At the risk of adding to a thread that has the potential of getting off
message, I will add just .02 to the anesthesia and epidural subject. In my
opinion, most women for social and cultural reasons, arrive at a hospital
with the expectation that an epidural is what they want and need. It seems
that most women give little, if any consideration to birthing any other way.
We are living in a society where expectations are high , self gratification
is utmost, and self denial is absent. It is disappointing that most women
don't realize how gratifying an unmedicated labor can be. That being said
however, it is an individual choice, and most individuals I know, choose
epidurals. Also, there are times and situations where epidurals are
useful,appropriate, and serve a good purpose. It is not my intention, nor my
place, to chastise a woman for wanting an epidural.
All that being said, hospitals recognize that generally a family's first
entry point into the health system is with childbirth, and they will provide
everything that women want and "think" they need. If "Cadillac anesthesia" is
not provided, those women will not return, that hospital will be disparaged
in the community, and ultimately it will lose those women and dollars to
another facility. Hospitals and obstetricians are going to make darn sure
that epidurals are available to anyone that wants one, and you can be doubly
darn sure that there are many anesthesiologists who really would rather not
be providing those services!
As far as L&D nurses are concerned, I do believe that they think offering and
encouraging epidurals is the right thing to do. Some may do it to manage
their patients better, but most probably view it as "compassionate." And
there are probably many more nurses than we know, who work hard for
unmedicated births, but have patients demanding the opposite.
Valerie Rhodes,R.N.IBCLC
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