Should You Get an Epidural for Pain Relief During Labor & Delivery?

In this video we will examine the benefits and drawbacks of getting an epidural for pain relief during childbirth. Giving birth is one of the most intense and painful experiences a woman will ever experience during her life. Pushing a 6 or 8 pound baby out of the body through an extremely small birth canal often tests the physical limitations of the female body. In recent years the epidural has become the predominant method of pain management for women in labor. An epidural is given for pain in over 60% of all hospital deliveries.
Epidural refers to the process of administering pain medication directly into the epidural space in the mother's lower spine. This effectively blocks pain signals from going to the lower body.
Like all medical procedures, however, the epidural has pros and cons. The primary benefit of an epidural is obviously pain relief. No other method is more effective at relieving pain during labor.
The other critical benefit of having an epidural setup is that the mother's lower body is already numb which enables doctors to perform an emergency C-section immediately. If an epidural is not in place already, doctors will have to administer general anesthetic before a C-section. This takes longer and leaves the mother unconscious for the moment of birth.
The most significant downside of an epidural is that it may actually make the labor and delivery process take much longer. The epidural is very effective at numbing the nerves and muscles in a mother's lower body. The problem is that this makes the mother less able to use her muscles to effectively and rapidly push the baby out. When the mother is not able to push effectively it prolongs the delivery process and puts the baby under more stress.
The longer the delivery process takes more risk there is for a birth injury.

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