Elective section, spinal injury, any experience?

[noitsachicken]

Hi all,

I am 16 weeks with DC2. DS was born by emcs under GA which was not a great experience for me. He had become distressed, heart rate dropping so a section was needed, however due to a pre-existing spinal problem and previous surgery, and time constraints (he was a category one emergency so had to be out within 30 mins) I was given a GA as this was the quickest option.

With this pregnancy I would love to go for a VBAC but concerned that if I needed an emergency section again I may have to have a GA and I really want to avoid this.

I have been told that due to scar tissue in my spine an epidural would be unlikely to work so could not have an epidural already in place which could be topped up if an emergency happened.

The only way I can see to avoid a GA would be to have an elective section, with a spinal block anaesthetic. Does anyone have experience of anything like this who could share any experiences/wisdom?

(My spinal injury is a wedge fracture to the L1 vertebrate, I have had two lots of surgery)

Thanks!

Hi, you are me 20 years later :)

I had an elective section with spinal after a traumatic GA CS. They did an X-ray and ultrasound to help site it. They had to get a specialist in from London to do it, and half the hospital watched - I think it's probably more common now!

It took 45 mins and about 20 attempts to site it, and I was thinking about just going for the GA, but then she did it! It was a much better experience than my first birth but I think more because it was elective, no labour and no emergency. If I had got pregnant again I think I might have just gone with the GA because I don't remember much for all the hassle. It was good that my dh could be there though.

That's good to hear, thanks caramelkate
Hopefully things have progressed in 20 years!

I'm sure it has , and it was a good experience even then :)

An elective section, be it GA or spinal is much better than an emergency one.

Good luck x

just to say im having an elective c section with a GA in 3 weeks and ive been told they will allow someone in the room as they do now if that makes you feel better

That's interesting summerdreams
Perhaps because it's planned rather than emcs?
I will ask if that's possible if it comes to it.

Bump