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yes, they put in a catheter... :(

krissy is right, also it doesnt hurt. they put mine in after i was hooked up actualy i didnt even know about the catheter until the nurse was laughing and rushing to me coz i was over flowing the bag once the epidural started working. lol

yup...you get a catheter...and one of the reasons they do not let you walk is because you cant :). catheters are great, especially when you are tired and working so hard and you need to rest as much as you can while labor is going on. you wont even know its there. good luck

Yah, they do catheterize you. It's really no big deal, except for me, after I'd had the bb, I had to go the bathroom so bad, but nothing would come out. So they had to put the catheter back in for another day. I think it was because I was a dehydrated from not being about to drink anything during labor. So I just drank tons of fluids that day, and I was fine the next day, so they removed it.

ok thanks. i knew if iasked you you would know. i dont recall ever seeing the epidaural when i had my son or anyones for that matter, so it was confusing me.

Kolleen - yes they insert a catheter but don't worry you won't feel it when they do cuz you'll be numb already from the epi I can't quite remember how I felt after but I got up to pee on my own about an hour after giving birth -

As everyone has already said, Yuppers you get a catheder. Don't look at it as a bad thing though. Before I got my epidural I was going to the dang bathroom like every 30 min. It was a pain (well, I was also hooked up to magnesium and fluids so I had to drag that stuff around with me whenever I went). It was nice to have the catheter in though and not have to worry about getting up to go... Plus, you actually can't because you stay in bed once you get the epi.

Yeah, even without the epidural the cathader feels a lot better then getting the clamps with a pap I think. Of course one nurse did something with my first one and it hurt, then she was like OOPS wrong hole...what the hell??? lol but I got the epidural and I knew I had to pee, but the nurse said no its just pressure from the baby, I really felt like I had to pee. Finally she did it and within like 5 minutes the bag was full, she kept apoligizing but it p__sed me off so bad.

thanks guys for ur answers. its funny how i can ask anything on here and get a answer right away where as i can ask the same question for days to people i know and noone ever knows. lol

yes to the catheter and yes, no, you can't walk around - you will be totally numb. :)

They have a walking epidural, not sure if they offer it in all the hospitals or not. My epidural was messed up when I had my daughter, the "anesthesiologist" or whoever it was that did it actually gave me a spinal instead...it's what you get for a major surgery...wasn't pleasant. The catheter didn't hurt, since they do it after the medicine is already in your system, but it does feel uncomfortable coming out AND you might get a urinary tract infection afterwards like I did.

I had a catheder put in once they did the epi...but I've heard u can get a walking epi...I didn't feel whn they put the cath in and it didn't bother me a bit when they took it out...and it was a blessing to have since I had to get out of bed ever 5 mins to pee which meant unhooking the hr moniter and contraction monitor and then walking the iv with me while going through horrific contractions...once the cath was in I could relax (of course then I had an emergency csection) but u can talk to ur dr about a walking epi but just know it doesn't block the pain as well as a full epi..gl

WOW! Here in the UK you get what they call a 'walking epidural' and you are completely free to move / walk about. It wasn't available when I was last pg over 4 years ago (although I had heard about it then) but it is the only kind of epidural they offer at the hospital where I will give birth.