Epidural or natural?

Question

Looking for advice from people who’ve had both an epidural and a natural birth.. with the second one this time I’m leaning towards natural because the epidural I had with the first I believe they gave me too much and it became hard to breathe and freaked me out so bad. It was also impossible to tell how I was pushing and I ended up pushing for 4 hours and had an emergency c section after trying for so long. I really want to have a Vbac this time and no epidural. Any advice is appreciated!

Answer

Had an epidural with the first, that was an ordeal! Took so so long and I really didn’t like not having the natural urge to push, I really didn’t want to push once I had the epidural, I was dog tired! 
Second I had natural (although did ask for epidural at some point) but they couldn’t give that to me 😂 I was just getting scared but I needn’t have been as my daughter was born really fast and it was all over in a matter of minutes. I got that urge to push, the body literally does it all for you which I was shocked about as for some reason I thought we had a say in when we push but nope! 😅 
I would hands down go for natural again, first pregnancies and labour always seem to last quite long because it’s new to the body but my body was prepped for the second baby and she came out quickly so I’d definitely recommend at least trying to go without it since it’s your second time!

Answer

Had an epidural with my first, all natural with my second. 
Going natural is no joke. It hurts like a SOB. The head is honestly the worst part. The “ring of fire” is real. However, once babies head is out. It’s totally fine. No residual pain. You’re so flooded with hormones from holding the baby, I didn’t feel anything after. I was able to go to the bathroom, walk around, etc which was really nice. Versus being tied to the bed with my first. 
I didn’t feel anything with my first. My midwife also said I’m a good “pusher”. I had both babies out within 2-3 pushes. I had about 10 stitches with #1 and just a few more with #2. 
With that said, I’m pregnant with #3 and plan on going natural barring any medical emergencies. 😊😊

Answer

I’m really curious to know about labor and pushing times on natural vs epidural. Maybe I’m reading in all the wrong places, but I keep seeing longer push times and labor with epidurals.
I’m a FTM, 19w so I have nothing to go on, but I’m aiming for natural no epidural if possible.

Answer

I did natural the first time, mostly because there wasn’t time for it by the time pushing came. With my second I did an epidural but by the time it came to pushing it only had halfway kicked in (it only numbed my right side but not the left). 
I’m due in 7 weeks now and will try for natural because of how fast labor seems to go

Answer

I chose to have an epidural with my VBAC just in case rupture occurred (it did not). 
Zero regrets!! I ate a full meal then pushed out a baby. 😅

Answer

I haven’t had a natural birth but I have had two epidurals, my first I had a hard time breathing as well but my sons head was really big.. so he was hard to push out but they had to put the oxygen on because I felt like I was gasping for air. I’m not sure if it was the head size, the not being able to feel my contractions, or the epidural. The second time I didn’t have the issue, it was a bigger baby but smaller head and she popped out in three minutes. I did tell the nurse that last time my epidural was to strong, and I wanted to be able to still feel my contractions so they did a lower dose and let me decide when I needed a little more or not so I had like a clicker. That labor was much easier, I didn’t feel like I was guessing as much with pushing, but I also knew what I was doing. I hope that’s helpful, good luck with whichever you decide!

Answer

Following just to read others response.

Epidural or natural?

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