Differences in Physical Discomfort and Childbirth Satisfaction between Primiparous Women with and without having taken Epidural Analgesia

【Purpose: To examine the difference of physical discomfort and childbirth satisfaction between postpartum women with and without having taken Epidural Analgesia. Method: The subjects were divided into one group of 128 primipara taken Epidural Analgesia and the other of the same 70 women who were not taken it. Data were collected by questionnaires of their own physical discomfort and birth satisfaction at postpartum 1 to 2 days in OBGY hospitals, and data were analyzed using SPSS Program. Result: Women having taken epidural analgesia appealed higher physical discomfort than those without it in the lower limbs exercise discomfort, difficult urination, urinary retention, nausea & vomiting, whereas appeared vice versa in breast pain. Among indicators for childbirth satisfaction, women having taken epidural analgesia preferred the same delivery method later again more than those without it. Conclusion: It is confirmed that the method of epidural analgesia is not an absolute way to control labor pain, rather stir physical discomfort after childbirth and does not fully increase the women's childbirth satisfaction. Therefore, it is proposed that nurses should provide the pregnant women the right knowledge and information, thereby enabling them to select the useful method of childbirth to their own course of childbirth and health-recovering after the delivery.】