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Regular pain meds may take the edge off, but it is temporary, and you can only have so much then they cut you off. They can just make you feel as though you don't care so much about the pain you are in. Why not an epidural?

I had a spinal tap go wrong and was sicker than ive ever been in my life and now im afraid of having complications again-I have a major fear of needles-I will prob end up getting it if I can't take it I was just wondering. I'm not sticking to anything yet b/c I know I'll b singin a different tune when im in labor lol

I don't think a spinal tap is done in the same area as an epidural, but I could be wrong. All I can say is that all of my girlfriends have had epidurals and no one has had a problem. I hope when the time comes that everything goes well for you.

I only used the gas and air and a little bit of fentanyl in my IV with my first baby and did fine. My labor was short though Thank GOD!!! I don't want the epi this time. I would rather feel the pain than worry about complications from the epi and I hate the thought of a needle in my back. Sometimes they don't work either.

Thanx for your help ladies!!!

junebaby I have given birth to 4 children all natural Not by choice. I have odd labors. I dont feel any contractions or discomfort til I am 8-9 dialated. By then they wont give you anything. So make sure if you are going to get something you have plan and don't wait to long, because once the pain is unbearable it is usually too late. SO get a good plan together of what you want. It is horrible to deep into labor and be begging for pain medication and no one will help.

Wow 4 natural-i am still not sure what im going to do-i will talk to my ob weds

I had epidural with my last 2 labors and no complications - my only experience with the other drugs is dilauded when I had kidney stones and mjvdec01 is right - they dont' really get rid of the pain as much as they just make you not care about it - while my pain was a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 I would no way rely of something like that to provide relief like an epidural - if you are still really really concerned talk to your doctor and try to see about meeting the anesthesiologist in advance that might help you put your mind at ease...Good luck with what you decide!

Wow, pain meds take your mind off of what is going on,...but really, they do not relieve that kind of pain. If you have a high pain threshold, you can probably do it au naturale. But I have low pain threshold and COULDNT imagine NOT getting an epidural. I had some pain medication first and it didnt do anything but make me loopy. Its up to you.

My contractions were so painful that I had both. First the pain meds but they weren't able to make me relax like people had told me so i went for the epidural around 7cm and thank god I did.

I have already had false labor and it killed me so Im thinkin I have a low threshold and am gonna go for the epi i dont care how scared of needles I am!

spinal blocks and epis are different. with all 3 i had epidurals...aka godsends...with my first i wanted to avoid epi bc i was scared so got iv meds...just made me feel drunk and cant remember much and vowed id never get them again only epis.

I went with the epi around 5cm and thank goodness cuz 30 minutes after I got it I was at 9cm. :) I don't know about pain meds except that I hear they don't do much but take the edge off. I am petrified of needles too but I was the point where I did not care. I really didn't think much about it though because I could not see it and I was concentrating on contractions anyways. Just keep your options open! You never know what you'll be feeling! :)

my doctor just told me today that an epidural doesn't affect the baby where pain meds through an iv does, but not much. Hope that helps your decision.

I agree with ferfer1, the epidural actually helped me. I was stuck at 3 cm and the doctors and nurses were beginning to consider a c-section. Then I asked for the epidural and went straight to 10 cm within the same hour. I call it my lifesaver! lol... And it did help with the pain a little bit (wink wink) lol.

But seriously, I think I'm going to try with no epidural this time also. I can handle pain pretty well, but I think my body really needed it the first time. Good luck junebaby! It won't be much longer for you! :)