Hi. How many of you had epidural? What was the outcome? Would you advise to have it?

I would strongly advise against - there are other pain relief options with minimal side effects in comparison x x

Did you have any?

Gas and air and pethadine?

I've had 4 of them 1st failed only had partial block 2nd was fab third was given when I was 10cm was ok 4th was hell on earth. 7 attempts she kept hitting a nerve. Got someone senior in as I was in agony and not in labour at that point it was a planned epidural prior to induction with high bp. He came back did a spinal block first then put epidural@in but cos I couldn't feel if they were in the right place it wasnt. It wore off and I was in so much pain in my back and ended up with issues for the year after. U couldn't touch my spine near where it went as I used to go faint and feel funny. I ended up with nerve damage. This time I'm going to try pethadine and the gas and air as last time when it wore off I just used gas

Oh, that sounds scary. Did they know why it did not work for you a few times?

I had gas n air and dyomorphyn (how ever its spelled) and they had to wake me up during a contraction 😂🙈 x

i had one with my daughter because i had a long labour and was so tired i couldn't push so i had to have a forcep delivery. it took 2 attempts to get it in. after that, it was fine. however my back is still a bit sore from it nearly 3 months on. i was on gas and air and had a pethadine injection though before that. if it was a shorter labour, i think i would have done without the epidural xx

I had gas and air from 8cms :) pushed on nothing :) but then had to have a spinal due to complications with my daughter. I did not plan to have one. And would not plan to have it again. It worked fine and everything. It needed to be done. Didn't have a choice. But I hated not being able to walk for 24 hours. I had a catheter. I couldn't even get out of bed to pick up my daughter when she needed feeding. I couldn't even change my daughters nappy the first 24 hours :) All I could do was hold her and feed her xxx

I was up and about within 30 mins of them@cleaning me up with my 2nd one. The third prob 3 hours and fourth I demanded they take the catheter out as I could walk and they refused so I said I would remove it so they did. They don't work sadly in some cases bad luck

I had an epidural even though I had a short labour I was induced and the pain was intense plus other risk factors. I had a good experience with it, no issue getting it in, it worked yet I could still feel when I was contracting through pressure, I could still move about my legs just felt heavy and I was up and about an hour or so after them stitching me up, I didn't even need any help weeing while I had it as some ladies do have to have a catheter. ☺

For a couple of weeks after I did have a bit of back pain in the spot where it was, but 5 weeks post birth it's totally fine!

not everyone has the same experience though, I heard so many horror stories about it so was slightly against it, but it ended up been the best thing for me :)

i had to have one as had twins they sed id need it incase i had to be rushed to theatre. awful never again put it in wrong twice ended up with spinal block. have awful backache since havin it. never again

Apparently they dont bother giving pethidine anymore cos it's crap I had it with my son and went to see the anaesthetist for a check over ready for this one she said don't ask for peth this time they have a new system that's in between gas and air and not as bad as epi where u have a needle in hand an press button the effect lasts 2 mins and is out of your system. she said peth is like ur drunk u can feel all the pain u just don't care lol so I'm not sure what I'm choosing this year just gas and air lol