Epidural during busy period

[Fordham44]

Hey ladies! This is my first pregnancy and I’m petrified of birth, my midwife said at my last appointment that Christmas is such a busy time for birth and babies (baby is due 22nd December) and I’m so worried that I’ll just be left and won’t be paid attention to during labor and if I ask for pain relief they will be to busy to help. (Ideal world id love an epidural) I’ve been worrying about this since she has said and I’ve heard so many horror stories about wards being busy and people being left. Has anyone else given birth at a busy period and what was your experience?

I gave birth in peak season.

Labour care was fine. Post natal ward care was awful.

It depends on your hospital. I have birth at a busy time and it was fine, although there were long waits for beds for inductions for those who needed it. I didn’t have an epidural though so can’t comment on that.

It varies but I had DS on 15th December and while I don't think the reluctance was due to the date the MW did try a breezy "oh I don't think we need to do that do we?" despite me being VERY VERY clear virtually from my booking appointment I wanted one - I had had to have a spinal block for placenta removal with DD and I remember thinking bloody hell I could have had one of these hours ago!
I calmly asked DH to make a note of the time and asked the MW to confirm that she was refusing my request for an Epidural on non medical grounds. I got one very quickly after that
It was great and absolutely the right thing for me but its not the same for everyone.

If it’s busy and you already know that you want an epidural then my advice would be to be clear and upfront about that as soon as you arrive at the hospital so you can be put on the list straight away. It’s still not
a guarantee that you’ll get one in time depending on how quick your labour progresses, how many anaesthetists there are & how other women get on e.g. sections/emergency sections, but at least if you’re on the list then they are aware of you and will get to you as soon as they can.

You may want to check if your hospital has a policy on that. When I had my (amazing!) epidural, the anaesthetist told me the hospital have a policy that any woman who asks for an epidural should have one within 25 minutes. But I chose that hospital due their reputation for being pro intervention (vs the hospital closest to me, which is not).

the national standard in the UK is that all women who request an epidural should be attended by an anaesthetist within 30 mins of the call being made, with up to 1 hour in exceptional circumstances. Before calling the anaesthetist the MW/obstetricians do need to be certain that there is no obstetric contraindication to an epidural (eg. a distressed baby/unwell mother, where there are more immediate concerns that need managing first), and that usually involves a period of CTG monitoring. Often it is possible to attend before 30mins though (and we really do try to get there as soon as possible). Once an anaesthetist arrives before getting on with the procedure there does need to be a brief anaesthetic assessment to make sure there's not an anaesthetic contraindication and the consent process for an epidural is quite important. It takes about 20 mins then to site an epidural and about 20 mins once it's started for it to be working. Most of us really do aim to attend as soon as possible, but I think a lot of units would struggle to have an epidural in and working in 25 mins from the request (particularly when it often takes 40 mins to get one in and working), and actually I'd be a bit worried that corners were being cut if that was routinely being achieved.

That makes sense- thank you. I think she must have meant the time to the arrival of the anaesthetist, not to the epidural working. To be honest, I don’t have a clue how long it took all in all, because I was in huge amounts of pain and I really struggled to sit still while she was siting the epidural. That woman was an angel as far as I’m concerned. I’ll always remember her!

Thank you so much for the above, I didn’t know there was a national standard and this really settles a lot of nerves, I’m not worried about how long it takes or anything like that and completely understand if there is an issue with me or baby that’s fine! I just worried I’d be left or told there coming and no one comes, I appreciate you breaking it all down for me and explaining everything this really helps, thank you!

i strongly advise talking to people who have more positive experiences! The vast majorly of birth experiences are not extreme and whilst I can’t speak for everyone, an epidural really wasn’t needed in my case, it wasn’t that painful.

the hospital do have to prioritise emergencies but aside from that you should get one if you wish once you are in established labour

Just be prepared in case you don’t get one, I had one for my first and it was lovely. Wanted one for my second dc and said this immediately upon arrival to labour ward where they were breaking my waters to induce me. Progressed from 1cm to 8cm in one hour and no time for any pain relief not even paracetamol . It was awful but I got through it and in a way i am glad I got to experience what it was like without one. I wish I had done hypnobirthing course. I didn’t prepare because I was relying on the epidural.

I think just have an open mind. I’ve had 4 babies. First one I wanted as natural birth as possible and I ended up having everything on offer 🤣second one had epidural which was heaven, 3rd and 4th were very quick (both about 40 mins from start to finish ) so no time. I just had gas and air.
Everyone is different, I do think the majority of women find labour incredibly painful. There’s no point lying. But just make it clear from the start that you want an epidural as soon as possible so they know. . You might surprise yourself and get on fine without it.
Us women are tough cookies when it comes to labour. Hope you have a smooth and safe one 🤗