Spinal leaks in first and second labour?

[blobsmummy]

I was rushed into theatre during DD's birth last year as she was face presentation and completely stuck. They thought I'd have to have an emergency c-section, so they attempted to give me a spinal. After 16 attempts they still couldn't get it in the right place, resulting in me having a spinal leak. Contractions are NOTHING compared to the agony of a spinal leak (for me anyway).

Number 2 is due in May and I'm going for a home birth and very adament that no-one is going to do anything to my back, but there is still always that risk that I could end up in theatre again.

Anyone had a 'normal' delivery after a spinal leak without the prob reoccuring? Any advice would be gratefully received as I'm quite worried by the prospect.

Hi - Having had a spinal leak in one pregnancy does not have any bearing on how #2 will go, and if no-one is near your back, you will have no problems.

However, you may have a difficult back for doing an epi, with small or difficult spaces and just in case you do need an epidural / spinal this time, it would be worth having an appointment with the anaesthetic consultant during the pregnancy, to assess your back.

The other theory is that the anaesthetist you had last time was not very good, and tbh, if he tried 16 times without getting assistance from a senior person, that is not good practice.

The risk of a spinal leak (dural tap is the medical term) is about 1/200, so if you have a decent anaesthetist and a straightforward epi/spinal, its unlikely that you will have this problem again.

Did you need a c/s for baby 1?

Thanks for the reassurance. Because they couldn't anaesthetise me properly, in the end they just did a nice big episiotomy and pulled her out - lovely!