“We like everyone to have an epidural just in case you DON’T need a cesarean section. This is part of how we’ll ensure you’ll get one!”

After I explained to my VBAC friend about all the interventions she had been forced to have because of ‘hospital protocol’ (blah blah) and how so many of them often lead to a C section, she said, “So the fact that I ended up with a VBAC was just dumb luck last time?”
How true. And sad.

“We like all of our patients to have an epidural so they lay quietly in their beds until the doctor arrives to pull or cut their baby out…women without epidurals are just so NEEDY.”

I was told the exact same thing when I had my twins, I begged them not to the epideral, but it was “protocol for twins.”

I hv nvr been told it was protocal. How ever if I was told this I wld tell them where they cn shove it. That is the mothers choice and ONLY the mothers. I was in labor for 26 hours w my daughter and went 16 hours w out an epidural. Even though I had it shoved down my throat since I was admited. I was 17 and the doctor didn’t think I cld endure the pain as my labor progressed. He was shocked wen he found out how long I went w out it

After refusing an epidural for twenty hours being harassed and demeaned….I got ….”It sounds like there is a wild animal in here…” Apparently the sounds of a naturally birthing mother are so uncommon–we are now compared to animals.

A friend of mine was told by her practice that they “didn’t feel comfortable” with her declining an epidural, even though the anesthesiologist said he refused to place one because of her spinal issues (that it was actually more dangerous for her with the epidural than without). This was at 4 or 5 months pregnant.

She transferred to a birth center and had a water birth. She figured the doctors could be uncomfortable ten miles away.