Obstetrical Anesthesia
Labour and Delivery
This section will initially deal with options for labour analgesia as well as address anesthetic options for surgical delivery (cesarean section). Later I will add information on common surgical procedures during pregnancy (Cervical Cerclage, External version for twins, ect)
Books and Handbooks
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide by Penny Simkin. ISBN: 074321241X
Amazon (new) Amazon (used) Abebooks BarnsandNoble
Medically factual, practical, has a holistic approach but provides details
without fear mongering. It is also cheap when bought used. Addresses pre-pregnancy,
pregnancy and the first 3 months post-delivery. I recommend it to all my pregnant
patients as well at to family and friends.
Anaesthesia and having a baby
Dr P Millns FRCA and Dr K Eagland FRCA, Birmingham Womens Hospital Association
Pain Relief in Labour
Produced by the UK Obstetrical Anaesthetist's Association
Available in 21 different languages here
Caesarean section: your choice of anaesthesia
Produced by the UK Obstetrical Anaesthetist's Association
Please note that while the handbook states you may request a general anesthetic for cesarean section, in North America general anesthesia is usually only offered in special situations where regional anesthesia (epidural or spinal) is not an option.
Available in 11 different languages here
Headache after an epidural or spinal anaesthetic
UK Royal College of Anaesthetists
Links
General Pregnancy
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/index.htm
Quite medically factual with useful information. Not that it is a commercial site so they are trying to sell you things.
Anesthesia during Pregnancy (Labour analgesia, Epidurals, Cesarean, ect)
http://www.rcoa.ac.uk/index.asp?PageID=69
A series of leaflets produced by the UK Royal College of Anaesthetists in conjunction with the College and The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland
http://www.kimjames.net/epidural%20main%20page.htm
Quite medically factual information on epidurals though some information is getting out of date (ie. Epidurals do not seem to increase C-section rate. It is a correlation, not a causation as women who have difficult labors and therefore are more likely to need a C-section also have a great deal of pain and therefore request epidurals. They may have needed a C-section whether or not they got the epidural. Also the doses of local anesthetics used nowadays are less then in the past.)
© 2011 Trevor Hennessey. Design by Andreas Viklund.