Pls I need all mummies who has used epidural to tell me the truth if after administering:- Q1) Will the labour or contraction pains become totally pain-free or minimum pain is involved? Q2) And how many epidurals can a patient ask for? Any minimum or maximum dosage can be used? Q3) How long does this epidural effect last? Until full delivery is over? Q4) Is administering of epidural injection painful too? Q5) Does this epidural help the dilation and vaginal tear pain-free too? Since young my pain threshold is extremely low. Now I am finally pregnant I am supposed to be happy but I am very sad, often cry because I am afraid of the labour or contractions pain. This is no good and not healthy for me and baby. I am only 3 mths+ pregnant but I swear really everyday, every single second I have been tormented by these labour pains until I cannot sleep at all in the night. I forced myself to sleep at 12am plus but I kept waking up every time naturally at 2am and stay awake till morning thinking of the pains! If I am so scared, should I do C-sect with epidural or normal delivery with epidural? Even while fully awake during day or night I also kept thinking of the scary labour pains. Nothing I do lessen my fears and worries. When I eat, shower, watch tv etc, these fears just followed me back at my mind. I just cannot shake them away. I think i need to see a psychiatrist for help now. I shared my serious concerns to my spouse but he told me don't be afraid only. I know he is very supportive but it doesn't help me at all. I really need desperate help from you mummies!

Hello there. Firstly, you need to calm your nerves and calm down. It is indeed not good for you to worry about such things when you need to be resting well and taking gd care instead worrying and losing sleep. I have a super low threshold for pain. Q1) I will be honest. My initial dosage seemed low. I felt the contraction pains (to me it was like severe menstrual cramping..) Then I buzzed for the nurse to up the dosage. Then the pain lessened. However, with the increased dosage, I had severe side effects. I threw up so badly for abt 6 times in total. I also shivered uncontrollably. 2) You are injected only once as explained above by the mommy. They have a tiny tube linked to increase or decrease dosage. 3) Mine lasted from 1.30am till abt 8am. I delivered ard 5.30am 4) No. Just tingling sensation, ticklish in my opinion 5) I was being induced (a medicine inserted to speed up dilation). the speeding up of dilation made contractions more painful. I buzzed nurse to increase dosage. by then my legs were numb and slumped. completely couldn't feel them! I didn't feel any 'natural' vaginal tear as my gynae prepared me for episiotomy. When gynae arrived, i gave 2 sets of 3 pushes and baby was delivered. I didn't feel any pain by then at all..I didn't even know that my push was that strong enough that the baby was out that quickly. Yes the epidural did numb everything from lower half. cutting and stitching did not hurt at all and I didn't feel anything at all. My gynae did a very good job. Fyi, when my elder sis described labour pain and what episiotomy was...I went weak in the knees and felt like fainting (that was before I was expecting). But when the time came for me, I was much stronger than expected...likely because the baby in me gave me strength and courage. Post delivery, nurse gave me painkillers to take after epidural effect wore off. But I could manage and did not pop any painkillers. After I delivered, I still threw up because of my high dosage of epidural. They didnt pass me my baby for the supposed skin-to-skin bonding as soon as she was born but instead gave me the little basin to puke... they were afraid I would puke on my newborn. I think you should go for maternity tour and parentcraft sessions to learn more..They will topics like massage and exercises to help w labour pain and how to push/prepare for delivery. If you feel strong enough, try to walk more. I walked a lot and took the stairs instead of escalator and I think that helped with the quick delivery. mommy-to-be, to be super honest, everyone has different thresholds... some people can tahan the pain without any epidural.. whilst I know I couldnt, i opted for epidural. Suggest u read up abt the side effects and tell urself labour pain is like severe menstrual cramps. And then u decide what to opt for. Remember, no two persons are the same. And if I get pregnant again, I will still opt for normal delivery with epidural.. unlike my sis who went for both natural without epidural.. Ur spouse can give u mental and moral support in the delivery suite. he can also give you massages to help u cope w any discomfort. Dont go crazy thinking abt this. The pain is more manageable than u imagine. Go keep yourself occupied with other stuff so that you dont keep focusing on this fear. It really is manageable. Glad to address anymore questions u might have.

You may find this article useful in understanding the different options available for pain relief during delivery: http://www.kkh.com.sg/HealthPedia/Pages/PregnancyDuringLabourPainRelief.aspx And this is another article that is on Epidural in particular: http://www.youngparents.com.sg/pregnancy-baby/10-things-know-about-epidural According to the second article, the numbing effect of epidural will take around 5-10 mins to kick in. One may still be able to feel some pressure as epidural usually helps eliminate 90% of the labour pain so as to allow the mother to feel the contractions to push the baby out efficiently. What my friend felt about her experience was that after the administration, she was able to relax more. Initially, she was too stressed and tensed up due to the pain. After she made the decision to get the epidural (after three hours of enduring the pain but was not dilating), she was much more relaxed and the delivery process was faster. Though I understand it is difficult to ask you not to worry about it as this is probably your main worry right now. But it would be good to simply find out more about the different methods available. Speak to your doctor to learn about how soon you can request for the epidural during the delivery process. I know it is impossible to ask you to not think about it.. so probably just try to not think so much about it. Distract yourself with other things, like preparing for the arrival of your baby. Take care of yourself!!

