Giving birth in The UK, have you had any problems with requesting an epidural?

I begged for it but was told the ward was understaffed that night, and when you get an epidural, you need constant monitoring and they couldn't spare a staff member for this. I don't blame them, they were very sympathetic about it, i blame whoever was in charge of the staffing levels. They told me I would get one when the next lot of staff came in at 9am, my daughter was born at 9 minutes to 9!

When I had my second, I went to hospital to be told that I wasn't yet officially in labour as I was only 2-3cm dilated. The midwife promised an epidural as soon as I got to 4cm. The next time she attempted an examination, she realised the baby was coming out - it was too late! It was a very fast labour, lucky for me.

I got it as soon as I asked. Luckily the anaesthetist was in the labour suite finishing off someone else's when I asked for it, so it was pretty much straight away.

PS They never even checked how dilated I was before getting one. An hour after getting it I was fully dilated. In our antenatal classes the midwife said they don't have a cutoff point for giving them. You can get stuck at say, 8cm and they will still give you one. The epidural can actually help things to relax and get you dilating again. I guess it's probably different rules in different hospitals though.

no with my first i had 1, it all depends on how far dilated you are if your past 7cm they wont let you have 1, ive always said half way through my other labours that i wont 1 but i never have in all honesty my labours were that quick i wouldn't of had time to get 1 and if you don't have 1 you can be out of hospital with in 4 hours which i will definitely be doing providing there's no problems

Well I was offered it, at 8am. It was done and going by 9am. So in my case, I got it as soon as it was offered (I was so out of it and in so much pain that I didn't need to ask).