Will it still hurt after epidural?

Painless childbirth is currently a more popular method of delivery, because it can greatly reduce the pain of pregnant women, which can prevent pregnant women from experiencing postpartum depression and other conditions. Will it still be painful after epidural? This is a question that many pregnant women are concerned about. Painless childbirth actually only reduces the pain during childbirth. Pregnant women will still feel pain, but it is much less than normal.

When is the epidural usually given?

Doctors will not give you epidurals right after you are about to give birth, even if you are in excruciating pain. Generally, you will not be given epidurals until your cervix is ​​dilated to 3 centimeters. If your cervix dilates very quickly, to 6 or 7 fingers, doctors will not recommend epidurals.

Mothers of second children can also use painless delivery, but since they are multiparous, their cervix will dilate a little faster than that of mothers giving birth for the first time. If the cervix dilates too quickly and enters the second stage of labor directly, the doctor will also recommend that you not use painless delivery.

The time from the onset of labor to the cervix dilating to 3 centimeters will be relatively long, about 6-8 hours on average, and even more than 24 hours at a slower rate. Therefore, even if you plan to use painless delivery later, you will still experience a long period of pain during the entire delivery process before the painless injection.

Does pain-free really mean no pain?

Clinically, pain severity is usually graded from 0 to 10:

0 points: no pain;

0～3

Classified as mild pain;

4-6

Classified as moderate pain;

7 points or more is severe pain;

A score of 10 is the worst pain imaginable.

After using labor analgesia, your pain level can usually be controlled below 3 to 4 points, and some people can even reach 0 points. After using labor analgesia, most women will only feel a tightening sensation in their stomach during contractions, without any obvious pain.

Does painless childbirth have any effect on the fetus?

Smooth labor analgesia will not have any impact on the baby.

The doses and concentrations of drugs used in painless childbirth are lower, and the amount of drugs entering your body is much lower than that of cesarean section anesthesia. Anesthetic drugs are injected directly into the spinal canal rather than into the vein. The amount of drugs absorbed into the mother's body and then entering the fetus through the placenta is very small, so there is no adverse effect on the fetus.

Since the drug effect of the painless injection is local, the dose of the drug that enters the mother's blood and is secreted with breast milk is very small, so you can breastfeed immediately after the painless injection.

However, not every hospital can provide painless delivery technology, so pregnant mothers who are about to give birth need to consult the hospital where you are giving birth. Generally, you can express your needs in time before delivery.