How long did you wait for your epidural?

Slow lane to ease the pain | Herald Sun

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MINUTES can feel like hours when you are crying for pain relief in the throes of labour.

But research has found it can actually take hours from agony to epidural.

Women can wait up to two hours to get pain relief from the anaesthetic administered in the spine.

Report author Associate Prof Scott Simmons, Mercy Hospital for Women's director of anaesthesia, said previous studies had concentrated on the effectiveness of epidurals.

"If you are a woman in pain in labour what you really want to know is- from the time I stick my hand up, how long is it going to take before I am comfortable?" he said.

In the study, the clock started ticking from the moment the woman called for an epidural until the time she felt relief.

More than three-quarters of women achieved "satisfactory pain relief" within an hour, but in some cases it took up to two hours.

It took up to 20 minutes from the time a request went out to when the anaesthetist showed up.

"There was about 20-30 minutes in actually physically being in the room making sure the patient is ready, the equipment is available and other things."

First time mother Ava Vujovich asked for an epidural while she was giving birth to Isabella Buchanan at the Mercy on Tuesday.

"My mindset going in was that I was going to be open to anything I wanted ... I asked for one because I was in an enormous amount of pain," she said. It arrived about 45 minutes later.

Assoc Prof Simmons said the women's level of pain, or when they made the request, did not depend on whether they were first-time or experienced mums.

Data was taken from than 300 patients at the Mercy and the South Australian Hospital for Women and Children.

The research was presented at the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists' annual conference.

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I wonder if she had an induction/augmentation. Avoiding one of those is a huge step towards manageable pain.

From the point I requested it to the point it was attempted to be administered was half and hour. I would've freaked if I'd requested it and it took two hours for it to happen. Mine was about 7am too.

I had an epidural with DD1 and it would have been at least an hr before the anesthetist came.

I waited an hour and a half for the anesthetist to arrive, mainly because it was 8am and all the day surgeries were beginning.

I had natural onset of labour and no synto and my pain was excruciating! Prob because ds was posterior.

I lost all sense of time when I had Milly, but Scott says it was about 45 minutes. Felt more like three hours :lol:

An ex-work friend waited 2 hours for hers - her son was pretty much out by the time she got it AND the anaesthetist was in such a rush it didn't give any relief anyway :o


Sent from my iPhone so forgive the speelung misstacks ;)

15 mins from when i asked until it was completed.

i had mine at about 4pm and my middie could see i was struggling and went to get the peth as requested by me and when she came back she said the guy was in the corridor doing a final round to see if he was needed before he went home, so it was only 15 mins by the time i said yes and he came in and preped everything.

i dont know if it makes a diff but i was in a private hospy...

I waited about an hour for the anethietist (sp?) to show up, longest hour of my life!

I was in natural labour for 44 hours, my DS was posterior and was looking up, I waited until 40 hours into my labour before requesting an epidural and it was done within 5 to 10 minutes, I think because they were waiting for me to ask. But I had an awsome midwife who, thankfully help me avoid a c-sec as I was actually really quite scared of having one.

Ahh, I thought the question was going to be, how long did you wait before you asked for one :)

In answer to the OP... I can't remember.. it was 16 years ago, lol... but I think it was at least 40 minutes, maybe longer.

It was 3am when I asked for it, and I waited maybe an hour tops? They had to wake to poor guy up lol. Although I wasnt in agony or wanting it for pain-relief per se, it was so I could relax my body and get back the cm I lost after 3 hours of pushing and no baby. It was exhausting trying not to push anymore & relax. Thankfully they didnt does me up heavily, everything after but the contractions was still painful. It was just enough to do the job I needed it to.

It was about an hour for me with DD1.. and it was during the middle of the day.

yeah i wonder if the study looked at specific times? ie when surgeries were starting etc. because i can imagine that early morning would be a peak hour of sorts what with scheduled surgery and all.

I think I waited about 1/2 hour but then it didn't work and by that time the guy was doing a surgery so he didn't come back fr over 2 hours to do it again - and it finally worked!

I had an epidural with both and I have absolutely no clue how long I waited! I felt pretty out of it, I just remember the pain and telling myself soon I'll have it ease.
I guess the anethetists have more important places to be then rushing to a woman in pain in labour. I'm sure it wasnt their highest priority. Plus take into consideration the hospital and how many the have on, if theatre is on etc.

I think i only waited about 15 mins, thats what it felt like anyway. I thought i was only pushing for 5 mins but it was 2 and a half hrs! So god knows haha I think i asked at about 1am.

I think mine was 5 hours :(

Not kidding.

I was induced first thing in the morning and within ten minutes asked for the epidural. It came around 1pm... By that time the midwife and DP had to restrain me on the bed so he could get the needle in.

