LABOR & CHILD BIRTH Labor and birth is one of the most memorable moments in a parent's life. Learning to work your way through can help you enjoy the experience and relax. This section helps you prepare better for this experience.

Labor and Child Birth

Anesthesia for Cesarean Section

What are the types of anesthesia that I can take in cesarean section?

YOU can take general, regional or local anesthesia.

General anesthesia

In this the patient is made totally unconscious and she is unaware of the procedure going on. Anesthesia is maintained with 50% mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen, supplemented with a low concentration of a volatile agent. High concentration of the volatile agent has to be avoided as they may decrease the tone of the uterus, causing increased bleeding and neonatal depression. At the end of the operation, muscle relaxation is reversed with a drug called neostigmine, atropine or glycopyrrolate.

Regional Anesthesia

This form of anesthesia is better preferred as it avoids the risk of failed intubation, aspiration by mother and neonatal depression. Also it is convenient to give post operative pain relief and parents can actively participate in the birth procedure.
The disadvantages remain the same as described above.

There is a remote chance of getting induced for general anesthesia even after regional anesthesia as sometimes there may be incomplete or partial block.

Spinal anesthesia

Advantages

• Rapid onset of action
• Reliable dense anesthesia
• Low chances of post dural puncture
• Can also be used to give morphine via this route and it provide pain relief for 10-24 hours.

There are chances of itching, nausea, post anaesthesia headache, hypotension, palor and local pain with this procedure.

Spinals can also be given during the pushing or second stage of labor - it provides pain relief quickly if you are going to have a forceps or ventouse birth and you haven't got an epidural in place already. They are sometimes used for pain relief in the first stage of labor in conjunction with an epidural - this technique gives effective pain relief faster and is more popular with women than epidural alone.

EPIDURAL ANAESTHESIA

Epidural takes longer to establish and needs more expertise to do it. But it is still the preferred route and can also be given during labor.