C Section With Epidural

[barry1010]

Does anyone know when the first C Section was performed using epidural instead of GA?

[Buenchico]

Quote:
"Epidurals have been around a long time, but it only became feasible to provide them widely for pain relief in labour once a suitable local anaesthetic, called bupivacaine, became available in the UK in 1968"

Source:
http://www.birthtraumaassociation.org.uk/publications/epidurals.pdf

[barry1010]

Just the job, thanks Buen

[barry1010]

Oh! I can't open that link and it seems to refer to labour pains, not the Caesar op

[Buenchico]

Other links I've found (but which are a bit to generalised to link to any specific one) seem to suggest that the two things go hand in hand. i.e. As soon as it became available, bupivacaine got used to block pain in the birth process regardless of whether it was a natural birth or a Caesarean one.

[barry1010]

Thank you :D

[Sqad]

Late 80's......I remember them being introduced.

[Sqad]

Film stars weren't keen on abdominal scars and basically made epidurals popular with them, particularly in the U.S.

[MissTerious2]

Squad is right. I had one in 1983. It went wrong. They hit a nerve in thespine which caused dreadful pain which made me scream. I lost feeling in my legs and it didnt numb my tum. I ended up with a general anaesthetic. I believe it was a a first attempt by the young Indian lady anaesthetist. An awful experience. My son will be 40 in may!

[barry1010]

Sqad, my daughter was born in 1982 by Caesarian. My wife had an epidural, was awake (she laughed all the way through and said it felt like somebody was washing up in her tummy) and I was sat beside her, at the top end.

[barry1010]

Sorry you had such a problem with yours, MissT.

Sqad, I don't understand your comment about abdominal scars, my wife of course has the scar.

[theshedman]

Wife also had one in 1983 which didn't work properly. Only one side went numb so they had to resort to a GA. They got me all gowned up ready to be in there with her then when they had to change to a GA they told me I had to leave. She got an infection in the wound which meant going back in to theatre later in the night for more treatment and left her with a weakness in the scar.

[barry1010]

It seems my wife had it very easy.
I'm asking because my daughter was told this week that she must have been one of the first to be born that way but at the time it was suggested as routine to us. It wasn't a planned C section, either - we were hoping for a home birth

[THECORBYLOON]

It was being used in the UK before the late Eighties.

This is a link to research from 1973 looking at epidurals used in the UK during Caesarean births.

https://shortest.link/iKO1

[THECORBYLOON]

If you have problems opening that link, try this one,

https://www.bjanaesthesia.org.uk/article/S0007-0912(17)49699-1/pdf

First paragraph on page one and last paragraph on page four, continuing to page five.

[barry1010]

Thanks, Corby

[anneasquith]

I had one late seventies, they were around before I had mine.

[barry1010]

Thanks, Anne. At the time we assumed it was routine, the normal way of having the operation so now we can our daughter she wasn't a pioneer baby

[MissTerious2]

Theshedman

Very much the same scenario! Apart from the fact they kept me in hospital for another week because of the wound. It wouldn't heal.

[MissTerious2]

My earlier post said I agree with Sqad. I didn't see he said LATE 80s. Perhaps he meant late 70s.
In recent years I had to have a repair to an incisional hernia caused by that operation!

[THECORBYLOON]

It wasn't the late Seventies either.