Pain relief during labour

A question, but not sure how this can be answered..............

If I have an epidural how do I know if I am 'pushing' effectively since I won't be able to 'feel' anything? DYKWIM? :redface:

Oh I remember that moment!!! LOL!!!

I do know that there are different levels of epidural strengths that can be given. I think there are 4 levels - I had the 3rd highest level so could feel not much at all!! But still managed to push my DD out (eventually ;) ) I think the lower levels allow you to feel enough to do the job but not be in immense pain at the same time.......I'm sure there will be someone around here somewhere who could give you the correct info on that!!

What helped me was the doctor saying that I had to use the muscles as though I was (TMI warning....) doing a poo :redface: And once he said that, I was able to focus better on what it was I was supposed to be doing :dance:

Have a chat with your dr/ob or midwife about it though because they will be able to help you get fully informed about epidurals and other pain management.

HTH :)

my midwife put a mirror down there so I could see everything and was great with supporting me through the pushing process. I had the 2nd strength, but still couldn't feel anything.

Arghhh i was wondering about diferent levels of epi - my friend said she had half block and could still walk but didnt feell much pain - NOW THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE GO.....

I don't know how much i had with Mya, but i couldn't feel a thing.
The midwife told that i would have to learn how to push & just push like i was doing a poo lol like charlyfrog said:D It does help when u think of it like that. Only prob is that u can actually accidently poo. I did a tiny one *blushes* lol but the midwife cleaned me up right away & i didn't even know it happened till DF told me.

Ideally, an epidural leaves you unabe to feel belly and back, but able to feel the birth canal and your bum - if it works "perfectly" (as mine did) then you know when to push. Yup, like the other girls said, push like you're constipated. One thing that helped me was a midwife getting me a chamberpot to sit on, that way I was less worried about pooing.

When I had my spinal I couldn't feel or move a thing; the midwives were great, holding my hands, encouraging me and telling me when to push. The obs was very nice too, very encouraging, but if he really didn't need to help the baby out why did he have to do all the interventions?

What about the Tens machine? Any experiences there?

TENS rocks! I found TENS almost as good as the epidural - OK, there was pain, but not loads of pain, just mild period pain (but for many, many hours) and I could walk around, go to the loo, it didn't wear off at a bad time as the epi did, leaving me screaming for something (not to scare people, I was having rather major stuff going on at the time, when the epi wore off the contractions were still quite mild so I could have gone without, but then hindsight is always 20/20 and I couldn't have coped with the Obs intervening without it). If it weren't for the drip going in I'd have just stuck with TENS rather than the epidural.

Darlings, I hate to horrify you all, but you can accidently poo when you're pushing, epidural or no epidural. Don't let that be a reason to sway you one way or the other!
:)

I pushed out a 4.2 kilo baby with a big fat epidural (couldn't feel a thing). I had a midwife feeling my belly telling me when to start pushing. And yes, TMI, but I had to keep imagining the world's biggest constipation attack in order to focus on pushing when I couldn't feel where to push.
Despite all that - I was lucky - no actual poo! Hahahaha!

Thanks gals............. won't need to embarass myself at antenatal classes.........
Lots of people have said about the pushing like you're going to the loo - I will remember that one when in labour.

or you can be like me, when it came time for pushing I started vomiting, and ended up vomiting nina out!

Oh Jodi!! :hug: :D You poor thing!!!

Yes I too did a no 2 (:redface: ) but I also didn't know anything about it until DH shared about my glory moment later.........................woohoo :rolleyes:

With my first baby I had an epidural and went to sleep I woke up 2 hours later and they topped me up with out checking bubs progress. he had started to wiggle his way out and it was time to push. I couldn't feel a thing. The midwife would hold her hands over my tummy & tell me when I was having a contraction and to push. Being my first baby I had no idea what I was meant to be pushing and couldn't feel it so in the end I had forceps to get him out. I am lucky to say I had a complete pain free birth.