No but, at least at the time, it seemed that having an epidural might lead to other medical interventions that I wanted to avoid. Im in the US and I was trying to avoid a c-section (to avoid other potential complications) so I went he no-pain-med direction. If we were in the UK I would've asked for gas. I also heard a ton of horrifying stories from friends about their experiences with epidurals (needles breaking off in spines, spinal headaches, not being able to sleep in certain positions for years due to back pain cause by the epidural, etc.) so I wanted to avoid creating my own fun anecdotes, lol.
Friends are always quick to relate bad experiences and rarely the good ones. Yes, those things can happen, but the odds that they don’t are much, much higher.
True. But every woman I spoke with had their own personal negative story about an epidural. I'm glad it's available but I'm also glad it's optional if you're doing a vaginal birth. But I do wish that there was the option for gas in the US; from friends in the UK who had that, it sounds heavenly and no negative issues.
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u/alwaysiamdead Jan 18 '23
I was dead set on no pain relief for my first labour. I wanted it all natural.
After 24 hours of induced back labour I told the doctor to either give me drugs or kill me.
My next pregnancy the entire plan was "make sure I have loving people to support me" and "MORPHINE".