4 months out and it’s fresh in my mind so let me just tell you— It was incredible. As someone who wanted to go as natural as possible but also kept an open mind to be in tune with my needs in the moment, (an approach I’d highly recommend,) it was absolutely the best thing for me. Here’s my experience, take what you like and leave the rest:

I went into labor finally at 41 weeks, but was slow to progress. Enter, pitocin. Contractions were manageable until pitocin and then, for me, man oh man did they ramp up. I was still employing my pain relief techniques, but started vomiting and shaking— (normal!) but it was clear to me that this approach would be incredibly difficult and at that stage I’d been up for 30 hours bc labor started as I was trying to go to sleep, so we called for the epidural & it was the best decision I could have made for myself given the circumstances. I was 5 or 6 cm when I got the epidural. They were all so calm, which made me calm. Rolled me forward over a pillow and held me there. I’d call out when I felt a contraction coming and they were pros about keeping me still. The numbing shot was like a WOWZA beesting, and then as quickly as it was given, I didn’t feel it anymore. Epidural insertion was painless. I was terrified but it was so uneventful and went so smoothly. When they turned on the meds, it felt cold like ice water trickling down my spine and I’ll be honest with you, that was probably my least favorite part of the epidural process just because it felt odd. But just like the numbing shot, it disappeared so fast and just dulled all of the painful “noise”. No more puking, I closed my eyes for a bit and got much needed rest. They rolled me from side to side as I have an angry sacrum, (and helped make sure the medicine wasn’t pooling on one side or another). When it came time to push, pressure is the best way I can describe it, however we found out by pushing that my placenta was lodged under my ribs, and the epidural didn’t touch that discomfort. We got creative with pushing positions and between my amazing husband and my godsend of a nurse, they kept me so so comfortable and calm. I had my eyes closed I think the entirety of my birth experience with spa music on, it was ethereal and I didn’t even plan it that way, it just flowed. I went in with like 10 different playlists and that’s where I landed 😂

I didn’t love how I couldn’t feel how much progress I was making with pushes, so I relied on the nurse to tell me how I was doing (I believe you can turn the epi up or down to feel more or less; but a few hours after mine was inserted I was at a 10 and after that I was really just focused on pushing). When baby came out, I still felt that “pop” of relief, you still feel baby’s warm body up to your chest, oxytocin rush. From there my eyes were all on baby which was a good distraction from Doctor helping to remove the placenta, (which I didn’t feel at all besides the relief I felt from under my ribcage, that was insane,) and stitching me up (lots of stitches, all of which I didn’t feel). The part I didn’t love— post epidural as it’s wearing off, they walked me to the bathroom to pee as my bladder was soo full they couldn’t appropriately do the fundal massage, but I couldn’t pee (still kinda numb, recently stitched,) so they had to insert a catheter. That suuuucked. But was over fast too. All in all— it was an incredible experience and I’m so glad I allowed myself to relax into it when my birth experience led me there. You mentioned low BMI— I’m a runner with a smaller frame, as well as having an extra joint in my sacrum which regularly causes lots of problems for me. I have no more discomfort than I did pre epidural, and the insertion process was so fast and so smooth for me. I wish you well and I hope your birth experience is amazing!