What happened?

[Bibs123]

I had a long labour of about 18 hours which ended i nmy baby getting stuck in a rubbish position. I had already had a failed epidural ( it kept falling out/didn't work), anyway I was taken to theatre where they were prepared to do CS if forceps didnt work (DD born by forceps in the end) I had a spinal but something strange happened and I wondered if anyone else has experienced it or knows what it could be... when they did the spinal I felt myself going under, very vividly saw ( hallucinated)the room filled with little bubbles, at this point the doctors seemed to panic and were shaking me/shouting me awake. It was a really frightening part of the whole experience and I have never really got to the bottom of what happened, despite going for a debrief at the hospital which didnt shed any light.My partner said that he thinks they forgot to give me an injection to keep my blood pressure up so it plummeted... does this sound right? I can't remember if they gave me an injection after that. Has anyone experienced something similar or know what might have happened?

What a strange (and scary sounding) experience. No suggestions, I'm afraid, other than to ask your midwife/gp to go through your labour notes with you and see if they can explain. Hope someone else can offer more useful input.

In sorry you had a rough time, I had a similar experience.

during an incredibly painful labour they lost baby's heartbeat at 3 cm and rushed me for an emergency c-section, in the time it took to get me to theatre (about 90seconds) I had gone from 3-10cm and was pushing! However they had already put the anaesthetic mask on my face before they had realised so I was slightly in another world!

After baby was born (I had a placental abruption, and baby was ok) I was being stitched. I can't quite explain how I felt, but I could see everybody but couldn't hear anybody.
The only thing I could hear was the song on the theatre radio (bloody Leona Lewis) and the sound of my heartbeat, I honestly thought at that point that I was dying and il never forget it

I don't know why it happened, Im sorry I don't have an explanation for you, but just wanted to let you know your not alone.

It is something I think about every single day (the whole experience was terrifying)

If your blood pressure drops suddenly, your brain receives less oxygen than usual. This can cause, among other things, fainting (which sounds like it happened) and hallucinations. It feels very weird and scary but causes no permanent harm.

Spinal and epidural anaesthesia can cause a rapid drop in blood pressure because the peripheral blood vessels can suddenly relax (your feet can get very warm) and blood gets diverted away from your core to the extremities.

Anaesthetists aim to counteract this with drugs and extra intravenous fluids. Maybe this was slow to be given for you or maybe you are supersensitive to the spinal. if you ever need a spinal or epidural again, make sure the anaesthetist knows about this episode.

Thanks for all your replies. I am sorry that you had a bad experience too Lollipop, I too was convinced I was going to die, thanks for sharing your experience. Thanks for that information Mayhew you sound very knowledgable... it sounds like that is what happened. I know to inform them if I ever have to have a spinal again and have a better idea of what happened to me.

i'm glad you found my message helpful. I'm a mw but I'm also a bit prone to fainting because I have naturally low blood pressure. I have had some odd experiences in medical and non-medical contexts. At one time epilepsy was considered but it seems its common or garden low blood supply to the brain when the BP falls is the most likely explanation.

Congratulation on your new baby.

It happened to me too! I felt very sick and started to hallucinate. I told them what was happening and the anaesthetist told me that my blood pressure had dropped and he was fixing it, which he did very quickly.

It was bloody scary though!

I know this is an older message but I am prone to fainting - the last time I fainted was a couple of Christmases ago after the flu in Sainsbury's (wasn't pregnant). I hit my head hard, it was bleeding, I wet myself and it was just a horrible experience as it was the only time I have fainted in public and alone, although I have fainted before.

I have been checked for low blood pressure, anaemia, epilepsy, but they have never found anything. My BP and blood have also been fine throughout my pregnancy although just last week my iron count had dropped to 9.2 (it was 11.8 at the start).

I'm now worried I will faint during labour/delivery. I spoke to MW/dr about being slightly dizzy at times during pregnancy (I nearly fainted once in pregnancy, at about 6 weeks, lying down, awful!) But they keep saying it's normal to feel dizzy and light headed.

Is there anything I should be pushing for/asking for/adding to my yellow book?

My sympathies to the ladies who had these experiences - sound truly awful and hope you are able to move on from them x