EMCS questions

[magpiemagical]

I have a scheduled elective but consultant said that if I go into labour naturally before, it’ll need to be an EMCS which should be within 2 hours of me arriving at hospital. If it does happen, am I allowed pain relief during contractions (actually, where do I have contractions?) and will DH still be allowed in? If anyone has the answers, thank you

Absolutely yes to both questions

I went into labour ahead of a planned section. They offered a variety of pain relief including an epidural whilst I was waiting and once my inlaws collected dc1, dh was with me the whole time.

Thank you so much to both of you

obs anaesthetist pov....
if you go into labour and still want/need a section then it gets done as an emergency, but the speed will depend on what the indication is (eg. absolute contraindication to to having a vaginal delivery?) and what else is going on on the labour ward at the time. Particularly out of hours, if there are a bunch of high risk customers, the timing can be tricky.

Pain relief should be available, but I would not expect an epidural unless they know you're going to be in labour for some time before getting to theatre (because it will make the decision making about how to do the anaesthetic more tricky if the epidural's only just gone in). I'd also be a bit wary about IM opioids unless they know it's going to be a while before you get to theatre because the effect they can have on the baby (exception to that rule being remifentanil if it's available...that would be fine). Entonox should be available if it's a unit that uses it.

Partner's are usually able to come into theatre unless it's a crashing emergency/GA section.