I think this is the most common question when women talk about childbirth. I remember sitting in our antenatal classes and someone put up their hand and asked the question. We were all waiting for the answer only to be told the classic line …. “Pain is different for everyone”. No one ever wants to answer this question.

So hear I am ready to answer it! I had a medically required caesarean section due to pre-eclampsia so I had a spinal block not an epidural. These are administered the same way, however an epidural is a continual flow of medication and a spinal block is one dose.

I was petrified of the epidural needle. During the antenatal classes when they passed it around the room, as soon as the midwife took the needle from the box I closed my eyes and refused to look at it. To this day I have no idea what it looks like. My feelings were if I need it, I need it and seeing the size of the needle would only make me more anxious.

Sitting in the operating theatre being prepared for surgery I was so anxious and scared. I already had high blood pressure and I could feel it getting higher, my heart was racing and it was all in anticipation of that needle!

It feels like a lifetime, the anaesthetist cleans your skin and sets up his station. The first step is he injected me with a local anaesthetic to numb the area on top. This I must say “hurt”, it felt like little bee stings. The injecting of the local anaesthestic was worse than the needle stick, it seemed to sting.

After the local kicked in he spent about 4 minutes feeling the grooves in my back and all I wanted to do was run away. I could picture what he was doing and waiting for the moment he put that huge needle into my spine. The male nurse who was standing in front of me was making jokes and I was trying not to laugh but my mind was still on that needle and begging him in my head to hurry up and just do it! The next thing I know they are laying me down on the bed and asking if my legs were numb.

What!?! It was over? It was over and I had not only felt no pain, I didn’t even know he had done it!

I am sure the classic line “It’s different for everyone”, has some truth. But for me the only painful part of the epidural was the anticipation. I felt no pain at all and didn’t even feel it go in. It was done so quickly that I had no time to realise it had been done.

Everyone around me said they were watching it as I was talking and making jokes. They were waiting for my reaction that never came.

So there it is, my epidural experience. Epidurals are scary but at the end of the day if you need it you need it and I hope my positive story can help you feel confident that Epidurals are not painful for everyone!

Jen xx