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