Is it out of danger to to hold a spinal anesthesia during labor?
Yes it is safer than IV medication because it doesn't cross the placenta. I have two epidurals my children were both healthy with 9 9 apgar score.
Spinals and epidurals are not the same item. They use the same anesthesia and medications in most cases, but the placement and distribution is completely different.
Spinals are usually used for Cesarean delivery as opposed to laboring mothers. Epidurals are more commonly used for labor because the medication is delivered continuously through a tube inserted contained by the spine. A spinal uses a different placement in the spine, and it's given in one dose - not continuously.
Spinals used to be commonly used for labor management, but it be tricky. Women had to be given the dose at just the right time because it could only be given once, and later it would start to wear off. It the timing was off, the anesthesia wouldn't concluding throughout the entire birth process.
The development of epidurals made pain management much easier, although nearby is still a specific window during which the anesthesia must be placed for the best results.
As to whether or not it's safe - all anesthesia, medication, interventions, and procedures have risks. It's important to look over these risks before you consent to the procedure. Don't agree to anyone pressure you into an intervention that you're not comfortable with.
Here's a very thorough explanation of the risks involved with epidural anesthesia during labor: http://www.healing-arts.org/mehl-madrona…
The risks for spinal anesthesia are roughly like peas in a pod, although it is very rarely, if ever, used for labor management anymore.
Yes. The chances of you having nerve strain, nerve damage, paralysis, etc. are less than 1 surrounded by one million. Besides--if you have to have a c-section, you really don't have a choice.
it's pretty much the same as an epidural. yes, it's invasive and here is a risk for complications. but, this method is very common and when administered by an experienced doctor and monitored by staff is very undamaging.
Answers: safe for the baby? yes.
many relatives choose to have it.
safe for the mom? usually but there are complications (such as main back problems) that can occur if the anesthesia is put in the wrong place.
intuitively when i have a child i'm going to opt for any pain meds they can give through an IV surrounded by my arm or hand instead of putting one in my spine.
An epidural? I've have two, no problems. I have had numerous friends/family that did as well, never hear anything bad. I would talk to your doctor about it.
yeah.. it's called an epidural.. most people bring one.
yes that and epidurals are the 2 most common.
Smurfy get a lot of it right:
Spinal: single shot, less medicine more closely placed to the spine, when it wear off, it wears off. More profound anesthesia/numbness, but if it doesn't "give somebody a lift," then another one must be performed.
Epidural: a needle introduces a tiny catheter outside a tissue/skin that covers the spine, and it works its instrument in. It can also be single dosed, but usually is left in place to drip surrounded by medicine for pre-delivery or post-delivery pains.
Spinal-Epidural= a combination, purporting to offer the advantages of both.
There ARE risks with these blocks. The net page Smurfy gave gives a good chronicle of rare possibilities, with the most common mortal: bleeding, infection, it doesn't fully take, and post-spinal headaches.
That said, there is one and only ONE area of anesthesiology that has not gotten much safer in yesteryear 30 years, and that's the performance of general anesthesia on a woman delivering a child. Because of change to her anatomy (swollen airway, baby pushing on her stomach risking her vomiting once asleep, baby pushing on her lungs limiting how oxygenated she can become, etc) general anesthesia (the merely other option to a spinal or epidual) still carries enough risk that it make anesthesiologists quite a bit more apprehensive, even if they don't admit it :)
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