My Experience

I waited a little too long to get the epidural; I was in a lot of pain, so I should have made the decision sooner because once I asked for it took ten minutes for someone to get into the room, then ten minutes to set up. The doctor who walked in to do it was young and nervous-looking. I thought to myself that maybe I should ask for an attending, but that would have taken even more time. It was hard to sit still on the bed to get the initial Lidocaine injection because of the strength of my contractions, so again, it might have been better to get the epidural sooner. The Lidocaine stung a bit, but after that I didn’t feel anything. At that point, I had to lie down and was connected to the fetal monitors. The contractions continued to be really painful, but the doctor said it would take a while for the epidural to take effect. Finally, other doctors realized the first one hadn’t been placed correctly. So they brought the young doctor back, this time along with the attending. The resident did it again, and this time he got it right, and the pain relief kicked in almost immediately. But one spot on my butt still had horribly painful contractions. I told another doctor, he added a drug to the IV and it helped to diminish the pain in my butt, though it was still there. But then the numbness started spreading up my midriff all the way to my neck. Now I was really numb, and the midwife said I was ready to push. Though the pain in my butt let me know when I was having a contraction, at this point I wish I hadn’t asked for the additional drug, because if I had more feeling it might have helped me anticipate the contractions better. But I am so glad I got the epidural, it made the pain more bearable and it helped me save my energy for the pushing.