Spinal block and Epi?

[Mother Goose]

HI Charlie'smumma,

I also have a "difficult" back for inserting an epi - it took over an hour to get mine in with DD and then I still felt contracting in the lower left quadrant of my belly so had to lay on one side to get it to "run".
They can insert the spinal and epi through the exact same spot on the back - it is just how far the needle is pushed in. If you think back to high school science and how they taught you about the different layers of the skin, it is the same principle. The only thing is, with the spinal, they can't insert it above a certain physcial space because of the risks involved with it affecting breathing etc.

If you have the xray and the anethetist works with it, I don't see any reason why they won't be able to give you effective analgesia for a c-sect without having to resort to a GA.

HTH

MG

[~mamaspice~]

Hi MG, thanks for the info.
So if they got the epi in and I only started to go numb down one side I could possibly get it to work properly if I lay on my side for a while? That's good to know, thanks I wonder why they didn't get me to try that when I had my CS. They just all of a sudden told me that they had to give me a general and wacked the mask on my face

[Mother Goose]

I was only able to lay on one side and let it "work" because I wasn't scheduled for a section at that point. I was induced and had the epidural inserted about 2pm (started trying about 1ish) and was rushed to theatre at 3:15pm. The anethetist "fiddled" with it when I arrived in theatre which made it work well enough for the section. Had he been unsuccessful with that, I would have had a GA. Lying on your side will only make the epi effective for as long as you stay on your side. I think I had a 5 minute grace when I rolled over and that was it - then I felt the contractions again... so much so I still needed the gas.
Talk to your anethetist and see what they say. They will be able to tell the probability of them being able to get the epi (or spinal) in successfully by looking at your x-ray.

HTH

MG

[AnyDream]

I wonder why they didn't get me to try that when I had my CS. They just all of a sudden told me that they had to give me a general and wacked the mask on my face

C'smumma, it sounds like you still have many unanswered questions. Perhaps it would be helpful to make an appt with the hospital to go through your records so that someone can explain the decisions that were taken...there may have been reasons that you're unaware of that made the GA appear necessary to them, or it may be a case of treatment policies, but either way an explanation is probably better than you wondering about it for the rest of your days.