Just a question for all the L&D nurses

[jkaee]

I just wanted to know if any L&D nurses could answer my question...

I had my third baby 14 months ago. With my other kids, I had an epidural and it worked just fine...didn't feel a thing. In fact, my son was 10lbs and I didn't even break a sweat while pushing him out.

With my third baby, I had an epidural, and for some reason it didn't work. The weird thing was, my skin on my abdomen and thighs felt numb, but I felt every single contraction and the pain of pushing. The anesth. said that he thought is was working just fine even after I told him I was feeling the contractions. He told me, "Well, you have to push the baby out for that to go away." (He was a bit of an ass, he had to come from home to give me my epidural, poor guy, and on a Saturday too, no less!)

Anyway, my question is, why does this happen? How could I have been numb on the outside and not the inside?

This is just something that's been nagging me since she was born.

Thanks!

[fergus51]

It could be that you weren't medicated enough, but more than likely you just didn't get a good block. We call them "patchy". Unfortunately epidurals are not 100%, and I have had more than a few patients who were unable to get a good block and had patches where they were not numb, despite appropriate anesthesia.

[HazeK]

If you think of your epidural space as two layers of Saran wrap,

and the epidural medicine expands that space with medicine,

IF an area sticks together or folds over on themselves,

then the result is a patchy block.

The only way to fix it is to start over! Replace the block!

And, even then, the epi is not guaranteed to work!

Sometimes, using a different medication concentration/combination helps a little!

sorry yours didn't work well.

Haze

[peacefulpeach]

I just wanted to know if any L&D nurses could answer my question...

I had my third baby 14 months ago. With my other kids, I had an epidural and it worked just fine...didn't feel a thing. In fact, my son was 10lbs and I didn't even break a sweat while pushing him out.

With my third baby, I had an epidural, and for some reason it didn't work. The weird thing was, my skin on my abdomen and thighs felt numb, but I felt every single contraction and the pain of pushing. The anesth. said that he thought is was working just fine even after I told him I was feeling the contractions. He told me, "Well, you have to push the baby out for that to go away." (He was a bit of an ass, he had to come from home to give me my epidural, poor guy, and on a Saturday too, no less!)

Anyway, my question is, why does this happen? How could I have been numb on the outside and not the inside?

This is just something that's been nagging me since she was born.

Thanks!

The epidural might not have been placed correctly by your doc.