Q for Alan or any other medical profs about catheter

Hello, ever since I attended my CS info session last week something has been bugging me.

During the session, they showed us the catheter they insert prior to surgery, soft and rubbery (with a long tube & a collection bag attached). However, during my first labour I was catherised several times (due to overful bladder - another story) and I distinctly remember a short rubbery tube with a long hard wire/stick on the inside to hold it straight. I asked the CS session midwife about it and she said no, on women they use a soft floppy tube as it's fairly easy to feed in.

Does this mean they have used a 'male' type catheter on me? Are there any circumstances which would necessitate having the stick inside the catheter to insert it for a woman? Is it possible my memory is correct because this may have been standard procedure in the past? Have I remembered this incorrectly or is this *yet another* example of horrendously bad/outdated practice that I experienced during that labour?

I have no medical knowledge so i could be wrong, but when my SIL was cath'd during her labour they inserted it with the stiff section inside and once it was out they slid that out so it was just the soft bit inside still.

Bx

Marydean,

I have only ever catherised men AND women for a c/s with a soft tubing (often latex) . i have honestly never seen one with a metal guidewire. There is no need for a guidewire as the tubing is sufficiently firm to pass through.

Was your last birth natural? From what you have discribed it sounds like an in-out catheter (or intermittent catheter) was used (if it was placed in to drain then removed straight away - done a number of times etc). these are considerably shorter and firmer (often silicone or a pvc) as they are often designed for self-catherisation and it makes it easier to be used by the lay person. It is a possibility they used this type of catheter during a normal labour (no spinal/epidural for c/s) as it eliminates having a longer term catheter in place which may get in the way down there and therefore causes a problem with sterility.

The catheter the mw showed you for your c/s is th correct type and will stay in for a day or 2 until you are mobile and can attend the loo. If you didnt have this in, you could pee during your c/s due to loss of control from the epidural/spinal anaesthetic.



I hope this helps. not sure about the wire you described. Are you sure there was wire in it as this would be a concern as it is possible to damage the tender walls of the urethra (whether male or female). Could you ask the hospital you attend what you were catheterised with? Could it had a line on the tubing that looked like wire?

pm

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Was your last birth natural? From what you have discribed it sounds like an in-out catheter (or intermittent catheter) was used (if it was placed in to drain then removed straight away - done a number of times etc). these are considerably shorter and firmer (often silicone or a pvc) as they are often designed for self-catherisation and it makes it easier to be used by the lay person. It is a possibility they used this type of catheter during a normal labour (no spinal/epidural for c/s) as it eliminates having a longer term catheter in place which may get in the way down there and therefore causes a problem with sterility.

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Yes it was an in and out again situation, used to drain an overly full bladder so bub's head had room to move. It was definitely firmer or straighter, and felt quite hard (and sharp) going in. For some reason I thought it was put in with the wire that was then removed, although it's possible in my haze I have gotten the wire bit confused, since there were a number of sharp wirey things poked into me on multiple instances (three different drs had about a dozen tries at ARM before concluding the membranes were "probably" broken) and then later on a similar story with trying to get a scalp monitor attached to DD's head.

I'm not at all concerned about the catheter for the CS -it looked a lot softer and less scary, and if anything I'm looking forwards to not having to trip to the dunny to pee constantly!

I've never seen a catheter with a metal wire in it. I've only ever used the soft ones and the firmer ones that princess mya described. Granted it was never in a c/s situation but i couldn't imagine why they would use a guidewire due to the risk of injury. As far as I am aware, the only difference between a male and a female catheter is the size, other than that they are the same.

Hi Marydean
The only thing I can think of is that they used a guide wire for you. This would be very unusual for a bladder catheter but is quite common when putting a breathing tube in. The usual catheter used is a long soft one, but there is a short one that is used as a one off, (they put it in, drain the bladder and then take it out. Only stays in for a few minutes)
If there was such a thing as a male catheter it would need to be longer than a female one.

It was the short intermittent one they used on my SIL, and it was used only once. She'd had an epidural and couldn't feel well enough to "go" iykwim. There was no wire, but like a stiffer plastic section inside, does that make sense? That was what they slid out and as they did so her bladder emptied so i guess it holds it shut too?

Bx

I had one in when i was in labour with Charlie. i had it because i had an epidural. I had it in for approx. 7 hours and then it was taken out just before i started pushing. cant remember what it looked liek though.

I had one after my daughter ws born and I dont remember there being a guide wire in it t all. I had the type that stays in for a while. I think I had it in for almost 48 hours. From memory it was just a tube. They did try with one but they couldnt make it go in and I screamed because it felt sharp and painful, so they went away to get another one which they got in easily. I dont know if it was the sme or differnt to the first one they used though.

Alan, thanks for that, yes it was shorter sort of tube that only stayed in for a minute or so, but they did it several times.

Hoobley, I think that must've been it - maybe the inside bit was plastic and not a wire.

I think the real issue here is I had such a horrible time with other aspects of my mismanaged labour that I now distrust everything that was done while I was there...! It was 9 yrs ago though so some of my recollections could be a bit mixed up.

:hugs: MaryDean, I hope this birth is full of good memories for you.

Thanks Tara! :hug: