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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Original poster

Ive never met any one in RL who had a general anasthetic for a c section. Have any of you had one?

57 replies

sunburntats · 16/12/2009 14:55

I did, it was classed as emergency apparently.
Undiagnosed breach.

Twas a horrific birth up till the drugs.

Ds has slash marks across the small of his back to this day and he is 6.

I have never met or spoken to anyone else with the same experience.
Do you know any one or did you have a general?
Why did you have a general?
And what are your memories of it? Good or bad?

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Bleatblurt · 16/12/2009 17:51

I've had 3 c-sections under GA. Mine were all electives and I can't have a spinal/epidural as I have spina bifida.

Mine were all fine. (well except for DS2 who was stillborn but the op itself was fine)
DH was allowed in for my second and third ones which was great.

DarrellRivers · 16/12/2009 17:59

And from the other side, the one crash section that I was involved in as a junior doctor over 10 years ago on Labour Ward for 6m, was extremely traumatic.
I still think about the lady.
I can remember it as yesterday.

BonjourIvressedeNoel · 16/12/2009 18:03

I had a crash section under GA becuase my platelets were too low to have an epidural and they needed to get my son out too quick. I had HEllp Syndrome. I had counselling about it but don't feel ready to go over my notes yet.

TotalChaos · 16/12/2009 18:04

happened to the girl in the bed next to me, due to undiagnosed breech, which they only discovered when she was 9cm dilated and started to feel urges to push. they started to prep her for a spinal, but then thought it would take too long, so did a crash section instead. the girl seemed remarkably calm about it all under the circumstances, but of course I never her saw her after discharge, she may have had more difficulties once it sunk in.

bigcar · 16/12/2009 18:05

sunburn, I suppose I was lucky in that the first time I saw ds2 dh had hold of him. That is my only clear memory of the first 2 days and that is probably only because I had a major panic over it. Ds2 was really ill, bad jaundice and dh was waving him around in circles (so I thought), turned out he had a yellow cardy and hat on and was being held perfectly still, it was just my eyes that weren't working, focus took a long time to come back. I don't know why hospitals don't routinely offer debrief appointments and offer a copy of notes in this situation, it would certainly help.

wonderingwondering · 16/12/2009 18:15

I had one after a long labour, it was very traumatic. I was surprised at how affected I was by the whole experience: including the complete lack of care (or even manners!) shown by staff on the ward during the hospital stay afterwards.

I reconciled it to myself after a VBAC for my next child - I realised that a natural birth is messy, imperfect, painful and can be shocking, too. And I don't wish to make light of the effect of giving birth under a GA (I suffered anxiety and flashbacks for a long time afterwards) but I do now realise that there's so much more to motherhood than how they arrive.

bibbitybobbitysantahat · 16/12/2009 18:21

Yes, me, life or death situation. There was not enough time for a spinal block to work. With GA you are "out" in seconds. Dd was born 15 minutes after a problem was first detected in the labour ward. (This is why I have a problem with home births, tbh, but that is a whole other thread ).

Buddleja · 16/12/2009 18:23

It does help bigcar - my midwife came up to theatre with me and then the next day after she'd finished her shift she came to the ward I was on and talked to me about everything - the whole entire labour and why I had to have a section and why it needed a GA. It helps a lot - but that wasn't routine as it was just a fabulous woman talking (and listening) to someone on her own time.

I've talked a lot and generally I've avoided talking to anyone who likes to point out that 'at least you had a healthy baby' because you know what I freaking know that but it just so happens that bringing that healthy baby about was pretty damn traumatic

Saying that Butterball I am terrible sorry to read that your son was stillborn, extremely heartbreaking

wonderingwondering · 16/12/2009 18:26

Yes, bibbity, I always shudder when people say they are having a HB. I have no underlying health problems, had never been in hospital before, was (still am!) very fit, good weight, no family history of problems etc etc. No risk factors at all.

But with both of my births, there's a significant risk I or my baby wouldn't have made it if I hadn't been in hospital. Not a popular view in some quarters, but I've seen how quickly things can go wrong, and traumatic as medical intervention is, I'm forever thankful it was available.

bibbitybobbitysantahat · 16/12/2009 18:49

Yes but you are not allowed to say so on Mumsnet are you Wondering? Where all is fine and fluffy and nothing bad happens so long as you are relaxed and have one to one care and have a positivie mental attitude - and anyway you can be transferred to hospital if there's a problem ...

I was playing cards with my dh and chatting with the student midwives when my catastrophe happened! But no one wants to hear it ...

brightredballoon · 16/12/2009 19:02

Yeah I had one with my second child, started to labour went to hospital after a scabbing like pain in my side and immediately after putting me on the CTG machine said "we have to deliver this baby now", immediately people were undressing me and putting canulas in my hands as they wheeled me down to theatre. I was terrified - DS's heart rate was up at 198bpm after being 70bpm. I was glad to wake up around 3 hours later but still I cry thinking or talking about the experience (2 years ago now).

I am of course very glad they got DS out alive, he also has two cut scars on his face where they were in such a hurry to get him out.

bigcar · 16/12/2009 19:03

wondering and bibbity, totally agree, I often want to shout, but my scar DID rupture, it happens and there isn't time to transfer always! That said dd2 was an unplanned (non vbac) homebirth and it was great, can truely see why people want to do it, but I wouldn't for a vbac, not for anything. So I tend to stay off those threads.

wonderingwondering · 16/12/2009 19:16

I too, stay away from those threads.

In RL, I don't say anything either, unless it is a very close friend or relative.

I know that 99 times out of a hundred, you can get to hospital in time. But sometimes you can't. There's a big red emergency button above the delivery bed for a reason. And when it was pushed for me - because there was not time for the midwife to even step out in the corridor to shout for help - God, was I glad that half the hospital rushed in.

