water breaking and spinal questions

eileenm21

does anyone know if your water breaking is staining? my cousin keeps telling me to sleep on a towel, but I am not sure if she is being dramatic, or I am really ruining my bed couch etc.  and plus with the amount of cra I have in the bed - body pillow, wedge, hand brace for the pregnancy induced carpal tunnell lol - I can not have anything else in the damn bed. 

also, I read all these birth stories about people who have issues with their epi - what happens in a csection if you have issues with the spinal - is it the same issues as an epi (they can't get it in, its only on one side etc) - if it doesn't work do they have to knock you out?

 Thanks for humoring my silly questions.  now that the holidays are over, my brain has too much time to worry and obsess.   

ancjph

My water broke while in bed, but nothing came out until I stood up. My fluid was clear and no issues with staining. I did take a towel for the car ride to the hospital. I also wore a large pad to help.

I no issues with my epi at all, it was easy and quick.

 

Miss_Kris81

My water broke while I was laying on the couch.  It was very messy, but because of the way I was sitting, wound up mostly all over my clothes.  You could try putting a towel or an extra mattress pad under your sheet (and just use an old sheet?) if you are concerned about stains.  Some people are messier than others I think, KWIM?

With regards to the spinal - I am not sure what to tell you.  I was very worried about mine too, but everything turned out fine.  When you go in for your pre-op consultation, ask about any concerns you have and I am sure they'll do everything they can to ease them for you.

Good luck! 

jalaiaa

Don't know about the water breaking, although i was sitting on a couch at Starbucks the other day and thought, what if my water breaks. Would I secretly just flip the cushion and leave or would I go tell the 18 year old boy at the cash register. (I figured that even though I would want to just flip the cushion and leave, I'd have to tell them.)

When the anesthesiologist does your epidural, they test your abdomen to make sure you're numb on both sides. If you're not they modify it. My guess is that if something went wrong in the middle, they'd troubleshoot and try to get it working, but if it didn't they'd have to put you under - depending on what stage of the c-section you were in/what you could feel.

ppants

When my water broke I was sitting on my bed.  No stains.  My friend's water broke and it was greenish since it had meconium in it.  I don't know if she had stains or not. 

As for the epidural, I got mine and wasn't getting any relief (still having to breath through contractions).  I asked the nurse about it and it had to be redone.  Thankfully, it worked like a charm and I was totally numb from my belly button down. 

ahava2005

they'll test you for the spinal.  It would be very unusual for it to only work on half of you.  the only issue with the spinal is that it is one shot:  you get a certain amount of time and it just wears off, unlike an epidural which is continuous.

eileenm21

thanks guys - my dr does both a spinal and then an epi (he uses the epi for localized pain relief after) so I think I am just being paranoid lol