Epidurals!

yup i did! And bubs was 9lb 2oz as well. she came out in two pushes and a very small internal tear.

i felt a bit of pressure (a bit like a poo was about to come out!) and my midwife told me to push as hard as i could and out she came. was a fantastic birth for me, hardly any pain, and plenty of sleep inbetween. i had been in labour for 30 odd hours which is why she recommended i have an epi.

Thanks girls!! Nice to know things can still go smoothly.  I didnt mean to imply that pain relief is wimping out fattartsrock, more that I have done the natural birth and know I can cope ok without it IYKWIM??  (although not fun lol!! )The epi is certainly sounding good though lol, I like your comparison to a headache and panadol!!

I had epis with Maya and the gremlins and apart from quite a long pushing stage with Maya and Sienna the births were great, no assistance required and no tearing.
I couldn't have got thru the labour with Maya without the epi, it was long and painful, she was posterior and after 36 hours of contractions I was only 3cm and not coping at all, the epi let me rest and gave me enough energy to birth her.
With the gremlins I had one as part of a medically managed birth plan to help the midwife and OB 'control' the contractions with synto, but it ended up failing and I gave birth with no pain relief and felt great about it. It was only 6 hours from start to finish tho compared with 41 hours for Maya so much quicker. I don't regret having the epi with Maya at all, and I certainly don't think it's chickening out!
I'm going to try and birth this baby with no pain relief, but if it comes down to it and I'm not coping then I'd definitely have the epi again.

IKWYM Kiwimummy! I didn't think yu were inplying that, I was just boosting ya morale!

i was on drip after two days of contractins, four hours of drip then epi, was great. pushed her out in 20 mins. there was talk of havin a c/s as id just had epi top up, but i was'nt keen on that idea.
If i need another epi i will be havin one.

i could feel the top of my uterus contracting.

I had epis with both labours and had ventouse delivery with kobe but that was for different reasons, nothing to do with the epi, i couldnt feel a thing with him but with addison she was an unassisted delivery and i could still feel the contractions, infact i was in major major pain but i think that was cos it all happened so fast and htey hadnt topped me up for a while thinking nothing was gonna happen so quick.

I couldnt feel the contractions (well kind of could but I was pre-occupied with the 8 other people in the room), I had an assisted delivery but that was because he was posterior and distressed, not because of the epi.

I had an epidural with Briona and also an episiotomy. I actually didn't like it in the end because I had no push sensation etc at all and it was a lot of energy because I wasn't exactly sure what to do - by not feeling anything. For Kryssi I had a mix of fentynal and gas - fentanyl is one of the ingredients of epi so not as strong. With her I tore but no episiotomy.