Anesthesia providers at Granville Medical Center provide 24-hour Obstetrics anesthesia service and epidural placement/management for laboring mothers to keep you and your baby comfortable and safe.
Types of Anesthesia for Obstetrics
Epidural Anesthesia
Around 70% of laboring mothers in the United States receive an epidural to help manage the pain of contractions and delivery during labor. Epidural Anesthesia is the placement of a very small epidural catheter into a space in your back called the epidural space. Medications are continuously given through this catheter to provide numbness and pain relief during your labor and delivery.
Spinal Anesthesia
Spinal Anesthesia for laboring mothers is usually used during c-sections and involves injecting numbing medication into the fluid surrounding the nerves in your back. This numbing medication will block sensation, pain, and movement in your lower extremities for a period. Spinal anesthesia usually works quickly and can last up to 4 hours after the procedure before it gradually wears off.
General Anesthesia
General anesthesia in obstetrics is normally used only in emergency situations when there is insufficient time to perform spinal anesthesia, your epidural is not adequate, or if you have a condition that prevents use of a spinal or epidural anesthetic. General anesthesia involves the induction of a complete loss of consciousness. Complete loss of consciousness for c-sections occurs by administering medication through an IV. Once loss of consciousness occurs, a breathing tube is inserted into your mouth to assist with breathing. Throughout the surgery, medication will be administered to keep you comfortable and to prevent you from becoming nauseous. At the end of your operation, the breathing device will be removed.
Nerve Block
For mothers who have undergone c-section and have required a surgical incision, we offer an injection of numbing medication into the abdomen that will provide pain relief after surgery. This injection will provide you pain relief for many hours and will reduce the amount of pain medicine needed after surgery.
Anesthesia for C-section
There are multiple factors that influence the choice of anesthesia for a C-section, but they are usually done under epidural or spinal anesthesia. You are numb from the level of the nipple line down but will remain awake during the birth of your baby and your partner may be present.
If your baby needs to be delivered quickly due to an emergency or if epidural/spinal anesthesia is not adequate, general anesthesia will be required.