Spinal vs. Epidural

Hello-
I am scheduled for a C-section on February 1st. The hospital where I will deliver does spinals for C-sections vs. epidurals. Most stories I have read on this site mention epidurals as the numbing agent of choice. Has anyone had a spinal with the C-section? How is it different? Is recovery different?
Thanks!

 

I had a spinal, I cant remember why, but I recall the anestiologist saying he preferred to do them for planned C-sections, but like I said I cant recall why, sorry! I dont know how it compares to an epidural, but for me it was very easy. I think the only difference between the two is the area they numb....I saw a book that had a good description of the difference between the two, dont remember what book it was..........sorry Im really not much help am I? I bet if you googled it you would find a lot of info!

 

I had a spinal and didnt have any problems from it.

 

I had a spinal for my csec and an epi with my third vag delivery. I'm sure for a csec the epi is much stronger. Personally I LOVED the spinal! I went completely numb from the chest down. It was the first time in months my hips didn't hurt! I barely felt the tugging they talk about when getting the babies out. In recovery it was weird but kind of cool trying to move my feet and they wouldn't budge. I felt fabulous for several hours.

Oh, mine was a semi emerg csec. From spinal going in to babies coming out was about 20 min!

 

I have had both, with my oldest daughter I had an Epidural. Then with my son (who is 6) and with the twins I had a Spinal. I like the Spinal so much better, it seems to take better. The recovery seemed to be the same for me.

 

I've had one epidural and 3 spinals. I like the spinal better. I felt more numb. I agree with the above poster. It was the most comfortable I felt the entire pregnancy.

 

I had a spinal when my twins were born by c section last month, and it hurt less than when I had an epidural when I was in labor with my five year old (that was a vaginal birth). It just felt like a small pinch, that was it. I was told that I would feel a ton of pressure during the delivery but I didn't, it just felt like someone was gently touching my stomach and the next thing I knew I heard the babies crying. It went *very* fast. I couldn't move my legs for a while afterwards, but I didnt' even really notice that because of the medication. I would say I preferred the spinal over the epidural overall.

 

I had a spinal (don't know why they preferred that to epidural). It was fine. It didn't hurt at all as they did it. I felt very drowsy until I heard my babies' first cries - you bet that woke me up! :wub: I didn't feel anything during the c-section, not even pressure or pulling. For me the weirdest thing about it was having proprioception (=feeling of where your body is in space - how your legs are positioned etc) while being totally numb and unable to move. I had a brief freakout trying to move my feet and being unable to. I was numb/pins & needles for a couple hrs afterward.

Good luck with delivery!

 

I had a spinal for my planned c/s and a failed epi for my first emergency c/s. The administration of the spinal hurt a lot less than the epi and it took a heck of a lot faster!

 

I agree. Had both--spinal is the way to go. It can feel like you can't breathe deeply due to a little higher numbing level. You can and are breathing, you just can't really feel your chest rise up and down when you breathe really deeply, so it was a little scary, but I was told to expect it so it made it better. It almost made me cough if I tried to breathe really deeply.

 

QUOTE(fuchsiagroan @ Jan 13 2008, 09:13 PM) [snapback]570631[/snapback]
For me the weirdest thing about it was having proprioception (=feeling of where your body is in space - how your legs are positioned etc) while being totally numb and unable to move. I had a brief freakout trying to move my feet and being unable to. I was numb/pins & needles for a couple hrs afterward.

Good luck with delivery!


I too had a spinal and fuchia's experience was totally mine! It was the strangest sensation looking down, seeing my legs and wanting to move them and not being able to and then watching the nurses pick them up and just move them **shudder**

But other than that, which in the grand scheme of things not a biggie in my book, it was fine! No pain, tugging or any other sensation at all during the section! And I don't remember the insertion either, which was my big 'issue' prior to delivery.

GL!

 

My OB also does spinals for planned c-sections and epidurals for vaginal deliveries. I have no idea what the difference is (I'm sure I knew once...). Anyway, I was scared at the prospect of being numb from the chest down, but honestly there was so much else going on, I wound up not really caring. And I didn't feel a thing when they took the babies out. I did the classic "When are you going to start?" and my OB said "I've already made the first cut."

It seemed to wear off pretty quickly once I was in recovery, though I had also asked for IV anesthesia during the sewing-up (due to anxiety), so I was out for a little while. The IV meds made me really groggy and took awhile to wear off -- if you aren't feeling panicky, I recommend skipping them and staying awake the whole time.

 

I had a C/S with a spinal and had no real problems. She hit my nerve but it just sent a strange feeling down my leg ... in a few seconds it was over.

