{"id":311,"date":"2018-08-17T14:58:26","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T14:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.uchealthsites.com\/perioperative\/?page_id=311"},"modified":"2018-08-17T14:58:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-17T14:58:26","slug":"anesthesia-for-labor-and-delivery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.com\/perioperative\/anesthesia-for-labor-and-delivery\/","title":{"rendered":"Anesthesia for Labor and Delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The delivery of your baby is an exciting and momentous experience. It is our goal at UC Health to assist you in having a safe, comfortable and happy childbirth. Many women have concerns and questions about pain control during labor. Your Obstetric Anesthesia Care Team will work closely with you to determine the best option for you. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Labor can be unpredictable and the mode of delivery will be affected by many factors. The majority of women deliver vaginally, but some may require Cesarean Section. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Labor Pain<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\">Varies with each patient and delivery<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\">Can be affected by several factors:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Size and position of your baby<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Strength of your contractions<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Your personal beliefs and pain tolerance<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\">Only you can know your level of pain and you should never feel guilty about requesting pain relief. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"p6\"><span class=\"s1\">Options for Pain Relief:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p8\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Vaginal Delivery<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natural Childbirth<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Some women cope with labor using only breathing and relaxation techniques<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Intravenous Medications<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">May ease but will not eliminate all the pain of labor<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Amounts may be limited due to potential effects on your baby<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Nitrous Oxide<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">A mixture of 50% Nitrous Oxide and 50% Oxygen that is inhaled through a mask. <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Can help lessen both pain and anxiety during induction, natural childbirth and labor.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Self-administered via a mask you hold up to your face<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">May be utilized prior to epidural placement<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Epidural<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Requires needle insertion to place catheter into lower back<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Pain relief medications administered continuously via catheter throughout labor<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p8\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Cesarean Section<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Spinal<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Single injection of medication into the lower back which will result in numbness of the lower part of the body<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Epidural<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Combination Spinal\/Epidural (CSE)<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Combination of both spinal and epidural techniques providing rapid onset with potential to administer additional epidural medications if necessary.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>General Anesthesia<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Medication administration through your IV that will make you go to sleep for the delivery<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Options for anesthesia for a Cesarean Section (C\/S) are dependent upon how fast and urgent the C\/S needs to be performed. The options for a planned elective C\/S may differ from those for an unplanned C\/S due to the amount of time required to establish an anesthetic. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It is optimal and most women prefer to be awake during a C\/S; being awake allows you and your partner the opportunity to participate in the delivery. However, in some cases, general anesthesia may be required where there is inadequate time or epidural or spinal anesthesia is not possible. When general anesthesia is used, your care team needs to be focused on just you and your baby; therefore, your partner cannot be with you in the Operating Room. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p10\"><span class=\"s1\">Safeguarding you during Anesthesia<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We encourage you to discuss the anesthetic options with your Obstetric Anesthesia Care Team early so that we may assist you in having a safe and joyful experience. It is important to inform us of the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Medical Problems<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Problems during pregnancy<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Current or recently discontinued medications (especially blood thinners or pain medications)<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Personal\/Family problems with anesthesia<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Allergies to medications<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li11\"><span class=\"s1\">Time of last meal. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p12\"><span class=\"s1\">The UC Health Obstetric Anesthesia Care Team looks forward to being a part of your birth experience!<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The delivery of your baby is an exciting and momentous experience. It is our goal at UC Health to assist [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-311","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.com\/perioperative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.com\/perioperative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.com\/perioperative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.com\/perioperative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.com\/perioperative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.com\/perioperative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.com\/perioperative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/311\/revisions\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.com\/perioperative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}