does an epidural hurt

[gonabeamom]

I had one other thought,  does an epidural hurt to have put in?  Im such a worry wort

[chatting in chatroom]

Yes and no. lol thats a good answer hey?

The local anaesthetic hurts, it feels like a bee sting and only lasts a couple of seconds .... when you are having contractions you dont notice it.  The needle into your spine does not hurt at all.

I should also mention they wont give you an eipdural until you are at least 4 cm dilated and the coverage can sometimes not be great.  You may feel half of body while the other half is completly numb.  So I wouldnt depend on it, but if thats the case they can reposition it.

[skatterbrains]

I had a spinal block, it didnt hurt a bit but they misplaced it to begin with and then it took about 10 min to work, lol, i had all the surgeons wandering around in their scrubs waiting on me.  I wouldnt depend on it either, epidurals have a tendancy to slow things down.

[Annabell]

I had one other thought,  does an epidural hurt to have put in?  Im such a worry wort

Hello gonabeamum,
COngratulations first of all!
I've had 3 epidurals. THe local anaesthetic hurts a bit and if they don't give you enough the epidural needle can be sore during insertion which happened to me once,but they just stopped and gave more local before continuing on.To be honest your so preoccupied with the labour pain that you really have to concentrate on staying still for the doctor,that can be really difficult if you have a strong one.my second epidurl worked perfectly and it was bliss!the other 2 I only got particial coverage with it,but even so it still made things more manageable than if I had none!Best of Luck to you.