4 Epidural Side Effects No One Told You About
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Post pregnancy life have been a ride. This post have been stuck in my draft since shortly after I gave birth. But here it goes; my possibly last pregnancy-related post before I start my Motherhood Chronicles section in the blog.
As I'd lengthily detailed in The Birth Story, I was given a top up of Epidural just 5 minutes before the resident doctor realised that I was fully dilated and my son was rapidly descending.
I was suddenly demanded to push the very moment all feeling disappeared from my lower body; thanks to that second shot of Epidural.
And I had pushed based on my memory of desperate constipation. It didn't work, and the side effects of the Epidural made it so much harder. Everyone talks about some vague backache as a possible Epidural side effect. No, honey. These are the Epidural side effects no one told you about.
1. Vomiting
I must have vomited close to 10 times throughout the 2.5 hours after I fully dilated and another couple of times after I delivered later. Every time I pushed, my guts rebelled, and the dinner I regretted having before going to the hospital came tumbling out.
2. Shivering
They called it shivering. It was more like violent shaking and irrepressible quaking. My hands were trembling wildly. My heart was palpitating so bad. I had never felt so out of control of my body.
3. Numb lower body
First there was the tingly sensation that served as a warning that my legs are gonna run away from me. By the peak, I could only raise my legs about half an inch off the bed.
So for more than 2 hours, I was expected to pull up my stone dead legs with my uncontrollably shaking hands and push with the memory of constipation.
4. Drowsiness
I was so close to losing consciousness in between contractions. It took all my willpower to stay conscious. And I think I did slip away for a little bit before shaking myself back when the nurse yelled "Get ready to push again!"
It was not fun at all. Not fun? Let me rephrase. It was HELL. SEVEN BLOODY HELL.
Having said that, I would totally have opted for Epidural all over again. Without the dosage increment. The active labor pain had felt like the past 9 months' worth of period cramps returned to me all at once on a jumbo platter. And then some.
Well, at least I haven't had any period cramps ever since I gave birth. But that's another story for another day. Like maybe, "5 Changes to Your Body That Giving Birth Does" or something. Watch out for that!
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