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Epidural during labor for LO 1. Failed spinal during my C section.

Just a spinal for LO 2-RCS. No issues!

Epidural for my first pregnancy since we were attempting vaginal on my csec day! Spinal for my second. My second csec was sooooooo much better. My hubby thinks it's cuz of the anesthesiologist.

Chiming in because I just had a spinal done after having an epidural the first time around....and holy crap, I HATED THE SPINAL SO MUCH. Unfortunately I think it's one of those things where you just don't know until you experience it - my doctor said most people find the spinal to be less painful and give better numbing, but that was not the case for me at all. I felt absolutely nothing with the epidural and wish I would have just insisted on having another, because the amount of sensation I still felt with the spinal was really unnerving - no pain, but it was just scary for me. I also felt like the needle hurt a lot more, but that may have to do with the fact that I got the epidural between contractions and had been in labor for 24 hours.

@Nskillet: are you thinking that you will have a C-section?

Usually for the purpose of labor, an epidural is given because with that one they can insert a catheter to give you a constant infusion of medication. A spinal block is a one-time shot into the actual cerebrospinal fluid (it goes in deeper than the epidural) so that one is used for C-sections because the medication only lasts for a certain amount of time (ie an hour) and then wears off. There is no catheter left inside so this is not typically used for labor since labor can go on for many hours and the spinal block can wear off too early.

A spinal block typically works faster and is more effective in numbing everything because the medication is administered deeper than the epidural, another reason why it's used for surgeries. But the side effect of headache is slightly higher with spinal blocks because it goes directly into the spinal fluid.

There is also a technique known as a combined spinal-epidural block that can be used for labor because they do leave a catheter in but it's a more complicated procedure.

Spinal was way easier to me. I had it for my elective c section. It takes less time for them to get it into you and for it to take effect. Epidural was way harder, BUT I had it during labor, so I'm sure that had much to do with my opinion on it.