Nowadays and for women, there is rarely a desire to experience natural childbirth. Instead, it is automatically assumed that there will be an epidural waiting in the hospital, where she can give birth without any pain at all. However, this is rarely the case.
Women choose birth through medical intervention because they believe that they cannot or do not want to deal with the pain associated with childbirth. Even women with a high tolerance for pain cannot consider natural childbirth, because medicines used in the modern world are so common.
Types of drugs:
• Epidural therapy: the most popular anesthetic drug used during childbirth, epidural anesthesia is transmitted through the needle to the area around the spine and, as a rule, separates the mother from her navel to her knees. The antiseptic is used to minimize the chance of infection, and a small area in the lower back is infected with a local anesthetic to numb the spot; then the needle is inserted into the area that surrounds the spinal cord in the lower back. A catheter or small tube is cut through the needle into the epidural space, and then the needle is removed, and medication is injected through the catheter via periodic injections or continuous dosage.
The purpose of epidural anesthesia is to relieve pain, not a complete lack of feeling; It works by blocking nerve impulses from the lower spinal segments to reduce sensation in the lower half of the body. An epidural anesthesiologist, obstetrician or nurse anesthetist, lying on one side or sitting with a curved back, is vital for preventing problems and increasing the epidural effect.
• IV drugs / systemic drugs: IV drugs, also called systemic anesthetics, allow mothers to be more mobile during labor than epidurals, but they have greater risks for the baby and mother because of possible side effects. They can be prescribed in the form of a tranquilizer or in combination with a drug and delivered through the IV line to the blood or injected into the muscle. They affect the whole body, not just the pelvic region and the uterus, and can make the mother feel sleepy, but not unconscious.
• Spinal block: Like the epidural line, the spinal cord is delivered directly to the spinal fluid in a single injection, which provides quick relief that lasts only a few hours.
• Combined spinal / epidural anesthesia: Often referred to as pediatric epidural anesthesia, this is a newer technique that provides quick and continuous pain relief.
Benefits and risks
When medication is used during childbirth, the result varies between different mothers. While some women swear that her pain is completely relieved by epidural anesthesia, others have problems taking medications, and they are still able to feel pain and pressure, as if there was no medicine at all.
Statistics show that a woman receiving medication during childbirth has a longer workload with more complications than a mother who naturally chooses birth. However, there are advantages to using painkillers during childbirth.
For example, a mother who has long, long labor may use painkillers to rest before she has to push. The painkiller can also help the mother to relax her body if she strains during labor, so that her body does not struggle with difficulty, and is also useful in situations where the mother has a lot of anxiety or fear of birth or problems from her that can affect the course of work. .
Among the disadvantages of epidural anesthesia is that it can lead to a sudden drop in blood pressure, which will lead to regular checks to make sure that the child receives the right amount of blood flow. You may need treatment with oxygen and IV fluids due to a sudden drop in blood pressure. It is also known that epidurals cause headaches due to leakage of cerebrospinal fluid, as well as trembling, tinnitus, nausea, difficulty using the bathroom, back pain, and soreness at the needle placement site.
Because epidural anesthesia makes it more difficult because of susceptibility to contractions, it may require more medical interventions, such as pitocin, episiotomy, forceps, vacuum extraction, and cesarean section. Other disadvantages are permanent damage to the nerves, susceptibility to the sensation of the legs after birth, and problems with the ability of the child to linger during breastfeeding, respiratory depression and an increase in fetal heart rate.
