Would I know I had coil fitted during an emergency c section?

[Bumpy123]

I was recently reviewing my dischage notes from my emergency c section I had in January. My notes say that I had a long acting reversible contraception inserted during this procedure. While the doctors are confirming with the hospital if this is the case AIBU to not know that I've been fitted with a coil?

AIBU: Yes, surely I should feel it.
AINBU: You should be able to feel it. It's probably an error in your notes.

Thanks.

I had a coil fitted during an emergency C-section with third child. Because I’d previously asked & signed the documentation for the coil they remembered/followed the notes and put it in even though I was a bit out of it during the c-section (severe pre-e) and don’t think I explicitly consented again. But I was presented with a leaflet with serial number etc at hospital discharge stage, so knew it had been inserted. During the PP check though 6 weeks later, the nurse couldn’t see the strings as they had been cut too short so had to go for a scan to confirm there/in right place.

OP - suggest you ask for scan to confirm whether there or not (arrange via GP) as others have said could be an error on the hospital notes, especially if you were not given the leaflet/documentation. And if it is there decide if you want to keep/remove - and if you didn’t consent then take it up with PALS!

The issue with asking for a string check from a GP or nurse is that although the presence of strings will confirm a correctly-fitted coil, the absence of them won't definitely confirm the absence of a coil as they can be pulled up into the uterus (and in very rare cases this can be due to a perforation). In the latter case you would need an ultrasound anyway to confirm so I would personally want to go straight to the ultrasound to get a definitive answer either. Be warned however that the ultrasound is likely to be transvaginal.

I have an IUD (not a coil though) and I wouldn't know it was there. I can't feel it, and I have a very long cervix so I can't insert my fingers far enough to be able to feel the strings. (My gyno has to use an extra long speculum and it took him a while to find them when I went in for a check!)

There are other forms of Long Acting Reversible Contraception - a Depo Provera implant is one.

Perhaps you need to ask the hospital exactly what they've doe and why they did it without gaining your consent.

I've had a few coils and never felt the strings. GP/nurse can see with speculum but as others have said, a scan would be best.

Am I the only one who, if this had happened to me, would just be thoroughly pissed off and expect an apology from the hospital bosses and consultant.. assured that it will never happen again and lessons were learnt.... And for it removing immediately at my own convenience... But contacting a medical negligence lawyer just wouldn't cross my mind???
What would the money be for??? Other than to cost the NHS a load more... Id only want pay out if I had been out of pocket...e.g had to stop work due to an injury caused etc..

I’ve never been aware of my coil or felt strings.
Have you had any bleeding? I haven’t had any in 4 years so that might be a clue that it was or wasn’t there.

I was going to say - the uterus shrinks so much in the aftermath of birth that it's really not something that can be done on the sly. You'd need checkups to make sure it was all ok. It's more likely that the medic did 3 or 4 emergency c sections that day, didn't get a break to do the paperwork till 3am and got muddled and put this note on the wrong record.

Hopefully it’s a mistake. My notes said I had a spontaneous vaginal delivery, when I’d actually had an emergency caesarean due to transverse lie and heart decelerations.

When my midwife visited, I queried was “spontaneous vaginal” meant (I was obviously confused) and she explained, so I told her my notes were wrong. She didn’t believe be and gave me a side eye like I was delusional. When I proved I wasn’t by showing her my pretty wide scar, she soon changed her tune and started tutting away at the mistake!

just to add my best friend who is a very senior charge nurse, with her first born the notes say baby was an unexpected breech delivery, she says this absolutely didn’t happen and she remembers being told the head was coming, touched the head, lots of “oh we see lots of hair” etc. she didn’t bother chasing it to be corrected as she knew it was wrong and baby and her were both healthy so didn’t see the point, then she was pregnant again and it was constantly being brought up and was sent for extra scans etc to check the baby wasn’t breech “again” she told them that was a mistake but don’t think anyone believed her 🫣 she sort of just laughs it off and eventually went along with it. So documentation errors do definitely happen!

The GP reading my discharge notes said that a hormonal coil had been fitted and they've written to the hospital for further information. The GP surgery have been really quick at getting back to me and I'm booked in for an e consult next week when they have more information.
I'm going not going to stress too much at the moment as whatever has or may have occurred should be reversible. I think an ultrasound would be a good idea to give me peace of mind though. Either way I'll be contacting PALs to get to the bottom of it. I'm annoyed this wasn't picked up at my 6 week check as the GP clearly didn't read my notes.

Thank you all for your advice and help.

Hopefully just an error in the notes, that seems more likely to me, there's no way they should be doing it without your explicit consent.

I would ask for a gp or nurse.or GUM clinic to physically look for you. I have one and have never felt the strings.

@Bumpy123 did you get to the bottom of this? I hope you managed to get answers

Hey anothermnuser123. I had a chat with my GP who wrote to the hospital and booked me in for an ultrasound. She also recommended that I speak to PALs to speed things along. The hospital looked through my operative notes and confirmed that I don't have a coil fitted. My GP recommended that I keep my ultrasound appointment to confirm that a coil definitely wasn't fitted.
Thanks everyone for your advice.

I hope you get to the bottom of it, OP.

How long ago was your c section? I had a Mirena fitted and had three months of horrible issues - constant heavy bleeding, cramps, really bad sleep - 2 hours a night at most (although you have a baby, so that might be the case anyway!), and very low mood. Had it removed after three months of that and everything resolved itself within a couple of days. I definitely would have known something was up, even without knowing the coil was there!

Its worth keeping the scan for peace of mind but they still need to investigate why your notes are wrong and also why your GP didn't mention this in follow up, so they really need to look at this.

I genuinely have no faith in the NHS recently after having a good GP for so many years, its alarming how fast things have changed.

I hope you get to the bottom of it all

Have you had your scan OP?

What did the ultrasound show?