Why epidural

Physician anesthesiologists are committed to patient safety and high-quality care, and have the necessary knowledge to understand and treat the entire human body. Skip to content. How and when is an epidural for labor pain administered?

Does it hurt when the epidural is administered? What does an epidural do? How long does the pain relief last? Can an epidural slow labor or lead to a cesarean delivery C-section? Can epidurals harm the baby? Are there risks and side effects? To make this less likely, you will be given extra fluids through a tube in your arm IV , and you may need to lie on your side.

Sometimes, your physician anesthesiologist will give you a medication to maintain your blood pressure. Sore back — Your lower back may be sore where the needle was inserted to deliver the medication. This soreness should last no more than a few days. The pump feeds the epidural solution into the catheter continuously, providing pain relief for as long as needed.

The type, amount and strength of the anaesthetic can be adjusted, as necessary. You might also be given the option of having control of the medication pump. This is called patient controlled analgesia.

You can have the dose lowered for second stage pushing, but it takes some time for the pain relief and numbness to wear off, so if this is important to you, discuss it with your care provider early on. The answer depends on who you ask. Some women describe an epidural placement as creating a bit of discomfort in the area where the back was numbed, and a feeling of pressure as the small tube or catheter was placed.

Typically epidurals are placed when the cervix is dilated to centimeters and you are in true active labor. There is no credible evidence that it does either. When a woman needs a C-section, other factors usually are at play, including the size or position of the baby or slow progression of labor due to other issues. There is some evidence that epidurals can speed the first stage of labor by allowing the mother to relax.

As previously stated, research on the effects of epidurals on newborns is somewhat ambiguous, and many factors can affect the health of a newborn. How much of an effect these medications will have is difficult to predetermine and can vary based on dosage, the length of labor, and the characteristics of each individual baby.

Since dosages and medications can vary, concrete information from research is currently unavailable. Another is that while in-utero, a baby might also become lethargic and have trouble getting into position for delivery. These medications have also been known to cause respiratory depression and decreased fetal heart rate in newborns. Though the medication might not harm these babies, they may have subtle effects on the newborn. The nerves of the uterus should begin to numb within a few minutes after the initial dose.

You will probably feel the entire numbing effect after minutes. As the anesthetic dose begins to wear off, more doses will be given—usually every one to two hours. Depending on the type of epidural and dosage administered, you can be confined to your bed and not allowed to get up and move around. If labor continues for more than a few hours you will probably need urinary catheterization, because your abdomen will be numb, making urinating difficult.

After your baby is born, the catheter is removed and the effects of the anesthesia will usually disappear within one or two hours. Some women report experiencing an uncomfortable burning sensation around the birth canal as the medication wears off. You might not be able to tell that you are having a contraction because of your epidural anesthesia. If you can not feel your contractions, then pushing may be difficult to control. For this reason, your baby might need additional help coming down the birth canal.

This is usually done by the use of forceps. For the most part, epidurals are effective in relieving pain during labor. Some women complain of being able to feel pain, or they feel that the drug worked better on one side of the body.

Cunningham, F. Gary, et al, Ch. What is an Epidural? What is an epidural? How is an epidural given? An antiseptic solution will be used to wipe the waistline area of your mid-back to minimize the chance of infection.

A small area on your back will be injected with a local anesthetic to numb it. A needle is then inserted into the numbed area surrounding the spinal cord in the lower back. After that, a small tube or catheter is threaded through the needle into the epidural space.

Giving birth is one of the most intense and painful experiences a woman will ever experience during her life, with or without an epidural. Pushing a 6 or 8-pound baby out of a small birth canal tests the physical limitations of the female body.

A typical labor and delivery can involve hours of pain from powerful uterine contractions, stretching, tearing, and pressure. This is why maternal pain management has become an important component of modern obstetric practice. In recent years the epidural has become the predominant method of pain management for women in labor.

Like all medications and procedures, the epidural has pros and cons. Intelligent women who love their unborn babies make different choices on whether to get an epidural. This page will give a brief overview of the good and the bad about epidurals during childbirth to help you make the right choice for you and your baby. The term epidural refers to the process of administering regional anesthesia medication directly into the epidural space in the mother's lower spine. The epidural space is an area that surrounds the spine and is filled with fluid.

The nerve pathways which carry pain and other sensation from the brain to the lower body run through the spine area. When a regional analgesic medication is injected directly into the epidural space, it blocks pain signals from going to the lower body through these nerve pathways. This makes the epidural a highly effective method of numbing the lower half of a mother's body during labor. This significantly decreases the level of pain that the mother feels during labor and delivery.

The exact type of drug or combination of drugs administered with an epidural varies. An epidural during labor involves more than just a single injection of pain medication into the epidural space.

One injection will not last long enough. So the anesthesiologist taps into the epidural space with a special needle that stays in place. It is attached to a drip bag or pump. This allows the pain medication to be continuously dripped or pumped into the epidural space throughout labor. The epidural delivers just one very significant benefit to women in labor - pain relief.

Labor and childbirth is painful and the pain and discomfort can last for hours or even days. Aside from the obvious physical discomfort, pain can cause mental stress and anxiety. The epidural is highly effective at eliminating this pain and discomfort. The reason epidurals are the best method for pain management during childbirth is only the lower body is numbed.

This allows the mother to stay awake and mentally alert during delivery. The other critical benefit of having an epidural setup is that the mother's lower body is already numb which enables doctors to perform an emergency C-section immediately. If the fetus is oxygen-deprived, time is of the essence to prevent brain damage that can cause cerebral palsy , HIE , or other birth injuries. If an epidural is not in place already, doctors will have to administer a general anesthetic before a C-section.

This takes longer and leaves the mother unconscious at birth.