I love Epidurals. They make childbirth so much easier in every way and you are able to focus more on what’s actually going on. It allows women to feel present during birth so that they can really enjoy the experience.
Kudos to those women who do it naturally because they are real warriors! I can’t even wrap my head around it….
Anyway, some strange things happen when you have an epidural and you may be totally unaware of them until they happen to you. I have had 3 epidurals so I’ve been there, done that.
Some of my experiences were really strange so read on to find out what can happen when you get this type of Anesthesia during childbirth.
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5 Things That Happen When You Have An Epidural That N One Tells You About
You May Get The Shakes
Some Women { Including me all three times } Will begin shivering furiously when the epidural starts to take effect. It’s really Bizarre and surprising.
None of the nurses warned me this would happen and I began shaking so violently that I barely had any control over my body. I couldn’t even really speak for a while. Your body also gets a total rush. That’s the only way I can explain it.
I was told that this is caused by your body reacting to the medication causing an adrenaline rush. I have since Googled it to find more information but there’s not a lot online about why this happens.
This can happen at other times during labor as well. Especially right before pushing. Imagine the adrenaline going through your body at that moment! It’s all very intense.
You’ll Have To Have A CatheterÂ
Since you’re numb from the waist down you cannot go to the bathroom on your own. They will need to do a catheter to relieve your bladder.
Some hospitals do a catheter that stays in until you’re ready to push but most do an in-and-out catheter.
This is a catheter they only put in for a few minutes to allow the urine to evacuate and then they remove it. Despite having an epidural and being mostly numb, it’s still an uncomfortable sensation.
One side effect of these catheters is that it seems to stretch out your urethra some. After having one of these, urine just pours out for a while instead of being in a stream.
But it does heal and shrink back to its original size.
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It May Not Work
I hate to break it to you and I definitely don’t want to scare you but Sometimes Epidurals don’t work. Like, at all..
This can happen when an inexperienced Anesthesiologist is assigned to you. Or sometimes you move too much because it can be slightly painful when they insert the needle.
Or your anatomy is slightly different than others.
Unfortunately, sometimes you’re just super unlucky. I don’t know. All of mine worked but my sister had one with her first child and they missed the right spot and it did nothing.
Let’s hope if you’re counting on an epidural that it works for you.
It May Only Work In Sections
Sometimes your Epidural works great, well mostly…. You may find that you have full pain relief everywhere but in one or two spots.
This is not at all uncommon and it happened to me two out of three times. I had complete numbness everywhere but this one place on the lower left side of my belly.
At first, it was mostly numb but then it sort of wore off everywhere else, and by the time I was pushing I could feel full labor, cramping, and pressure in that one spot only. It was really bizarre.
But the epidural still did a great job and even though I could feel some pain it still worked well so that my labor was generally very comfortable.
This happens pretty often to women who get epidurals and the area can vary. Sometimes the epidural works great on one side of your body but not at all on the other side. It’s just all luck I guess.
You May Need More Than One
Occasionally if you get an epidural early in labor you may need two. They won’t have to stick a needle in your spine twice, of course, because the whole thing is administered via IV, But you may run out of the pain medication and they may have to give you a second bag.
During my first labor, they induced me and the pain went from zero to one hundred in sixty seconds. It was bad.
My mom is a nurse and she said they turned the Pitocin up too high so the contractions were STRONG. I ask for an epidural early ( which pissed my crappy doctor off ) and it was the best relief I’ve ever had.
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But it ran out and they had to give me another, then that one started to run out so they gave me this little button to push that delivered medication as needed and I used it. Like I said I was scared ladies. Just so you know my baby came out fine and he was alert and happy, for all of you worried about so much medication.
My other two labors went just fine, and I wasn’t nearly as terrified. Had one epidural for each.
Having an epidural is a great way to relax your body so that you can be present during the birth of your beautiful baby, but they also cause your body to react strangely sometimes.
It’s still well worth it if you’re going the medicine route. I don’t know why there’s not more information online about how epidurals may affect you. I was so surprised by some of it and that’s why I wanted to write this post for those who are thinking of getting one. I hope it helps!
Good luck to you mama!
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