"the epidural had been put into the wrong part of my spine"

A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2020:

I would like to share my birth story. Truth told, both of my labours for my two children were awful, but the birth of my second has made me never having any intention of giving birth again.

February 2020- just before lockdown. I had a great pregnancy, no real issues at all. Unlike my first where I struggled with my MH throughout.

On day I went into labour, it went exactly as it should have. All the way up until I went to the delivery suite it was a perfect Labour. I asked for an epidural, which I was told yes to very quickly. I was advised there was a switch change coming in 45 mins, so they were going to do it before the next shift started.

I had an Anaesthesiologist put in the epidural who seemed very competent. He looked at me and I remember the last words he said before I collapsed were “well that’s worked, if it was going to go wrong it would have by now” I suddenly in a second lost all sensation and feeling in my entire body. My arms and legs completely flopped. I then realised I couldn’t breath and I could feel my throat closing, but without use of my arms or mouth I couldn’t tell anyone.

Suddenly alarms ringing, every member of staff who wasn’t actively delivering a baby was in my room. I could hear and see everything going on but couldn’t move even my mouth - it was truly like being locked in my body. I was given adrenaline as my heart was stopping, and next thing I had a midwife on the bed with me, her hand between by legs as they wheeled me to theatre trying to find my daughters heartbeat.

Arrive in theatre, to hear shouting this is a Cat 1 C section - and then I hear the words we can’t find a heartbeat. That was last thing I heard before I was put to sleep. When I woke It was 5 hours later was on a ventilator therefore I couldn’t speak.

I remember trying to pull it out to ask if my baby girl was alive - thankfully a nurse realised what I was thinking and reassured me they had delivered her within a minute and had managed to resuscitate her.

I am one of the lucky ones - due to the doctors in that theatre on that night myself and my baby are alive. I was told by a doctor after if they had been a few seconds later our outcome could have been different. What happened however should never have happened.

I found out the next day when the head of the Anaesthesiologist team at the JR visited me in the hospital that I was the first person this had happened to in the JR history - the epidural had been put into the wrong part of my spine meaning I effectively overdosed on anaesthetic. This was a mistake from the Anaesthesiologist who I found out after was a junior and should have been supervised and shouldn’t have done this procedure alone.

I still have agonising pain in my lower spine if it’s touched. And I still look at my daughter and think how close to her not being in my life.

I’m not sure I will ever recover from what happened on that day in the JR. After this up on the after care maternity ward, I was so physically exhausted I was falling asleep while feeding on my baby. I called for help as I was worried I would fall asleep on her.

A nurse came and looked confused as to why I was asking for help and left and I had to physically pinch myself continuously to keep myself awake. I should have been given support as we all know what can sadly happen if you fall asleep on your baby.