Anesthesia

From LoveToKnow Pregnancy

Anesthesia is defined as loss of sensation, rather than pain relief. Anesthesia in childbirth includes epidurals, spinal blocks, and intradermal water blocks.

Anesthsia is a popular choice for controlling pain in childbirth. Lower dosages of anesthetic take away pain and other sensations without diminishing muscle control. Higher dosages remove sensation and the ability to use your muscles. Higher dosages also affect your baby more than lower dosages.

Unlike narcotics and other pain relief medications used in childbirth, anesthetics do not affect your mental state. This is a huge benefit for women who wish to be awake and aware while they give birth.

Local Anesthesia

Local anesthesia is injected into the skin or muscle to block sensations in the area near nerve endings. Intradermal water blocks, paracervical blocks, pudendal blocks and perineal blocks are all examples of local anesthesia.

Intradermal Water Blocks

Intradermal water blocks or sterile water blocks are tiny injections of sterile water injected into the top layer of skin. The injections are given in exact locations on the back. These injections contain no medicine, but they generally relieve back pain for about an hour. This procedure only works for back labor, not for pain and pressure associated with contractions.

There are no side effects to this procedure, other than stinging at the site of injection for about 30 seconds. This is a relatively new form of pain relief and is not performed in all hospitals. This procedure is very popular for women hoping for a natural childbirth who need a little bit of help with back labor.

Parcervical Blocks

Parcervical blocks are injections of local anesthetic into both sides of the cervix to remove pain due to dilation. It gives laboring women a short term reduction of pain, offers no change in mental awareness, and allows women to move around freely. However, it can cause severe side effects to the baby.

Pudendal Blocks

Pudendal blocks are injections into both sides of the vagina to block nerves. These injections numb the vagina and perineum. It is often given if the baby is being delivered by forceps or a vacuum. A large amount of medication is needed and this form of anesthesia may cause fetal distress if delivery is not eminent.

Perineal Blocks

Perineal blocks are injections around the vaginal opening and numb the perineum. This is usually given for pain relief during crowning, an episiotomy, or repair work. There are few side effects if given close to delivery.

Regional Anesthesia

Regional anesthesia are medicines given into the lower back to provide pain relief and numbness during labor. Regional blocks provide pain relief in larger area than local blocks and use smaller amounts of medicine.

Epidurals

In an epidural a catheter is placed in the epidural space and “caine” drugs are dripped through the catheter. Epidurals provide good pain relief for childbirth without impairing mental awareness.

Side effects for an epidural include:

Maternal and fetal fever
Inability to move lower half of body
Drop in maternal blood pressure
Slowing of labor (though sometimes it speeds it up)
Inability to urinate
Decreased effectiveness to push
Postpartum backache
Fetal distress
Itching
Nausea/vomiting
Some diminished newborn reflexes and responses

Intrathecals

Intrathecals are sometimes called ‘walking epidurals’. Intrathecals are light epidurals. They provide some pain relief, especially during the active labor stage, but not as much numbness or side effects as epidurals.

Spinal Blocks

Spinal blocks are given for cesarean deliveries, if an epidural does not provide enough pain relief. They provide complete numbness and pain relief in the lower half of the body.

Side effects include: