First pregnancy and scared to death of giving birth?

I've never given birth myself, not for another 6 months, but I've done a lot of research and everyone in my family says that an epidural completely takes the pain away down there. Like, they literally have to put a catheter in because you can't even feel when you have to pee. However... Just before you start to push, they stop the epidural, so you can feel... Well, yourself pushing. I hear it makes it like 10 times easier though... Don't worry, I'm pretty scared too ._.

The idea of an epidural is to numb you from the waist down, a small percentage find it doesn't numb the pain completely. They insert a catheter to allow you to pass urine, your given a steady dose up till around the time you push. Then they stop it so you regain some sensation and it helps you push more effectively. If your unable to push out the baby as with any labour, you risk having a forceps assisted delivery or C section if the baby is in distress. Yes it makes the labour less painful and allows you to get some sleep if your having a long labour. You might have to stay in hospital longer after the birth till you regain bowel and limb function/sensation. You might get pins and needles for a while as the medication wears off. Lots of women have epidurals and have relatively straight forward and less painful labours.

Epidurals are not necessary, and can sometimes be harmful to the birthing process. Educate yourself a little bit about the correlation between epidurals and c-sections. Having an epidural makes it so you cannot move your legs. Which means you have to labor on your back, which has been proven to be the least effective position in which to birth a baby. It can lead to stalled labor, increased risk of tearing or episiotomy, increased risk of emergency cesarian, etc. The list goes on and on.

I had two births, one with epidural and one without. The first birth was with an epidural because I was a terrified new mom that was afraid to advocate for herself. I pushed on my back, in stirrups, and had an episiotomy to avoid tearing. Then I laid in bed for hours while I waited for the epidural to wear off so I could take a shower.

My second birth was a completely drug free delivery. I was able to move around in labor to make myself more comfortable. I had an option to push in any position of my choosing. I birthed a much larger baby in about 15 minutes with absolutely no tearing. Immediately after delivery, I was able to nurse my son and then take a nice, long shower. The pain was not intolerable and going without an epidural made for a much more comfortable experience.

Whether you go for an epidural or not, just make sure you know your options and are educated about it. Birth is not meant to be a scary thing. It's a natural process and a beautiful thing. It can be as wonderful or as scary as you make it.

Epidurals are like jesus in a tube lol, Labor itself is an unexplainable feeling, it's not nearly as terrifying as you are imagining it to be. Contractions are like when you get gas really bad and have to toot a few times to make it go away. Lol, that but a little worse...it will be a relief honestly when you do finally go into labor, you will be prepared, and ready to have your baby in your arms at long last!! Besides, MILLIONS of women do it, and have been doing it. We all have our stories, everyone is different, but most of the time it ends the same way...."it took SO long, but once I had my baby in my arms, i forgot about everything I had just been through & the past 9 months." You'll do great, and an epidural WILL numb the pain! Good luck! :)

I have never given birth myself, but my sister said that with her epidural, it was completely numb to the point where she felt no pain whatsoever. I personally don't agree with epidurals because I feel it inhibits the natural way in which the body births a baby. Have you ever heard of hypnobirthing? I have had several moms tell me they had no pain at all using this natural method, but rather, it just felt like a really big workout for their body. My pregnancy did end in a miscarriage at 13 weeks, but I took comfort in the idea of trying this approach had I actually taken the pregnancy full term

I have had three kids and all were natural with no epidural. Its not that painful. I've had family that it didn't even work for. So just see how it goes before making any decisions on an epidural

From what I have researched about it I would agree with Tangerine and say that you should focus on pain management techniques such as lamaze rather than a drug which can SLOW Labor, cause it to last longer, not work, and give you nasty side effects!

I want to try natural birth, you can use more effective positions, your less likely to be in labor as long, your able to push, and feel!

I have also heard that educated mothers usually do better over all in delivery because they aren't AS scared and know what to expect and are more able to handle it and have techniques to handle it better!

According to your other questions, you're only about 9 weeks along.

Which gives you a LOT of time to educate yourself about childbirth -- meaning taking a class/reading books. (Not asking a bunch of strangers to answer questions that you CAN easily research yourself.)