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Discussion Forums » General Discussion
My OB said WHAT?!
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6 Apr 2011, 08:06
Mojo Jojo
Post Count: 278
UC = unassisted childbirth.

I do understand the risks. I also know that my local hospital does not have a gleaming reputation as far as monitoring women in labour/delivery. I was admitted in transition with my son, but his heartrate wasn't checked for over 20 minutes after arrival, because they were busy. Once they realised I was actually bearing down and fully dilated, they left me again for 5 minutes to prep for the birth because they hadn't realised that I was so far in. Once they stayed with me, it all progressed smoothly, but that delay was horrible and painful, for me and potentially distressing for my boy, coz he was ready to come and I was working against the urge to push.
With a homebirth, they just don't leave you. Once they arrive, they stay with you until either the baby's born and settled, or the transfer to hospital is complete. You also get more intensive postnatal care, to guard against the risk of puerperal infection. I wouldn't dream of having a homebirth for a first baby, or if my first labour/birth had been complicated.

In fact, I was very opposed to homebirths until after I had my son. The major risk I personally have with this pending second delivery is that if I have not planned for a homebirth, I could have him literally anywhere. My established first stage with my son was only 2 and a half hours. If (and it's a big if, I know) I follow the general rule that subsequent labours are half the time of the first, I'm looking at a bare 75 minutes from 0-10 and then a much shorter 2nd stage. Despite being booked for a homebirth, I've been told to ring an ambulance if I go from not-much to pushing very quickly. The midwives know they can't guarantee to be with me quick enough to deliver the baby if it's very rapid, and they don't want me to deliver anywhere unsuitable either.
I am rambling!
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6 Apr 2011, 08:16
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
I do think (from what I've heard from my mother who is a health visitor, and former midwife, in Wales) that low staffing levels is more of a problem in England and Wales than it is in Scotland. Although I don't understand why they had to leave you... our midwives always have everything required for delivery right there in the room (the rooms are constantly restocked by HCAs, so that they're ready to go as soon as a patient arrives). So I don't see any reason why midwives should have to leave you during a hospital delivery, and would suggest that was mismanagement of your individual situation, rather than the norm.

Interestingly your labour sounds very similar to my mum's (despite being a midwife at the time, she turned up at 10cm with me, after waking from her waters breaking, and getting straight in the car to head to hospital, and with my sister got to 6cm before discovering she was even in labour, and even then it was just because she asked to be examined at a routine check up 'just in case'. I don't know if precipitate labour is genetic, but I'm hoping so!).

A homebirth wouldn't be a choice I'd make (because I've seen 'low risk' labours go wrong far too many times, and personally couldn't feel comfortable taking the risk of something happening), but like I said, I do agree it should (within reason) be the mother's choice.
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5 Apr 2011, 22:47
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
Oh, UC is unassisted childbirth. Which is incredibly dangerous, and sadly women like that women, have to live with the consequences of their choice. Because it is no-one's choice but their own. Home births are offered here, and have restrictions (such as high blood pressure or being pre-term) with VERY good reasons. It would be completely irresponsible for medical professionals to agree to a homebirth in a woman who was anything other than low risk. But women still need to know that low risk is NOT no risk, and be ok with taking that risk.
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5 Apr 2011, 02:11
ღPhoenix
Post Count: 126
@anon.... i was going to say what MadetoShine and Mojo said.... I didnt want one at all and managed to hold off on pain meds until i was forced into a c-section.
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5 Apr 2011, 18:36
♥ jes
Post Count: 135
I had my daughter without an epidural. I had a very, very long labor but it was definitely worth it to not feel drugged up when I first saw her.
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5 Apr 2011, 20:03
Blitch. [+1]
Post Count: 82
Well I had my son WITH an epidural and I didn't feel at all drugged up when I saw him. I still remember every single second of it. Some people probably react differently, but I didn't feel weird. Then again they DID turn off my epidural before I started pushing & it was completely worn off after 15 minutes.
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5 Apr 2011, 20:10
♥ jes
Post Count: 135
I don't like the feeling of pain killers, honestly. I think they make me sick? Very nauseated. I know a lot of people I've talked to have felt drugged up & I know I would've felt really weird if I would've gotten an epidural.
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5 Apr 2011, 20:58
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
An epidural doesn't make you feel 'drugged up'.
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5 Apr 2011, 21:07
♥ jes
Post Count: 135
I believe people react differently to different medications, thank you. I've heard plenty of my friends say that an epidural made them feel drugged up. I don't believe you can tell me how I feel after I've taken medication of any sort.
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5 Apr 2011, 22:31
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
An epidural gives local anaesthetic into the epidural space. It surrounds the nerves and prevents pain. Local anaesthetics have no effect on how someone 'feels'. It is pharmacologically not possible. So if they felt drugged up it wasn't the epidural that was to blame.
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5 Apr 2011, 22:34
*Forever Changing*
Post Count: 847
@Bee I am the same way. I feel very drugged after getting an Epidural. I also cannot use Narcotic pain relievers including Vicoden and Percosets because the normal dose for a person my size sends me into drug induced hallucinations to the point where I was freaking out and they had to sedate me after I gave birth. People find it funny, but I literally was having a panic attack because "my nose fell off"
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5 Apr 2011, 22:41
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
Did you give birth with an epidural and no other drugs?
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6 Apr 2011, 02:54
*Forever Changing*
Post Count: 847
Yes I did, when I gave birth to my son, I had the epi and that was it, I was very very "drugged" up by it. When I told the nurse how I felt she said that it was a common complaint by patients, and it would go away after it was removed.
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6 Apr 2011, 03:24
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
I've done hundreds of epidurals and never had a patient complain of feeling drugged up (and we follow them all up 24 hrs later). I guess it could be a difference in the solution the anaesthetists at your hospital use. Our epidurals contain only local anaesthetic with a very small amount of fentanyl (even less of which is absorbed into the bloodstream), and so really shouldn't make someone feel drugged up. Maybe your epidurals contain something different. I might look on google!
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6 Apr 2011, 03:29
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
Another difference could be in the way the drug is administered. We use patient controlled epidurals, that means the patient presses a button to give themselves a top up dose every 45 mins or so. I think some places still use continuous infusions, so I wonder if you'd get a higher dose of fentanyl that way (and higher than is actually required). I'm just speculating though, I don't know if makes any difference.
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6 Apr 2011, 08:35
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
I found this in an anaesthesia journal article...

Sufentanil is used extensively in the US. It is 4.5-times as potent as fentanyl epidurally. Sufentanil 1 µg ml−1 added to LA provides better analgesia with a longer duration of action than fentanyl 2 µg ml−1

I wonder if sufentanil is more likely to cause the effects you describe. We don't use it (for anything) here, so I don't know enough about it's pharmacology to say.
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5 Apr 2011, 21:46
starsmaycollide
Post Count: 408
I would like to "like" that comment. lol. As I said above, an epidural made me 'me' again! the total opposite of being drugged up. it was just glorious numbness. ;-D Now other painkillers could be another story.
Being mentally present but numb while pushing was awesome.
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