Epidural can provide total pain relief though some women experience patches of numbness. The dosage can be adjusted according to your needs. It usually will slow down labour then you may require synthetic oxytocin to increase the strength of your contraction. While it is pain free for you, it has a long list of side effects and it increased the risk of baby in distress, like passing meconium. It means you may require a surgical birth. Sounds like you have a lot of fears. It is the fear of pain that creates more pain in labour while labour is not necessary painful. http://childbirthodyssey.com/hypnobirthing/stephanie-first-birth/. You can consider Fear Release sessions with Hypnotherapist or join HypnoBirthing childbirth classes to learn more about childbirth and deep relaxation. Taking prenatal yoga is great too. May I suggest you read this link on 13 Natural Pain Relief Options for Labour. http://childbirthodyssey.com/hypnobirthing/stephanie-first-birth/

I truly understand how u feel. My threshold for pain is very low. There was once my teacher told us about labour and i nearly passed out thinking of the pain. After injecting, i felt that I made the right choice and I told my hubby I can jump around. My personal experience is that when jab, i felt a tingling sensation. When nearing the 'pushing' moment, the nurse lower the dosage so that i can feel my legs and use more energy to push but u won't feel any pain. I was told to push n push to the extend I didn't know the baby came out till i feel my stomach flatten slightly. The epidural effect last me about 5 hours more after delivery. Mummy, don't think of the pain too much as epidural will be there to help u. Mother are the greatest in the world. When u are in the labour ward, all you hope is to have a smooth delivery and see your LO. All is worth it. Jia you!!!! Keep fighting!!

hi, i had it for both pregnancies - normal delivery. During administration, it's abit uncomfortable but just think about the after effect where u will have lesser pain. my threshold for pain was so low that my gynae could not successfully break my waterbag before epidural. but i do noticed a difference when i had my first child 4yrs ago and second one this yr. back then, i had no idea i was contracting and i had 3+ bottles for 16 hrs labour. all i feel was only baby gushing out. this time, i only use 1 bottle for 4 hrs + i think they administer lesser dosage too cus i can feel abit of pain during contraction but i can tahan like 15mins before nudging my husband to inform the nurse. so i would say, dun worry abt the pain if u have decided to go for epidural. it will be a wonderful experience & just work towards pushing the baby out. all the best 😊

Jts. I have low pain threshold too. In fact the hospital staff all know. Just an injection, I'll cry. But what I know is this. I didn't take epidural. Cos I was bent not taking knowing its side effects. So I kept on talking to my child saying, u must come fast as mummy cannot tahan pain. And it worked. I had very short labour. Only took the thigh jab. And no your contractions is similar to when you are constipated and want to poop. Yup. That's how it is. So relax mummy. Talk to your baby more. Walk and exercise few days before labour. Even if you need to induce. I was dancing and walking and running in my room after being induced. And to say, I had an easy labour. Of course during my active labour, I was screaming. But at the end, the joy of seeing your baby, ah that what makes it worth it. So mummy. Calm down and relax.

Took epidural when I was 3cm dilated. The administration of the epidural was not painful too as I was told to use the laughing gas and was already quite 'high' when they started the procedure. I don't feel any pain immediately after the epidural was administered, even up till labour. Basically, I was on epidural for 7 hours and all I needed to do was to listen to my gynae and the nurses' instructions to push. All you need to do is to let the nurse know whether to increase or decrease the dosage. However, after I was given epidural, my blood pressure went slightly above the average and I shivered for a couple of hours before and after labour. Developed fever before labour and also vomited when I was being pushed back to my ward.

1. The contraction pain stopped till baby's head was crowning. 2. Everytime I feel the pain is coming back, i press the button to release more dosage. once finised, they top up for you, just have to inform the nurse. 3. I go home pain-free as compared to when I did not have epidural. 4. It is painful when my contractions was not even painful to begin with for #2 labour. it is painless when I had strong painful contractions for #3 labour. 5. Not sure, I feel breaking the waterbag helps with dilation faster and vaginal tear is not as painful as when I did not have epidural for #1. plus stitching up is pain-free!

I had epidural for both pregnancies as well. I'm terribly scared of pins and any sort of needles. In fact doctors, clinics and hospitals scares me dead. If you truly worry about pain, take it. It's not as bad as what we read. I'm so scared so each time I'll say, no I'm not taking. Till the pain is so unbearable I give in. Tool eat epidural. And everything got better. Felt numb, can sleep also a hahaha. After it starts wearing off you may get some ache in the back.. But it does not last long. So chill out dear.

1) Mine was pain-free. if you ever felt pain, can ask to up the dosage. 2) what do you mean by how many epidural can a patient ask for? only one inject connected to a very tiny tube linked to a small machine. 3) it lasted quite long for me. but I'm e-sect mummy, so idk how long it lasted for natural birth mummy. 4) it's like ants bite to me. they will numb the area with some wipes first thn inject in. 5) I slept thru the whole dilation progress after having epidural. as for vaginal tear, I'm not so sure. hope it helps!