I thought my wait time was normal!?! Now I feel ripped off! :(


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Well, I was offered other pain relief by the midwife before my epi but I couldn't tell you what time that was. The anesthetist (sp?) was on call (so not at the hossy) and I think he got there within 30 mins tops. He then had to come back to top me up for surgery as I ended up having a c-sect and he was there alot quicker, maybe 15 mins

I had mine within about 20 minutes of requesting it.

I don't want to start a whole debate on public vs private, but anecdotally it seems to me that it often takes longer in a public hospital. I personally know 3 women who had them in public hospitals and had to wait anywhere between 2 and 5 hours. The one who had to wait 5 hours was given 2 shots of pethidine in the meantime and when her baby finally arrived she had to spend the first night in SCN due to her LO being very groggy from the pethidine. The other couple of women I know who have had them in a private hospital all had it within an hour....

30 minutes from when I screamed for one to when I was pain free :) Private hospital, around noon on a Saturday.

Mine never arrived for ds2. Waited an hour and then DS had to be delivered due to distress and the anesthetist arrived 15 minutes after he was born. Not sure how long I waited with ds1. Think it was only about half an hour.

I waited about 20-25 minutes I think. This was in a small hospital and I was the only one labouring so there were no anesthetists floating around waiting for me. The hospital uses an agency that has lots of anesthetists on call and they just call in whoever is closest or already at work.

My anaesthetist was on call too, and he lived 'up the mountain' so they'd told me he'd be an hour and a half getting there, I think my midwives were actually trying to say 'You might have this baby within the next hour and a half, by the time he gets here, you won't need it'. I actually have no idea how long it took before I got the epidural, I know he was very quick, efficient and caring when he administered it. I was lucky that it went in so quickly- it was at least another 2 1/2 hours after I got the epidural when Jacko was born. He was in NO hurry.

All my hospitals have told me that it would take about 30mins to arrnage for the anesthesitis to arrive and be ready to adminster, provided they were actually at the hospital and available (ie, not busy with another patient). Either way, I have never really had an oppertunity, because my labours progress too quickly.

Mine took about 2hrs from when I asked to it going in, mainly coz it was 12 midnight on new years eve when I asked for it (around 2:30am new years day when i could finally breath calm again!) and the hospital was busy with drunken idiots, and coz my contractions were so close and intense it took ages to take the blood tests before I could have the epidural. My labour went for 7hrs before, 2hrs waiting and another 10hrs after the epidural kicked in so I'm very glad I had it!

They rushed mine as my OB was worried I was going to have a stroke due to extreme blood pressure. I reckon he was there in about 5 mins from when we agreed to have one.


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for my DS the doc told me at around 10am they were breaking my waters and i was having an epidural they broke may waters at around 11;30ish after they did that i asked to have a shower they said yeah no worries the antithesis (sp?) will be a while so they made the gas longer to reach in the shower and as soon as i stepped under that water in he walks.. so around 15 minutes i remember after he was done it was around 12-12:30 took him four goes to get it in though as i overdoseed on the gas twice and he was having a go at me at my tattoo not being centered!!!!

First time it was less than 20mins. They got the Anaesthetic up out of bed (it was midnight), he only lived around the corner.
2nd time was around 20mins.
3rd time not at all, had my waters broken by the OB and then he was in straight after.

2nd and 3rd time round I got one of those trigger ones I could control, it was great.

I waited 90 minutes for him to arrive and then it took him an hour to get it in. No lie. I have calcified ligaments in my back (which we discovered that day!) and it took way too long. If he hadn't got it in that last time, I wasn't going to be getting one :(

Heather, can I ask where you had your last 2? Sounds like you may have had remifentanyl which is a relatively new thing during labour in Vic. I've been trying to find a hossy that does it for when I eventually have #2 (if I go for a VBAC)

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Heather, can I ask where you had your last 2? Sounds like you may have had remifentanyl which is a relatively new thing during labour in Vic. I've been trying to find a hossy that does it for when I eventually have #2 (if I go for a VBAC)

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I had all my babies at Frances Perry. DD was at the new Frances Perry.

i had specified no pain relief, and through all the issues i had during labour i kept saying no pain relief, so when i did finally ask for an epi, my m/w told me she wanted me to wait and hour to make sure i really wanted one (i guess thats a good thing right?? i wasnt in much pain they just couldnt break my waters as it hurt so much when they tried) so after the hour she said do you still want it i said yes and the aneasthetist sp? walked strait in and did it. they told me when booking in, antenatal classes and every visit that 15mins max is their aim (private hospy). When dd got distressed and i had to be taken for emergency c/s again the aneasthetist walked strait in to top my epi up for that.