From conception, to pregnancy, to labour, to giving birth, these are all very personal and individual experiences. One of the big questions many women ponder during pregnancy is whether “to have an epidural or not?”
I just thought it might be fun to share with you my two different experiences and my pros and cons for each. For both of my children, I had pretty straight forward pregnancies, nothing complex or out of the ordinary.
Just your usual silly things, like morning sickness, pelvic instability, seriously bad heartburn, a big waddle by the end, water retention, etc, etc. I also managed to have two very straight forward vaginal births for both.
The only major difference between the two was for Harper, I had no epidural, and for Paxton, I did have an epidural. If you ask me what I would do next time (if there is a next time) I have no clue! So here is what went down.
Harper – No epidural.
I went into my labour with Harper with a totally open mind. I had never done it before and I had no idea what to expect. I was ready and I was SO excited to meet my baby. I had absolutely no birth plan.
I knew going into it, that I didn’t like the idea of not knowing what affects the different drugs would have on me. But I was also open to the drugs if I needed them as I had no clue what the pain would feel like and how I would cope with it.

I went into labour with Harper at about 4 pm on a Saturday. By about 5 am we went into the hospital, but like many first time mums I ended up getting sent home as my contractions slowed right down after we arrived. We got home and things sped up fast. So, we were back in the hospital by about 9/10am.
Once I got in, my obstetrician came and checked me out and I was already 7cm dilated. We spoke about the pain management options and he was so encouraging, he told me that I had done the hardest part and I’d come so far. He was so sure I could do it without an epidural, that he really encouraged me to go without it. I used the gas for most of the time until it started making me incredibly nauseous.
My husband Jase had to coach me through every contraction. I needed him by my side always, no joke, he had to ask my permission to go to the toilet. As I got closer and closer to needing to push, I started cursing my obstetrician for telling me it wouldn’t get more painful, LIAR!
It was so painful at this point I thought I couldn’t physically do it anymore. About 15 mins before Harper was born, I got up to go to the toilet to wee, Jase by my side, and my waters broke. THE PAIN!