So hubby and I are leaning heavily towards starting a family this year. I’d like to believe we’re prepared for anything that comes up, financially, but mentally, I can say I’m honestly terrified of the prospect of childbirth; horror stories abound, etc. and I’d always said I was never having children unless I was having them with an epidural.

Recently, the more I delve into the actual literature on epidural vs natural, women who have been through the process of birthing are advocating more for themselves and speaking up about what the epidural did to them, some saying that they didn’t feel like themselves for several weeks or that there were weeks long side effects of the epidural itself, pain at the site, back pain in general from the epidural etc, or that it affected them or their baby negatively in the long run. Thing is, I don’t know how to sort through the horror stories for truth vs no for the sake of no, and how common the negative really is compared to the women who had positive experiences with them.

TLDR; My point is, I know we’ve got some mommas out there, or significant others, who could chime in and I'm just looking to get more personal experiences and thoughts on epidural vs non. =)

Hey, I personally did not have an epidural during the birth of my second child (I had to have an emergency c-section with my first) and honestly it was amazing. For me when I was younger I was terrified of natural child birth and told myself if I were to ever have kids I would just have a c-section. There's a photo of my mom when she was in labor with me where her feet were in stirrups and it just looked so cold and clinical and I just thought of how much pain it would be pushing out a baby, but the pushing was not that bad compared to the contractions. The contractions are of course very painful, but not as bad imo as getting potassium in your IV. Also there were no stirrups or any old fashioned devices like that during my daughter's birth lol.

Right after having my little one I was able to get up and out of bed and use the bathroom (if you have an epidural I think you have to stay in bed for several hours because your legs are numb and you can't stand). I've also read that having an epidural can slow down contractions and can lead to having to have an emergency c-section. At the same time, I obviously had a spinal/epidural with my first and I had no residual pain or complications from it. But everyone is different. C:

You have to go with the flow and realize that you don’t really have control over anything when you’re in the delivery room. With my first, i had an epidural. Baby was a week overdue and I had to be induced and I made it 10 hours without an epidural (I really didn’t want one), but then the baby’s heart rate started going up and I had to make the choice between what I wanted for me and what I wanted for the baby. For my 2nd, she was born on her due date. I was all ready to have an epidural with and then things progressed so quickly that there was no time for an epidural and I had the baby naturally within 45 minutes of arriving at the hospital. 1st birth was terrible, 2nd birth was wonderful, but I didn’t have control over either. The only thing that matters now is that both babies are healthy. Good luck, !