[rebecca0217]

Hi! My name is Becky. I have 4 children and am expecting #5 this September. I tried natural childbirth with my first but ended up really fighting it and getting an epi. With baby#2 I had an intrathecal and with kids #3 and 4 I had epidurals.
This time around I am considering attempting NCB but honestly, I am scared. I have the hypnobabies CD's, I am using a MW instead of an OB ( I had a MW for #2 and it was the best L&D out of all of them!) my hospital has a bathtub I can labor in but not deliver.
Have any of you ladies experienced NCB after having an epi?? I serisouly am considering it but am afraid that Iwill fight it again.

[Counting our Blessings]

I have never had an epi, but good for you wanting to go without pain meds! These ladies are very knowledgeable and supportive.

Welcome!

[jhmomofmany]

I had an epi with my second. All my others have been more or less "natural"... two more hospital births and three homebirths since then. Each labor is so different, there is no reason to assume that the way you reacted the first time will be repeated in the future.

[keekopeeko]

Maybe silly Q here.. But what is intrathecal?

[alittlelost]

I had 2 epis before my NCB and will have another NCB this time. It's all about having the right support. For me, that means using a birth center instead of a hospital. Have you considered getting a doula?

[rebecca0217]

An intrathecal is when they give you the pain meds in your spine but there is no cathater like with an epi. The upside is you are up and around sooner as it wears off faster. THe downside is that it can wear off before you have delivered the baby!
My hubby is very supportive and does a great job taking care of me. I don't think I could do a doula-I don't like the idea of having someone else there.

I am really nervous about starting down this path, but I spoke to my midwife about it and she is understanding of my feelings. So we will see what happens! Hoping that I don't have any complications or surprises that make things go awry!

[Husher]

I believe you can do it, and I've heard there are great success rates with women who use Hypnobabies. Come here to vent your fears or just to chat any time.

[RUNNER25]

I had epi's with my first 2 births, this last one I did completely unmedicated. I did nothing to prepare either.

This birth did not get really painful until I was around 8-9cm, by then I figured I could just do without the drugs. I did use the whirlpool tub up until it was time to push, that was a big help. I also used a midwife this time around. She offered lots of encouragement which helped also.

The pushing part was extremely intense, scary and hurt like crazy. But by then there was no turning back. I only had to push for about 20 minutes.

I also labored at home for 9 of the 13 hours of my labor, getting to the hospital when I was 7cm.

[LJD3Tdance]

I randomly ended up here, I don't normally post on this board, but I saw the title of this thread and had to stop in. My first two births were with an epi and my last three were without. With my first I did not even consider the idea of a natural birth for more than about 10 seconds. The idea of the needle in my back freaked me out, but the idea of labor freaked me out worse. It was wonderful, I was 8cm dilated when I got to the hospital and they told me as long as they could get a whole IV bag in me before I got to 10, they'd give me the epi, and they gave it to me and it literally was only working for about 10 minutes before pushing time, and I never lost feeling. Just the way it should be.

Then I went into my second experience much differently. I was told I needed to be induced medically on my due date if I had not already delivered, and I had not. I was freaked by that and kept wanting more natural routes, but not worried about the epi. EVERYTHING went wrong getting the epi started, he couldn't get it in, he had to start over, it was awful. I had a terrible experience. Even after it was in it never worked right, it made it worse. A lot worse actually. So I vowed, that was it.

So I was a little nervous with number 3, but I did it natural and with 4 and 5 it was easy to do it natural because I knew how much better I felt with the natural over the epi. Especially on a later birth natural is the way to go. That first one can have sooooo much pushing (2 and a half hours for me, and that's normal in first births in my family, even without an epi), but with later births there is so much less pushing, and things progress so much easier. I agree with Jennifer that each birth is different, but if you only tried it on your first, it could be a lot easier this time.

[rebecca0217]

I am hoping it will be easier for sure. I swear that the epi didn't help much with my last cuz I was still in a lot of pain due to something else going on.

[Babytopia]

I'm right there with you. I'd really like to have #4 Natural but am also scared. With each of my kids I've had to get pitocin since my water broke early and the increase in contractions became intolerable (was much worse than when I labored alone with #1). I keep having my babies a few weeks early but they aren't considered preterm and are just fine. Should I still be able to have #4 the way I would want....no meds, water birth, etc... Or will the hospital not go for that given my history?

Anyone here have experience with water birthing? Does it really help with pain?

[LJD3Tdance]

having had pit births shouldn't stop you from being able to do anything. I've had pitocin given to me on 4 of 5, and I've had 3 of those 4 births without any pain meds. As for the water birth helping with pain, I can't answer that because I've never had a water birth. Does your hospital do water births or were you thinking of a birthing center/home birth this time?

[Hippy Witchy Chicky]

I had an epi with the first and homebirth with the next. Just read as much as possible/research until you feel 100% comfortable in your body and birthing capabilities.