I read a letter in The Age today, written by an anaethsetist, that said the following:

- obese women are more likely to have birth complications (this I believe)
- obese women are harder to anaesthetise, especially in a rush
- therefore it is recommended that all obese women have a planned epi (or maybe other kinds of pain relief) during birth, to avoid a situation where it goes wrong in an emergency.

Now this kinda freaks me out a bit. I am obese according to BMI definition, though I'm also moderately fit and very healthy. I absolutely do not want to plan to have pain relief during my labour, though I can understand that I might change my mind about it, depending on how things do.

I would be horrified if I was told I have to have pain relief that I don't want, just because I'm overweight. I am not afraid of labour pain and I'm going to do a CalmBirth course to help me prepare better for the labour, and I defintely want to give it a go with minimal interventions.

Does anyone here know more about this?

Are there any other overweight women here? Did you have pain relief, and what sort, or did you not? I'd really like to learn about other people's experiences here.