Reassurance on epidurals, pooping during labor, etc...

3 weeks pp, FTM, and thought I'd share my positive experiences as I was anxious about these things going in and it may reassure someone out there!

1. Pooping during labor. Yes, you very likely will. You should not be embarrassed by this! As my OB nurse told me, better DURING then AFTER. The last thing you will want to do immediately after pushing out a baby is try to go #2. Get it out now!
2. Relatedly, if you're stressed about not being able to shave/wax - don't. I have several nurses in my family and most of them see hundreds of naked people parts each month. You would have to be really remarkable (like a huge, graphic, misspelled tattoo) for them to even remember when they leave the room.
3. Epidurals. Now I know a lot of people have strong feelings or apprehension about it. Not here to sway you just to share my experience. I was on the fence going in to the hospital. After 6 hours of contractions I got one and I am very glad I did as I could save my energy for pushing. My baby ended up being over 9 lbs, and I tore quite badly, without an epidural it would have been excruciating.
   1. A few things my OB nurse said stuck with me - she said they don't give out medals for being in pain, and she joked that I could lie afterwards and said I didn't have one and no one would ever know. I laughed, but it got me thinking that there might be people out there who do this. I hope not, but it does the rest of us no favors to not be honest. I have no shame about my epidural. If I had been in the hospital with two broken legs, I would let them put morphine in my IV drip.

tldr, pooping is good, hair is normal, positive epidural story