Obviously I can never walk in your shoes. All I’m saying is that all the women in my life who have had them tell me they had ongoing pain at the site for years, and they would never have one again.
I’ve had two children with epidurals, and I could kiss the anesthesiologists who gave them to me. They didn’t hurt going in, the kids didn’t hurt coming out, and I’ve had no side effects at all. For modesty’s sake, I won’t go into some of the complications from the birth of the first, but I’ll just say it would have been unbearable without that epidural.
Now the old-fashioned caudal blocks from my mother’s day did cause lingering back pain.
“Obviously I can never walk in your shoes. All I’m saying is that all the women in my life who have had them tell me they had ongoing pain at the site for years, and they would never have one again.”
They may be the exception, but not necessarily the rule. I wouldn’t trade the couple years of occasional, intermittent pain I endured for the alternative. I ended up during my first delivery being told that because I’d chosen natural child birth, that, no, I couldn’t get an epidural because there was no anesthesiologist available...at least not until it became an emergency C-section. As an RN, working so long in the area, I know there is a good chance I wouldn’t have needed a C-section if I’d had an epidural. I’ve always tried to present an even, informed, balanced education to my patients, with a risks-benefits analysis. My experience after my first was worth a bottle of ibuprofen. I consider myself blessed though, because I heard the horror stories from co-workers about their episiotomies and virtual inability to have normal intercourse again.
What age group are the women? I think the meds used and probably the insertion techniques for epidurals have changed over the years. Like anything else, there are benefits AND risks. I’ve had — let me count — 5? Only from one do I remember any lingering discomfort at the insertion site, lasted perhaps six months. Never had headaches or anything from it.
Things relating to pregnancy and childbirth (epidurals, breasfeeding, etc.) too often bring out such militant responses. I’ve had doctors who never heard of an intervention they didn’t love and advocate. I’ve heard women who think if you don’t squat in the woods to give birth, you’re “not natural.” I say bah-humbug to both. Give women objective, unbiased information and let them decide without guilt either way, for heaven’s sake! Having given birth both with and without epidural, I can say delivery is a whole lot more ... pleasant (ha) WITH. On the other hand, I liked the mobility and less invasive nature of birth without it, too.