Every mother wants to have the best possible birth possible. For some, the “best” may look differently than for others. Some mothers may think that the “best” birth is that with absolutely zero pain! Other mothers may think the best birth is when the baby is 100% healthy when born. Still other mothers may think giving birth naturally so that her body is touched as little as possible is what she believes could be the best birthing experience.
If you are a mother considering the options of getting an epidural or going natural, we are going to discuss that in this article! Grab your pens and notebooks, ladies! It’s time to get real!
Epidurals – What Is It?
An epidural is when an anesthesiologist inserts a needle into the spine of a woman in labour and injects a numbing solution that numbs her from below her boobs all the way to her toes. Many mothers prefer to get an epidural because they are afraid of the pain of labour. On the other hand, many mothers are afraid of receiving an epidural because they are afraid of how it will affect their bodies, the baby, or their life after giving birth.
Now you know what an epidural is. Let’s address some other questions you may have of them.
Does Getting An Epidural Hurt?
Typically, no, getting an epidural does not hurt. However, it may be uncomfortable for some. When I received my epidural, I remember feeling a strong poking. I winced a little and told the anesthesiologist, “I felt that!” He seemed surprised, but said nothing more after that.
Does An Epidural Affect The Baby?
No, the anesthetics used for an epidural does not bring any harm to the baby. An epidural numbs the mother from below the boobs all the way down to her toes.
What You Need To Know About An Epidural
I received an epidural with my first baby. Several things took me by surprise that I wasn’t educated about beforehand. I’m going to share those with you now so you can be informed!
1. An Epidural Can Be Given Poorly
Sometimes an epidural is not given accurately and it causes more discomfort for the mother. For example, if the needle is slightly off and the injection isn’t given appropriately, it can numb only part, or half, of the body!
Imagine! You’re giving birth and half of your body feels the labor pains and the other half doesn’t! Could you imagine how distracting and uncomfortable that could be for a mother who is trying to birth her child?
2. You Will Need A Catheter
What’s a catheter? I’m glad you asked, because if I had known this with my first, I wouldn’t have gotten an epidural. A catheter is a small tube that is inserted up your urethra and into your bladder. Why? After you are given your epidural, you lose control of all muscles from below your boobs! That includes your bladder!
So if you get an epidural, congratulations! You also get the wonderful experience of a catheter for the remainder of your labor! After you give birth, they will pull the catheter out. Then, you will need your bladder to “wake up”. You may possibly pee your bed by accident after that because your body is gaining control of its muscles again.
3. Spinal Fluid May Leak Out Of The Spot Of Insertion, Leading To Headaches That Can’t Go Away
Thankfully, I did not experience this; but I heard from some mother who had. After your epidural is pulled out of your spine, you may have a “hole” where the needle was. Sometimes spinal fluid can leak from this spot, causing bad headaches that don’t go away easily. For some mothers, their headaches lasted for several months after giving birth!
How An Epidural Affects Giving Birth
When you get an epidural, you can’t feel anything from below your boobs. This is great for pain management. However, how do you think this will affect giving birth?
“Ok, now push,” the doctor told me while trying to give birth to my first baby. I sat there for a second then said, “Um…this is my first baby. I don’t know how to push! What are the muscles I’m even supposed to use?”
Do you know what they told me? “It’s like you’re going poo. Just use those muscles like you’re bearing down.”
Boy, how I wish I didn’t listen to them! Why? After 20 minutes of bearing down with all my might (and using the WRONG muscles), I gave myself terrible hemorrhoids that will never go away! All because I couldn’t feel which muscles to use and I listened to the poor advice given to me.
Why The Push For Epidurals?
You may find in certain hospitals the nurses being super pushy to get an epidural. Like literally someone will ask you every 10 minutes if you want an epidural. Why is that? Sadly, it’s because of insurance companies.
Insurance companies give hospitals a certain number of epidurals to meet every year (or whatever the time period is). The hospital is required to meet this quota of epidurals set by the insurance companies.
Giving Birth Naturally – What Is It?
Ok, now let’s discuss giving birth naturally. What does it mean to give birth naturally? When you give birth naturally, you are not using any medications. You will give birth by controlling the pain through focused breathing and mental exercises.
Guess what? When the time comes to for your body to push, it’s a mindless thing! Your body will literally take over and push for you. This was my experience! After I was 10 centimeters dilated, my body started pushing.
