Quote Originally Posted by ShlupQuack View Post
If you're all numb it's much harder to push, and greatly increases the risk of needing a c-section [read: surgery], so it's better to go without. Epidurals are a common way to dull the pain, but even those increase the risk of needing a c-section.
And the after effects can sometimes be felt for hours after. A friend of min was so loopy after she had an epidural that she couldn't even lift her arms to hold her daughter for hours unil the drugs wore off...