Placing an epidural?

Question

I’m pregnant with mo/di twins, and the nurse practitioner I meet with bi weekly is highly encouraging me to have an epidural placed, even if they don’t administer anesthesia, due to the fact that otherwise they’d have to put me under general anesthesia in the event of an emergency c-section. Has everyone else been given this same advice? I had my first baby without any anesthesia and I’d like to avoid it if possible for this birth as well, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to manage the pain with an epidural placed. From your experience were you able to move/adjust positions once they placed it or did they want you to stay on the bed? Being on the bed was the most painful position while i labored with my first so I’m a little terrified to be stuck there!

Answer

If I was asked this, I too would probably get the epidural because I would be devastated to have a general and miss the whole birthing of the twins. 
However hearing people’s experiences and having to labour on the bed all the time does sound very shitty, so definitely asked your OB some more questions 😊

Answer

My doctor gave me the same advice. They place it just in case but you dont have to use it

Answer

With twins everything is different. I would have done this option if I was able to attempt vaginal delivery. I too have had babies without medication or interventions but with twins it’s different. Lot of things can happen and sometimes it goes very smoothly. I would prefer to get the epidural over having to get general. I don’t think your attached to anything so you might still be able to do intermittent monitoring. When you labor in a hospital they like to monitor you all the time 🙄 when you get the epidural placed they tape it to your back then if needed they can shoot a vial of meds into the end.

Answer

Honestly I don’t know how much they are going to let you move around during labor epidural or not. You might want to ask the doctor because a few of us, including myself, were limited and not allowed to get out of bed for numerous reasons. I feel if I had gone to a different hospital that would have allowed me to move around I could have had them without the medication in an epidural. Being stuck and rolled like an old person every 1-2 hours was miserable and made for the whole experience, shit. If I had it all to do over again I’d ask around til I found a hospital that would allow me to move freely. Their reasoning for me was to keep both babies on the monitor. They had trouble getting both babies on the monitor so they didn’t want to detach it for any reason and then spend another hour trying to find them again. Personally I think it was stupid but I can’t change it now. I ended up getting an epidural within 2 hours of starting contractions. My contractions went from not feeling them at all to intense back labor. I feel like if I had been able to walk or rock on a ball or something other than lay in bed I could have meditated through them.

Answer

Thats a hard decision because i feel like they must have a strong reason to recommend it but i dont think i would do it. 
Theres a lot of risks that come with getting an epidural. Even if you dont get the actual drug, they are still putting a hole in there which could lead to a lot of complications. I dont think i would do it.
Good luck with your decision!

Placing an epidural?

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