Obstetric Anesthesia
Our collaborative care team model ensures that every woman receives exceptional and compassionate care during labor and delivery.
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About Obstetric Anesthesia for Labor and Delivery
There are several options for relieving pain when a patient goes into labor. Intravenous medications may be used early in labor since they can affect both the mother and baby’s respiratory drive. Epidural anesthesia is the most common and effective form of pain relief. This form of regional anesthesia reduces the sharp pains of contraction to a pressure sensation. An epidural catheter is placed in a sterile fashion in the patient’s lumbar spine so that continuous medication can be administered. This form of anesthesia allows for minimal effects to the baby. The epidural catheter is removed after delivery.
For cesarean sections, patients will usually receive spinal anesthesia. This is a form of regional anesthesia that provides a dense motor and sensory block for surgery. A single dose of medication is placed in the lumbar spine in a sterile fashion. For patients that have contraindications to regional anesthesia, general anesthesia may be used. This form of anesthesia requires the patient to be completely asleep during the cesarean section. If a patient already has a functioning epidural catheter, more medication can be added to convert to surgical anesthesia.