5inthesleighbed · 16/12/2009 19:20

A woman I know had one under GA, after her spinal wore off during the actual section. Sounds really scary, and I was terrified as was booked in for a section two days after hers.

Bitterball, was very sad to read about your DS

stillenacht · 16/12/2009 19:23

Yup I did with my first after 18 hours of labour. Maternal distress was the cause Horrific labour - back to back - messed up epidural and had to have blood patch day after DS1 was born to plug spinal fluid that was leaking into my brain (urgh!) Took me 4 years to pluck up courage to have another DC and then I was thankfully given an elective CS.

zanz1bar · 16/12/2009 20:00

Yes, add me to the list.

Undiagnosed breach and abrupted placenta.

Got to the hospital at 9cm and bleeding. DH went to park the car...last I saw of him.
Scan showed the unknown breach, strapped to trolley and rushed down to theatre signing forms as we went along corridor with me begging' please be quick and put me to sleep' as I really couldn't handle the rising feelings of fear.

I did get to see the notes when pregnant with Ds but it didn't really help as I had exactly the same breach and abrupted placenta with Ds. I was all booked in for a C-Section but went into labour early.

Same rush to hospital, same panic in the faces of doctors, same fear But I did get the chance to have an epidural in time so was awake, and it was a wonderful c-section in the end.

CarmenTinselPalmTreesSanDiego · 16/12/2009 22:24

Re: Home birth. I had a HBAC.

Please don't start making this into a home birth v. hospital birth thread.

You're more likely to rupture in hospital as you're more likel to be given Pitocin or need an instrumental birth.

There are risks and benefits either way. It's up to each woman to weigh them up for herself. But it's not as simple as 'home birth=risky.'

sarah293 · 17/12/2009 08:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bigcar · 17/12/2009 10:07

Sorry Carmen, I'm very pleased your hbac worked out great for you, but in that position it is likely that ds2 and I would not be here, so I'm with riven it is risky for vbac. Of course it's about weighing up your individual risks and making your own decision based on that but I'm just as entitled to my opinion on this as are you, only I don't feel able to say how I feel on the vbac threads as my point of view is not welcome, as others have said. This is the only thread I have been able to say this on, I'm not anti homebirth at all, I've had one and it was the best labour and birth of mine.

My hospital are very pro choice and are very supportive of vbacs, I only spent a short time on a monitor when I first went in, then the midwife told me to get off the bed and do what I wanted, she was great, she monitored the baby and me regularly in whatever position I was in, she never left the room but let me get on with it. So I can honestly say my scar rupture had absolutely nothing to do with unnecessary intervention or drugs or being strapped to the bed and it still happened. Not all hospital vabcs have to be awful either, if my vbac had worked out it would have been great. I actually consider myself lucky, it could have all had a very unhappy ending. But as riven said, we can't say all that on mn, that was what I was saying above everything else. And of course I've waffled on a lot more than riven did

raindroprhyme · 17/12/2009 10:13

you all just did talk about it.
And i wasn't going to comment because i have no knowledge of what it is like to have a traumatic birth or a GA or any of the stuff you all have experienced.

Everybody's experience is different and i have the upmost respect for you all in being able to share your stories and give comfort and reassurance 'that it didn't just happen to me' Because if something does go wrong with your birth or your baby is not perfect, the world does make you feel like a failure.

It is not about homebirth v's hospital. it is about everyones experiences and the ability to share those with out judgement.

i agree with previous posters debrief should be routine. Especially where GA is involved and whole sections of a process are missing from your memory.

brightredballoon · 17/12/2009 11:10

Raindroprhyme I agree that a debrief should be manditory, what would be really good would be to have the midwife that was present at the birth to be present at the de-brief as well or to have at least written up some in depth notes on the baby - did they cry when they were lifted out etc. I am sure that would help those of us who are affected by the missing hours and the birth that we were absent from.

bibbitybobbitysantahat · 17/12/2009 11:48

Absolutely brightredballoon. I eventually got my debrief (after 3 days of asking) with a consultant who was not present at the birth but who had my file in front of him. Not one of the 12 or so people in theatre came and spoke to me afterwards . The missing hours matter quite a lot, don't they?

bigcar · 17/12/2009 12:22

What gets me is that if you have any other operation the procedure is explained in full beforehand (obviously not always possible with a cs) and then the surgeon comes back after the op to see everything is ok but it just doesn't happen after a cs and I don't really get why not? The only one that can tell me anything is dh and he won't talk about it, his way of dealing with it, but I need to have the gaps filled and know what happened, I missed the first 6 or so hours of ds2s life completely and even after that I wasn't fully with it so yes, the missing hours do matter.

brightredballoon · 17/12/2009 15:47

Sorry my last comment "that we were absent from" of course we werent absent from the birth (LOL!!) I meant that we were not conscious for.

Yes the missing hours do matter, its scary enough thinking we were asleep for x amount of time but to have not been awake to witness the birth of our child is very upsetting but for me even if I had someone come and sit by my bed and re tell exactly what happened step by step would have made me feel a lot less upset.
My DH wasnt allowed into theatre so he has a different experience - the "wait in this room sir" that must've been awful for him waiting to find out if baby and his wife were ok.

Buddleja · 17/12/2009 16:02

Does the surgeon not even come down to see you afterwards? Wow on both my c/s the surgeon came to speak to me after. Though frankly it didn't really make much difference. The midwife who voluntarily came to see me and talk to me made the biggest difference because she talked to me about the emotional side of things.

The accounts of crying etc etc were in my notes (he didn't really as he was rated low in the apgar score)

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