What is happening to my blog? Is anyone even reading it? Will anyone even remember me?
I really do not know. But I still have lots of passion towards improving my blog and its content when I get time.I would still continue to pen down my thoughts and my heart out whenever possible.
Why have I deviated from doing a makeup/review post to something like EPIDURAL on a lifestyle blog? Its because being a woman you would at some point decide to have a baby and childbirth is a life changing experience. I really wish to share my thoughts on the myths and thoughts involving EPIDURAL so that any mom to be, out there can benefit from it.
My EPIDURAL experience :
Being a first time mom, I was super nervous and apprehensive about the whole childbirth experience and I had kept my mind open to any type of delivery and decided I would trust my doctor and my body.
My due date was on 23/03/2017 but I was prepared to go into labour any day after 1 st of March. There was a bloody show on 17 th March at 11 40 am and I immediately called my hospital and they asked me to pack up my stuff and get admitted.
My doctor checked me and said I was already having regular contractions and was 1.5 cm dilated and my baby would come anytime. So I was put on pitocin and admitted into the labour ward.
Now this is when things started getting tricky, my contractions were getting intense but my labour pains were not very intense as yet. I was being checked for dilation regularly but I was not progressing at all. At about 5 30 pm, my doctor came in and told me that I was not going to deliver anytime soon and its going to be taking a long time since there was no progress at all in spite of the induction and rupturing of my membrane.He advised me to take Epidural since it could be a long labour and I would not have any energy to push later on and the Anesthetist could be held up or arrive late if we informed at odd hours.
As first time parents we were ignorant and we didn't want to take any risk and so we opted for EPIDURAL.At 6 30 pm, my Anesthetist arrived and she asked my husband to leave the room. I have seen Youtube videos where the husband stays with the wife even during EPIDURAL and I was kind of left shocked. I was quite cool about the process since I had seen a lot of videos where Epidural was being administered and they didn't seem to be in pain. The real shock came to me when the catheter was first placed on my upper back. I have never experienced anything so painful till then in my life. My body began resisting it and I was moving a lot. The doctors and nurses were holding me and the catheter was inserted and the medicine flow had started. Meantime, I was having contractions but my mind was all on the Epidural and not on my contractions. The medicine had started going towards my upper half of the body and could not sense my face and mouth. I was losing sensation and my heartbeat was rising. I was worried of totally blanking out and I immediately tapped my doctor's shoulders and told her I couldn't talk and my face was numb.
They immediately stopped the medicine flow and gave me Laughing gas to relax me. I was panicking and the laughing gas made me all the more uneasy. I couldn't breathe and was afraid that I would collapse. The doctor reassured that I was fine and I had to inhale the laughing gas to calm down.
Then the whole process began again and finally the EPIDURAL was working fine. The hospital where I delivered was such a reputed one and my Gynac being such a good person I really do not know what went wrong. I think it was just that my body was reacting to it that way. My husband finally came in and I cried to him that I was feeling terrible. My body started shaking as a side effect of Epidural but my contractions were not painful anymore. I delivered my baby girl on 18 March 2017 at 5 30 am and it was a 17 hours labour.
Now , to take Epidural or not?
If someone asks me this, I will tell them to trust their doctor and their body and take a call and not go by my experience.
Will I use it again if I have another baby?
I really do not know the answer to this because every pregnancy is different. But if given a chance I would try to go all natural.
Does your back ache if you take an epidural?
It does for about a week and then later with correct feeding and sleeping position it automatically vanishes.
Does your baby get affected because of epidural?
No, not at all. This is just a myth. If science can help you wash your clothes easily in a washing machine, then why not have a pain free labour?
Was Epidural painful ?
Yes definitely yes, when the catheter was being inserted, it just hurt terribly and felt like a shock.
Did the Epidural help you and did you have a peaceful delivery ?
Yes definitely, I did not feel any pain and it was only the crowning pressure I felt.
For how many hours did the numbness last?
The numbness lasted for about half a day after the epidural was stopped and I had to move around in a wheelchair till then.
Did any of you mothers have a similar experience to mine, please do let me know. I hope this post would be useful or someone out there.
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| When I was just admitted at 12 30 pm |
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| This is post Epidural - I was so exhausted |