Understanding epidurals: Common questions answered

There are a few reasons why this might happen:

• The anaesthetist places a soft tube (called a catheter) in your back to give the pain medicine. Sometimes, even if it's done properly, the medicine doesn’t spread well in the space around the nerves. If this happens, they may adjust the tube or give more medicine. If that doesn’t help, the tube may need to be replaced.
• If your baby is nearly ready to be born when the epidural is given, there might not be enough time for the medicine to work fully.
• Sometimes, the epidural takes away tummy pain but doesn’t help as much with pain in the back or vaginal area. Tell your anaesthetist if this happens—more medicine or changes in position might help.
• As you get closer to giving birth, you may feel strong pressure in your bottom or vagina. This can feel like needing to poo. Even if the epidural is working, this pressure can be hard to take away completely. Still, let your anaesthetist know so they can try to help.

The tube in your back might have ended up more on one side than the other. This means the medicine can go to one side more than the other.

Your anaesthetist can give more medicine or adjust the tube to help. Sometimes the epidural needs to be done again.

Even if one side stays more numb than the other, it may still give enough pain relief. If this happened before, tell your anaesthetist next time, so they can plan ahead.

There are a few possible reasons:

• The tube may have moved or fallen out, though this is rare. If it happens, the epidural can be done again.
• As labour gets stronger, the pain gets worse. It’s common to need extra medicine later on.
• When the baby moves down into the vagina, new nerves are involved, which may need extra medicine.
• Some women feel strong back pain in labour, especially if the baby is in a certain position. This pain can be hard to treat, but tell your anaesthetist—they may be able to help.

Not necessarily. Every labour is different, even for the same person.

Just because the epidural didn’t work well last time doesn’t mean it won’t work next time. You can ask to meet with an anaesthetist before your next labour. They can learn what happened last time and plan how to make things better for you.