My husband is an Anesthesiologist and I asked him which was preferred and he said there is no way to answer that question w/o knowing someone's particular history (a lot of help he was =) sorry ...) He did, however, say that a spinal is a one-shot deal so with multiples sometimes people prefer to do epidurals b/c you can dose them continuosly ... in case the surgery takes longer than the spinal lasts ... he also said ... that if someone was laboring and had to have an emergency C/S and the epidural was already in ... then you wouldn't do a spinal ... just use what was already in place. Also, he mentioned that if someone was obese, then they would prefer to do an epi ... he didn't say why.

Anyway, my spinal was great. It didn't hurt going in ... what hurt the worst out of the whole sugery was the IV =)

I was really scared, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

 

I had a spinal with my son (Emergency c/s 10 years ago) and all I could remember is not liking my legs numb…. BUT I just had a spinal when they did my Cerclage… and it was great… I walked to the bathroom 3 hours after the procedure… I am glad I had one, because now I’m not freaked out about it anymore…
But I never had a Epi, my friend who had both said she felt no difference…but all 3 of her births were fast, no time to think..

 

I have had both. With my one c-section, I had a spinal. It's very quick and makes your body numb from your chest to your toes. It's a very weird feeling!

 

I had a spinal for mine as well. It was a very surreal feeling to have no feeling from the chest down. Recovery was not too bad, the room kept going up and down for couple of hours afterwards and I was able to move my legs a couple of hours after the surgery too. The nurse had told me that I would feel pressure when they were taking the babies out and that she would tell me before I started to feel it, however the spinal was so good, I did not even feel any pressure and would not have known that they were taking a baby out unless the nurse told me when I was supposed to be feeling pressure. The c-section went by very fast, especially for major surgery.

Just remember to take it easy afterwards. Accept everyone's help! Keep in mind that you have had major surgery and may not have the range of motion that you would like.

 

I had the spinal. No problems and it worked great and really fast. I want to say we did the spinal because it wears off faster, but I can't remember exactly.

 

3 c-sections here and 3 spinals with no problems!

 

I had a spinal with my first baby (that was cesarian). I just remember that I was immediately warm from the waist down. I was almost immediately numb. I have a co-worker that got sick during her c-section because of the spinal, but I didn't. I did get sick when I was given my liquid lunch & supper. Then I got some anti-nausea stuff. I was able to walk that evening, but the hospital kept these things on my legs that filled up with air then released (I think) for at least 24 hours after delivery. I think that was to prevent blood clots or something. Hope that helps!!

 

I had a spinal but I'm not sure how it's different than an epidural since I never had one of those. I think they are pretty similar. I think for me the main difference would be that I was not in labor when I got it and I won't lie...it totally sucked. I think when people are in heavy labor, the epidural process is NOTHING compared to the labor pains. At least that's what friends have told me. I did have the most amazing nurse to talk me through it and to hold me while it was happening. It's a very strange feeling that I can't even begin to describe. You kind of just have to go through it. It took effect pretty much immediately and it was very weird not be able to feel my entire lower half or to wiggle my toes on demand. I also got the shakes from it. Kind of like non stop uncontrolable shivering but not everyone has that effect from it. It took about 3-4 hours for the spinal to wear off. I hope I'm not scaring you but I have to tell you, it is ALL worth it when they pull those babies out and you hear them cry. It is the most beautiful and amazing sound you will ever hear...your babies' first cries. Enjoy and good luck. Can't wait to hear your story and see pics of your babies!!

 

I also had a spinal. Can't compair it to the epidural because I've only been pg once. For me the spinal going in was kind of painful and weird. You will feel something like a bee sting and then you will feel some pressure (the doctor described it "like I'm pushing my knuckle into your back." That was pretty much what it felt like except they had to do it three times because they had some trouble getting it in. But the nurse who was holding me was great. It was rough because I was having contractions every 2 minutes, then add staying bent over and still so they could do it, but I just breathed and listened to the nurse who was rubbing my neck and focused on meeting my little ones in just a few minutes.

It immediately took effect. They had to lift my legs onto the table and then took a little needle to see where I could and couldn't feel. It was all the way up to my chest. I felt them touching me, but didn't really feel it (hard to explain). I did feel some pulling and pressure during the c-section, but the anesthesiologist was AWESOME and he would prepare me when I was going to feel something new. It wasn't painful at all. GL!

 

I had a spinal with my csect. They can do it using epidural, but usually it's in those situations where you are in labor and planning on a vaginal birth and you have the epidural already, then they need to do a csect. From my understanding, a spinal is more of a "one time" shot and an epidural puts the catheter in your spinal space to constantly administer dosing as needed. I had no problems with my spinal...other than the fact that you can't feel anything below your chest, so I often felt like I was "falling" off the table every time they tried to move me...it's a WEIRD feeling!

 

I had a spinal and all in all it went fine... I did get a spinal headache at the hospital the last night and had to have two shots and some sleeping meds... Then the first night home oh it was not fun with the spinal headache but all in all i made it... And they were fine so all was good. A spinal headache is not fun at all and honestly i had no clue till afterwards that is what it was...