Tattoos and Epidurals are a Toxic Mix?
Why Some Expectant Moms are Worried About Tattoos (thanks Julia!)
interesting…maybe the tattoo craze will convince more women to try natural childbirth? Dare we dream?
Love,
Heather
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luluandbeans said,
October 5, 2007 @ 3:55 am
I think it’s really interesting that it’s not that they have had any issues with women having complications due to an epi through the tattoo, and the three women who they studied who had it done are fine, They think that there might be an issue, so many drs are refusing to administer an epi if there is a tattoo.
I know a couple of women opted not to get a tattoo on their back because they were planning to have children.
jbarbie23 said,
October 5, 2007 @ 5:41 am
Or they are going for a move back to twilight sleep, where the women are even more malleable.
:-/
Sorry; I am a medical-pharmaceutical complex cynic…
amyphilo said,
October 5, 2007 @ 6:57 am
Hopefully the OBs are just afraid of getting sued. Maybe we should all sue them for our past experiences. I have had two dreams about my OB the last few nights. Each time I tell him about my home birth and how crappy it was to have a hospital birth and how I didn’t tear and his episiotomy was a joke. In the first dream, he started laughing at me along with a room full of OBs staring at me like I was some sort of idiot freak. In the second dream he also scoffed at me but then he put on his lady clothes and drove back to MN. I guess I have been watching too many South Park intros.
I have never had a tattoo but I have had two babies, one with an epidural and one at home w/o obviously. I would never trade a few hours of pain for 6 weeks of episiotomy pain and bleeding again. I have also had back problems that I think were way more painful than child birth. At one point I could not walk or sit up on my own because I had a bulging / slipped disc. I have also stabbed myself accidentally and had moles removed surgically. All those were very painful. So I guess I am saying if you are cutting on my body I’ll take the drugs. Otherwise my body can take it.
I am very senistive to chemicals and my epidural worked so well I couldn’t move my legs until the next morning & had to leave a catheter in overnight. I could barely push at all and the baby was removed via vaccuum.
I am also thinking maybe it is time to write a semi-polite letter to all the hospitals and doctors that screwed me over three years ago at birth and postpartum explaining what they did wrong.
sewathomemama said,
October 5, 2007 @ 9:01 am
i’ve logged about 8 hours worth of tattoo time, plus 24 hours of active labor, plus 48 hours worth of contractions - all with no experience-killers whatsoever. it builds character! suck it up & brag!
they say “you don’t get an award for bravery doing a natural birth” or somesuch nonsense. well, maybe we should give out medals or something! perhaps a shiny trinket (not to mention the wellbeing of baby & the drastically decreased chance of “emergency” c-section) would be enough to lure mamas from the needle.
i’m just sayin’.
xoxo, i-dra
sapphire_chan said,
October 5, 2007 @ 10:15 am
Hmm, never considered putting that on the list of things to have in case of a transfer. A lot of places won’t tattoo pregnant women, right? So I should take care of that now = D
kriekle said,
October 5, 2007 @ 11:33 am
Hey Sewathomemama, I think I’m opposite of you in terms of hours logged! I have no clue how many tattoo hours, but I have 10 1/2 tats, several of which required several sittings. I’ve had 19 total hours of contractions, with maybe 5 hours of active labor, and like you, I’ve done it with no “experience-killers”. Love that term!
As for natural childbirth, I have a friend who recently had her 3rd child, but 1st natural birth. The difference is overwhelming. She’s healthier and happier, her baby is healthier and happier, this is the first one she has successfully breastfed (she has a circle of support now that she didn’t have in the past, too), and she’s ready to be pregnant again because of how different this birth was.
wiffersnapper said,
October 5, 2007 @ 4:56 pm
Amyphilo- After my daughter’s horrible hospital birth in which she was nearly killed by a doctor’s ignorance (she didn’t notice the prolasped cord), I did write a not precisely polite letter. I enourage you to do the same- it really does help you to feel better afterwards. However- don’t expect a reply. It’s been nearly three years now and I have yet to hear from the doctor or the hospital. I figure they’re working from the “just be glad you went home with a live baby” theory. Still, I do feel more empowered, letting them know that I am onto what they did and that I won’t ever be returning!
amyphilo said,
October 5, 2007 @ 8:33 pm
Thanks wifesnapper! That is horrible. Wow, I get sick just thinking about what happend to you and nearly happened to your baby!
DancingOtter said,
October 6, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
With all due respect, this is a COMPLETE myth. There is no danger with lower back tattoos and epidurals. There are, of course, plenty of dangers to epidurals alone.
sillybeans said,
October 26, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
While I disagree with epidurals in a general sense, I’m more unnerved about the toxicity of tattoo ink infiltrating my system. Talk about unnatural!