We chat with two OB Anesthesiologists, Dr. Lydi Martinez and Dr. Brittany Burton, about the ins and outs of pain control in labor.
Terms
Anesthesia: a medical intervention that prevents patients from feeling pain during procedures like surgery, certain screening and diagnostic tests, and tissue sample removal.
Perioperative: Around the time of surgery. This usually lasts from the time the patient goes into the hospital or doctor's office for surgery until the time the patient goes home.
Pain Medications (Analgesics) During Labor: medications that relieve pain
Fentanyl: a synthetic opioid.
Morphine: a non-synthetic opioid.
Epidural catheter: a very fine plastic catheter, or tube, that is placed through the skin into the epidural space in your spine. This temporary catheter is left in place for a defined period of time
Epidural space: space filled with fluid that surrounds your spinal cord; like a liquid sleeve around your spinal cord.
NPO: Nothing by mouth.
Aspiration: Breathing in a foreign object (for example, sucking food into the airway).
Spinal Cord: the long, cylindrical structure that connects your brain and lower back. It contains tissues, fluids, and nerve cells
There are five levels, starting at the top and going downward: Cervical (C), Thoracic (T), Lumbar (L), Sacral (S), and Coccygeal (Cx). These main sections include a group of vertebrae, each of which is given a number that increases as you move down the spine.
Spinal headache: caused by leakage of spinal fluid through a puncture hole in the membrane that surrounds the spinal cord. This leakage decreases the pressure exerted by the spinal fluid on the brain and spinal cord, which leads to a headache.
Blood patch: a procedure in which a small volume of your own blood is injected into a patient's epidural space to stop a leak of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
Retained products of conception: intrauterine tissue that develops after conception and persists after medical and surgical pregnancy termination, miscarriage, and vaginal or cesarean delivery. (For example, retained pieces of placenta after delivery).
Postpartum hemorrhage: 1000ml or more of blood loss in the first 24 hours after delivery
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