Two things shocked me. First, I felt absolutely zero pain at this point! The contractions to get me to 10 centimetres dilated were painful. However, as soon as the pushing started, all pain disappeared! Secondly, what shocked me was I was using COMPLETELY different muscles than when I go poo! The advice those nurses gave me with my first child was horribly wrong. The muscles I used to push were in my core and abdomen! Not from my butt! And guess what? With my second birth, I did not make my hemorrhoids worse by the pushing because I was using the right muscles and not the ones to poop.
Why Go Natural?
If you’ve read the whole article up to this point, you already know some benefits of going natural. Let’s name them.
- The ability to feel which muscles to push with
- Less likely to get hemorrhoids
- No need for a catheter
- The ability to walk and move around. With an epidural, you’re stuck in one position for hours in the bed.
- A more controlled birth (pushing) process
- You will not get postpartum headaches from leaking spinal fluid.
My Personal Story
I want to share with you my personal story of giving birth both with an epidural and going all natural. With my first baby, I was scared. I was out in the middle of Missouri far away from any family connections, except for my husband. There was no one to give me advice, so I listened to what the doctors told me.
I wanted to give birth naturally, but as the contractions got stronger, the nurses kept warning me over and over that if I got to a certain point, I wouldn’t be able to receive an epidural. Because they were so pushy about it and used the fear tactic on me, I gave in.
I got the catheter, which I was not expecting. There was no way for me to move around, so I spent about a full day on my back in labor. When the time came for pushing, I used the wrong muscles and gave myself hemorrhoids that will remain for the rest of my life.
Probably the worst thing the happened to me was that I got almost a 4th degree tear from pushing. When you get an epidural, you give birth with your feet up in the air and spread wide. This position puts an extreme amount of pressure on your pelvic floor. Add the force of pushing or “bearing down” (not the right words I would say, but that’s what they told me to do) puts you at an even greater risk to tear.
If I had not received an epidural for my first child, I’m convinced my birthing experience would have been 100% better because I would have been able to listen to my body instead of to the doctors and their poor advice.
My Second Baby – All Natural
With my second baby, I gave birth with a midwife instead of a doctor. Midwives are more educated on natural and healthy ways of giving birth than doctors are. Doctors treat giving birth like a medical emergency, while midwives have a more realistic and healthy view of giving birth.
My midwife said, “This is your birth! You tell us what you want and what you need and we are here for you!” Wow! My birth was much more painful than the first. However, the pushing part was a breeze! Additionally, my body recovered 1,000 better and faster than when I had an epidural!
Right after giving birth, I could walk around and go to the bathroom on my own. I didn’t need a bed pan and I wasn’t stitched up from my vagina to my anus!
Hands down, I 100% prefer natural over epidural! My family thinks I’m crazy, but if they had gone through what I went through, they would understand. And that’s just it, they don’t understand and never will. Your family and friends may not understand your choice either, and that’s ok. You do what is best for you and your baby, Mama, and stick to it!
Ready For Breastfeeding?
You’re a mama about to give birth! I hope this article gave you some great understanding on epidurals and giving birth naturally. My goal was to help you feel more equipped and ready for the arrival of your baby.
After baby comes, you will be faced with another new adventure! Breastfeeding! Breastfeeding does not come naturally, even though you are made for it. I would like to help equip you to feel confident in your motherhood journey by giving you resources to guide you in your breastfeeding journey.
Fill out the form below to receive your Breastfeeding Essentials Checklist so you know exactly what to have on hand while breastfeeding! (Hint: learn about a neat little tool that brings quick relief to clogged ducts, engorgement and prevents mastitis!)
Want To Know More?
If you enjoyed this article by Kelsey, check out other articles related to breastfeeding on her blog! Also find information on diastasis recti, emotional health, infant health, and perennial and vaginal health.
About Our Writer
Kelsey Gilliland is a wife, mother of 2, certified Health Education Specialist, blogger, and course creator.
Her daughters are the sunshine in her world and the reason why she loves helping mothers.
As a breastfeeding mother, she has experienced tons of breastfeeding challenges including trouble getting baby to latch, tongue-tie, extreme colic, extreme engorgement, low milk supply, cracked, bleeding nipples, and more. She writes articles to educate mothers on breastfeeding and postpartum health to help mothers have the healthiest breastfeeding and motherhood life possible!
You can visit her blog, Motherhood, Baby and Me, to learn more great information on breastfeeding and postpartum health!
