Hospital vs. Home; Epidural vs. No

I'm pregnant with my 3rd, 1st hospital w/ a single dose of Stadol, 2nd at birthing center with midwife, my issue is there is nothing left to my imagination, I know labor/birth hurts. Should I stick with my midwife (new one) whom I'm not super crazy about and do the all natural thing again or do you think it's okay to go ahead and go to the hospital, get the epidural and have a few days down time before going back home and getting to work?

I don't really have a big support network, my mom and husband work in our family business and won't be able to take much time, if any off, so I'll be by myself with 3 kiddos (4,18 m & nb) as soon as I'm home, which is 2-8 hours with midwife or 2-3 days with a doctor.

If I'm in the hospital my husband will just have to do what has to be done and stay with the kids, if I do home or birth center birth well... there's no REAL need for him to stay home with them for a couple of days.

I had a waterbirth at home and I'd do it again. However, I feel total support for you if you go to the hospital for the reasons you listed. I couldn't have had a homebirth without my support network. Where are your kids going while you are in the hospital, could they go to the same place with a homebirth??? The only thing about a hospital/epidural is you are more likely to have a c section. That would be difficult to recover from while caring for your two others.

Id go the hospital. People says is a sterile a blah environment to give birth in but i was plenty comfortable. And it might be nice to stay a couple nights, you dont need to worry about cooking/washing just enjoy your new baby. I wish id stayed an extra night!!

never had an epidural so cant help there.
i think its nice not be on an IV and stuff so you move around and give birth in any position you please as apposed to in steryps

sounds like you should go to the hospital and get a little break, your gonna need it! when i had my third daughter i stayed in the hospital for two nights and i missed my other daughters like crazy but enjoyed the time i got to myself to prepare for being at home. take a little time for yourself...........Go to the hospital!!!!! Good Luck!

Hospital and epidural for me. With having family busy working and the workload at home waiting for you I would take the couple of days and have the baby in the hospital and enjoy some time with your newborn. Once you get home things will be crazy. Good luck!

I had my first in our vacation home with a midwife, no drugs it wasn't planned that way, he came early and our neighbor just happened to be a midwife. But out of all my deliveries it was the easiest.

you owe it to yourself to go to a hospital, get the pain meds, not feel anything from your **** to your knees, and relax, as much a spossible, in your own room in the hospital..

GET AN EPIDURAL! i had one and i felt nothing. i mean nothing .well i did have to wait a lil while to get one but the contractions in the beginning wernt bad..it was great. so i definalty reccommend one.

Well I think you should give the epidural a chance ... just to say you had them all ;) ... you'll be glad you had it because it will relax you.

I had a baby a month ago. I also had a midwife. I got stuck at 5cm with contractions 1 after the other and I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted an epidural, which meant that I was a transfer of care. My midwives stayed with me the whole time though, and have done the post-birth visits as well.

I had 2 epidurals, neither of which worked (and the doctor had no idea why), so I had a spinal block, or whatever it is that they give you when you have a c-section, but not as strong. It was supposed to last 4 hours, but only lasted one. I then had to beg them to give me some morphine (which didn't do much).

So basically what I'm saying, is find out if your midwife has hospital privileges. I had my daughter 12:19am Sunday morning and got out Monday afternoon, but I could have left earlier, or stayed longer.