The admittance procedures seem to differ from hospital to hospital. Mine went as follows.
Arrived at reception and reported in. At the appointed time I was called and followed a nurse through to the pre-admission ward. I was asked to confirm name, DOB, state of health (other than the hip issue) and then asked to get changed into a hospital gown (the one that shows your backside to everyone). Once I had changed, I put all my clothes into hospital bags which were labelled with my name. The nurse came back in and I confirmed my details again, the nurse took my blood pressure. Then I waited. After about an hour the surgeon came in and I had to sign a consent form. Once that was done, he wrote on the leg that was to be operated on. He then left. And I waited, and waited for probably about 30 minutes. A nurse came along and asked my name and DOB (get used to this bit, you get asked an awful lot of times), I then walked down to the anaesthetist (trying desperately not to flash people as I went past). I asked a nurse why the timings seemed a bit arbitrary and was told that the surgeon doesn't know how long an op will actually take until it is in progress - some hip replacements go really well and only take 45 minutes and others take a lot longer - for example my first THR took nearly 3.5 hours but my second only 1.5 hours).
Once you get to this bit, it all happens quite quickly. The actual spinal block procedure is not particularly lengthy.
The method for a spinal block seems to differ from hospital to hospital and even in my case from year to year. For my first hip op (2016), first of all, the anaesthetist inserted a canula into my left hand. I was then asked to sit on the bed and arch my back like a cat and a numbing cream was applied and then a long needle was inserted. I stayed sitting for a few minutes until my feet started to feel warm (a bit of an odd sensation, but not unpleasant), then, I swung my legs round until I was laying down and after a few minutes, the anaesthetist asked me to lift my legs up. He asked me a few times until I couldn't lift my legs up at all. Then he said, ok time to go to sleep. I woke up a couple of times during the operation but couldn't feel anything and was soon put back to sleep.
The next time I woke up was in recovery, where I was taken care of by a nurse. I promptly burst into tears because I had woken up and the sound of a bag of old bolts bashing together and of course the pain, was gone. Up to that point I hadn't realised how much pain I had actually been in.
For my second hip op (2017), the approach was slightly different. A canula was inserted into my left hand and a mild sedative was given. I was away with the fairies after a few minutes and pretty much didn't care what happened next - which I can only remember in a dreamlike fashion. The spinal block was given, but not the full dose of sedative, that was only given once I was in theatre. I was asked to confirm my name and DOB and which hip was being replaced, then I was rolled on to the opposite side to the hip being done and given the full sedative.
Then I woke up in recovery and was given a cup of tea. I felt marvellous and sent my husband text to tell him all was well.
In my experience I've now had both my hips done with a spinal block and it's brilliant.
My advice would be take something to read with you!