Epidural Early?

Question

I am almost 37 weeks with my son, whi is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, and his abdomen growth is far behind (less than 2nd percentile). Because of this, we are being induced at 38 wks. I am being encouraged by both our OB and our specialist to have an epidural done very early on to avoid extra stress to his heart, and try to keep his heart rate down. I'm looking for POSITIVE stories about your experience with an epidural early on, and why you liked it- especially if you had a traumatic experience before(which I did with my daughter 3 years ago).

Answer

Hey. I had my epidural as soon as my induction started. I was less than 1cm at the start. I never felt a single contraction, I slept through most of the labour as it was late at night. I was woken up to be checked and was at 10cm. No pain at all, easy labour and I dilated at a normal rate. 
It was a wonderful experience and I enjoyed it.

Answer

With my first baby I had to get induced & I got the epidural at 3 cm but I was 3 cm for the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy but I loved getting the epidural early on, i was in labor for 14 hours & didn’t feel anything at all.

Answer

When you mean early, do you mean early in the labor, or early as in not full term?
I had an epidural before starting pitocin 2 of my 3 inductions. When you're having a natural labor, epidural can slow down contractions. But you're being induced, so the meds will force the contractions anyway. 
But I was full term so that's why I wanted to clarify.

Answer

I wouldn’t call my first labor traumatic, but I did hemorrhage while delivering the placenta. 
I got my epidural at 2CM once they broke my water due to very painful contractions that were on top of one another. I got induced with pitocin. I was glad I was able to get it early on because I barely experienced any pain. With my second labor, I got induced again but just with Cervidil. They placed it and the second they did I had pain down there. I figured I was just sore but little did I know it was actually working. I woke up a couple hours later and was shaking so bad from my contractions. I was in full blown labor. They took it out because I was 4CM. An hour goes by and I ask for an epidural but it was already too late. I was at my point of wanting to give up. I knew baby was coming soon. I was 7-8CM and progressing fast. By the time I got it placed I had a ton of pressure and my body was pushing on its own. They checked and I was 10CM. They didn’t have time to place a catheter. It was a very fast and intense labor for me. So it definitely has its pros to getting it early on. My daughter also had shoulder dystocia from her position. But everything turned out fine. I would listen to the doctors suggestion.

Epidural Early?

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