing major