Planning Your Childbirth

Analgesics & Anesthetics
Regional Blocks for Labor
Anesthesia for Cesarean Births

Analgesia is the full or partial relief of painful sensations. Anesthesia is usually considered to be a more intense blockage of all sensations, including muscle movement. Your wishes and your medical condition are important in selecting the type of pain relief administered to you. Be assured that your physicians will prescribe or administer medications only in the amounts and during those stages of labor that are best for the safety and well-being of your baby. There are several choices for pain relief:

Intravenous "I.V." Medication – Pain-relieving medications that are injected into a vein or muscle will help dull your pain but may not eliminate it completely. These I.V. medications are usually prescribed by your obstetrician. Because they sometimes make both you and your baby sleepy, they are used mainly during early labor.

Local Anesthesia – Other pain-relieving medications may be injected in the vaginal and rectal areas by your obstetrician at the time of delivery. These medications are local anesthetics. They provide a numbness or loss of sensation in a small area. Local anesthesia is often used to ease the pain of delivery or when an episiotomy incision is done to assist the delivery. It does not, however, lessen the pain of contractions.

Regional Blocks – Regional blocks can reduce the discomfort of labor and provide either analgesia or anesthesia. Regional blocks refer to epidural and spinal blocks. They are administered in the lower back, usually by a specialist physician called an anesthesiologist. Local anesthetics and other drugs are used for these procedures to reduce or "block" pain and other sensations over a wider region of the body. Epidural analgesia may be used for labor and vaginal delivery. An epidural block may be used to provide anesthesia for a cesarean section. A spinal block may be used to provide labor analgesia or anesthesia for a cesarean delivery. A combined spinal/epidural block also may be used for labor analgesia and/or anesthesia in certain cases.

"Anesthesia & You ... Planning Your Childbirth" has been prepared by the American Society of Anesthesiologists through the cooperative efforts of the Society's Committee on Communications and the Committee on Obstetrical Anesthesia.