Speaking of pain...

We went to our first class at the hospital last night, "Labor Pain Relief Class."  It's a complimentary class that they offer to let you know what your options are when it comes to drugs.

Now, I have a bit of a history with drugs.  Which sounds pretty shady, right?  Trust me, it's not.  A brief run down is this:  When I was fifteen, I went into anaphylactic shock and almost died.  Why?  Well, at first they couldn't figure it out.  I went into shock first thing in the morning, without any obvious triggers for such a severe reaction.  I tested negative for food and environmental allergens.  I was literally not allergic to anything.  But the day before my reaction, I had been taking pain relief medications at every 4-6 hour interval because I had a sore throat and bad menstrual cramps.  The theory became that I had a delayed reaction to a developed allergy to aspirin and NSAIDS (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, like ibuprofen).  However, they couldn't actually test that theory...because...well, because it could kill me.  So ever since then I've only been able to take Tylenol to relieve pain.  I've gotten really good at "just dealing" with headaches and other aches because acetaminophens aren't always the most effective.  I have to carry around an Epi-Pen and Benadryl in case I have a strange reaction again.  And about a month after my initial reaction, it did happen again.  And the only odd thing I had come into contact with that day was that I had eaten a hot dog.  My allergist at the time theorized that the preservatives in the hot dog had the same chemical makeup as aspirin, so that was why I had a reaction.  I've gone to doctors since then that have said that's an antiquated theory that has since been debunked.  But why then did I have a reaction?  I haven't had a hot dog since.  Or pork bacon.  Or sausage.  Or anything that has similar preservatives.

I miss bacon.

Needless to say, when it comes to childbirth, I have some build in concerns.

With my history, would an epidural be the right choice?  With the stories I've heard about epidurals, do I want to put my baby and/or myself at risk?  I've heard stories about babies being "drugged up" after an epidural birth.  Or women not being able to walk.  Or having chronic back pain.  Or not being able to know when to push because they can't feel anymore.  None of this sounded good to me.  The problem is, being in severe, agonizing pain doesn't sound like a picnic either!

I've talked before about how I've been taking this pregnancy day-by-day and not thinking or planning too much ahead.  But now that I'm creeping up on my sixth month, I figured it's time to start educating myself about when this baby actually makes his debut.  I haven't watched any birthing videos, I've read very minimally about labor and have so far been living in a state of ignorant bliss.  It's time to pop that bliss-bubble.

At the class last night, I learned a lot.  It was taught by a retired obstetrical anesthesiologist, Dr. Wright, who was actually one of the pioneers of epidural medicine.  He was one of the first doctors to use epidural medicine in the 1970s and he treated somewhere between 17-18,000 women.  He and his partner would take 24 hour shifts - one day on, one day off - and stay at the hospital that entire time to treat women as necessary, instead of running back and forth to the hospital as women came in.  And that system is still being used at our hospital.  It's one of the only hospitals in the country that has an in-house obstetrical anesthesiologist at all times.  So these doctors know what they are doing, because they do it all the time and only on laboring women.  Other hospitals usually have a general anesthesiologist that treats patients for all different needs.  Knowing that there are specialized doctors for just this one circumstance - birth - gives me some peace of mind.  He also explained how the epidural works and that, if it's administered correctly, it only takes away the pain.  It should never numb you.  If it does, you have to speak up so that they know to cut back on the dosage.  This way you can push and be in control of the birthing process, if delivering vaginally.  

After hearing everything and reading along with the informative package he gave us, I asked about allergies. If you're allergic, like I am, to other pain relievers, is an epidural safe?  And he assured me that it is.  And that if I'm still concerned, they can do a skin test before administering to ease my mind. But an actual allergy to the epidural is highly unlikely.  

Part of me really wants to go through this birth drug-free though. Just to see if I can do it.  Ok, alright.  Pipe down the laughter out there.  I know that if you're reading this and have given birth and chose an epidural, chances are you are thinking, "Good luck, honey."  Heck, even if you delivered naturally, you might be thinking, "Good luck, honey."  I'm going to research more about delivering naturally though, to see if it could be right for me.  Any good book suggestions?  Or resources in general?  We start our childbirth classes at the hospital at the end of November and I'm really looking forward to that but I'd like to research a bit before then.

I'm still unsure about how I would like to approach the labor process and a big part of that uncertainty is my lack of knowledge.  I'm really glad that we went to the Labor Pain Relief class last night and I learned how they approach epidurals at my hospital.  Now I'm ready to learn more!