Can I get an epidural during childbirth? What are the risks of an epidural during childbirth?

For a woman, the most painful thing in life is probably childbirth. When the baby is about to be born, the mother is in excruciating pain. So can the mother get an epidural during childbirth? If the epidural is given, will it have any effect on the baby?

What is commonly referred to as "painless childbirth" is actually called "labor analgesia" in medicine. Currently, the most commonly used, safest and most effective labor analgesia method in clinical practice is the labor analgesia technique of [spinal block].

There are two spaces in your back spinal canal separated by a tough membrane, where all the nerves that transmit the pain of uterine contractions converge. The anesthesiologist uses a simple operation to accurately inject analgesics into these two spaces to relieve the pain of labor.

Not every pregnant mother can have painless childbirth. Before taking painless childbirth, the pregnant mother needs to be examined by a doctor to assess whether she is suitable.

Anesthesia has risks, and family members are required to sign a consent form before the “painless” injection.

When your cervix is ​​dilated to 2-75px, you can get an epidural. The puncture is usually performed in the left lateral decubitus position. After the epidural, the mother lies on her back and receives fetal heart rate monitoring. A nurse will monitor the fetal heart rate and contraction index at any time.

There is an injection pump next to the bed, which continuously injects painkillers until the cervix is ​​dilated to eight or nine centimeters.

1. For the fetus

If the dose is not large, which is equivalent to about 1/10 of the dose used in caesarean section, it is not easy to enter the fetus through the umbilical cord blood, so it will not have any major impact on the fetus. However, you must do a physical examination first and get the injection under the guidance of a doctor.

2. For pregnant women

There are some risks! There may be some complications, such as low blood pressure and mild headaches. If you are allergic to the drug, it may induce allergies. In addition, because the painless delivery injection is given from the waist, if you have a history of waist trauma, you should take the initiative to consult a doctor, and the doctor will decide whether you can get it. After delivery, depending on the person, you may experience back pain. These may be side effects of the drug. You can consider using a hot towel for heat treatment to relieve the symptoms.

3. For the delivery process

The adverse reactions mainly manifest themselves in the impact on the labor process and placental blood supply.

According to different individuals and different physical conditions, you can make a choice based on the professional advice of a doctor. Only when the choice is suitable for you can you minimize the harm.

Painless childbirth cannot completely eliminate the pain of pregnant women, but it can relieve the pain, which can reduce the pain of pregnant women by about 50%. Painless childbirth injections suppress pain by using local anesthetics, so that the sensory nerves of pregnant women will not transmit pain signals to the brain, which can achieve the effect of relieving pain.

In fact, the painless delivery injection has little effect on the fetus and is very safe. In addition, the painless delivery injection will be given by a professional anesthesiologist. Because the dosage is relatively small, it does not cause much harm to the body. For the health of the pregnant woman and the fetus, you need to go to a professional hospital for examination to reduce the risk.

After the injection of the painless delivery needle, the pregnant woman will be in a conscious state. It only causes an anesthetic effect on the local sensory nerves of the pregnant woman. The pregnant woman can also cooperate with the doctor for delivery. In fact, many pregnant women now choose painless delivery, so it is very safe. Pregnant women do not need to worry too much and are just required to cooperate with the doctor.

As long as you are able to give birth vaginally, painless delivery is definitely better than cesarean section.

Its advantages are the same as those of natural childbirth, with less damage to the mother, quick recovery, and the fetus being squeezed through the birth canal, squeezing out the amniotic fluid in the lungs, making wet lung and neonatal pneumonia less likely to occur.

Some studies have shown that babies who have gone through the squeeze of the birth canal are less likely to have ADHD when they grow up. Babies who go through the natural delivery process can produce immune antibodies, and newborns are less likely to get sick within six months.

Cesarean section is usually a remedial measure taken due to obstetric pathological conditions. It is an artificial and unnatural way of delivery. For parturients, it increases the chances of intestinal adhesions, adnexitis, wound infection, and endometriosis.

For newborns, due to the lack of compression of the vaginal wall and the lack of ability to gradually adapt to the external environment, the amniotic fluid is not completely eliminated, which is not good for the respiratory function of the newborn.