Are They Really So Bad?

“Every pregnant woman who plans a vaginal birth has to contend with the fact that she will have to squeeze a head the size of a grapefruit through her much-smaller-than-a-grapefruit-sized vagina. In other words, that shit is gonna hurt. But if she considers getting an epidural, as 60 to 80 percent of first-time pregnant American women do, there’s a good chance she will hear that this form of pain relief—in which anesthesiologists administer a low-dose anesthetic and narcotic through a catheter into the epidural space surrounding her spinal cord—will degrade the birth experience and potentially harm both mother and baby.”