I gave birth just a few hours ago! I'm so excited :) So, quick question - I received an epidural after a morning and afternoon of pitocin induced contractions. I wanted to try my labor without one, but I just couldn't stand it. I knew and understood most of the risks and was pretty uncomfortable with it, but I figured if it was the only way to get rid of pain (IV drugs make me pretty mean and out of it) I would do it anyway. It ended up numbing my right side more than my left. It's been pretty impossible to walk and my back is sore at the epidural space, but in the middle of my right leg (at the knee) it's very numb and it won't fade back to normal like the rest of my body has. Has anyone else experienced this? How long will it last?
So it's the next morning and my right leg is numb/tingly from mid-thigh to low-knee though not painful.I can walk slowly with a little help, but sitting down is difficult because my knee gives out! And for those who asked, baby is healthy and is very very adorable :) He has had some feeding problems, but were working through it.
*By about 24 hours after the epidural was placed, the numbness had completely gone away!
It can happen that one side is numb and the other side is not. I can not give you a time frame of how long it will last. I did not have that issue with the epidural. I did have a time frame of six months where every so often I had a a dull ache in my lower back where the epidural was placed. You need to relax now. When you get home, you will be tired,getting up with the baby.
Congratulations on the new addition to the family.
Hi! Congratulations on having your new baby!!!
I remember having a lot of problems with my epidural when I had my son. It failed and only numbed from my right knee down. I felt EVERYTHING but I couldn't walk because part of my right leg was numb. I think it took a lot longer than a couple hours to wear off. He was born at 6:18pm and I didn't even get up out of my bed the whole night. I just stayed in bed until the next morning. I hope your leg feels better soon!
With my middle child that happened to me. It lasted until the next day but I was fine after that. I'm glad your son is doing good. I bet he's saving all that crying for when he gets home ;) That's what my youngest did to us! Congrats Momma!
Hi V., Do you mean that your leg is numb down the center of your thigh from the top to your knee? Does it tingle sometimes? Does it hurt like crazy sometimes so that even the weight of a sheet is too much? If the answer to any of these questions is yes....then let me help you now! I suffered with that for YEARS while doctors "patted my head" and told me it was all "in my head"! It started after my first c-section. I had an epidural that didn't take all the way (my left side was numb the right wasn't) and then I had a spinal (that worked) 18 1/2 years ago. I had two more c-sections & two more spinals. The pain & numbness came and went. It got worse when I went back to work (lots of hours on my feet) and eased just a bit when I wasn't. Sometimes the pain was crazy and I couldn't even hold a child on my lap. Sometimes the numbness was crazy and I couldn't feel my keys in my pants pocket! When my youngest was 3 we moved to PA and I got a new doctor and told him about the pain/numbness and begged him to find out what the problem was but I wasn't going to suffer through another nerve conduction test!! I had gone through 3 of them with no results. Thank God for my new doctor. We started with an MRI & back xrays (No one else thought to do that!) and my problem was discovered right away. I had a buldging disk in my lower back!! It was pressing on the nerve that wraps around and down the front of the thigh. So I had little to no back pain....but my right leg was a mess!! So, no, I didn't do back surgery I went to a re-hab doctor at Health South who gave me a couple of shots in the muscle around the disk and sent me to physical therpy. Thank you Thank you Thank you for a couple of Doctors that listened to me!! After a few weeks of pt I was almost completely back to normal after suffering for 8 years!! It's been 10 years since then....I still have some numbness/pain in my leg if I do to much....but I have excersizes from pt that I can do for my back that gets me right back into the swing of things. And as the years pass there is less and less of a problem. I still feel to this day that all this was because of the epidural! I wish I would have gotten the pt right away and avoided all those years of pain/numbness! If your leg doesn't return to normal in a couple of weeks talk to your doctor and insist that they do an MRI to check for a buldging disk so you don't suffer like I did! Congrats on your baby!! Best wishes & good luck
congrats:) i also had the epidural and as soon as they got me all fixed up i started to feel all the pain. But all my numbness went away. But i do remember when i went home and if i would be on the floor and get on my knees that i would get this sharp pain in my right knee. It finally went away after a month! I think it was from the epidural. But have you asked the nurses? I would ask them and see what they say.
I had that feeling when I had my first child 2 yrs ago. The numbness lasted for two days then it was gone. (it was only my right leg) Just let the doctor know. Congrats
yes!! that EXACT same thing happened to me. The whole rest of my body and been un-numbed for hours, but one small part of my leg (i think my right thigh) was still numb. I was worried it was going to be numb forever!! but by the next morning i was fine. congrats!! i hope you'll give us your "baby stats" when you post an update :-)
