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“It is always very important to share all medications you take with your doctors. We don’t judge what we could harm you and your unborn child. If you don’t share all and any medication use. Medications and supplements can interfere with the way your blood coagulates. They can be a problem placing an epidural or a spinal, as both procedures involve putting a needle into your back. Recreational drugs can interfere with how the medications that we give you during an epidural, spinal or general anesthetic, work. Therefore, it is very important to share this history. Again, we don’t judge. We just want to take good care of you. Similar to your medications and recreational drug history, it is very important that your anesthesiologist has a clear picture of your medical and obstetrical history. Having this information can help guide the anesthesiologist in making the best decision in choosing your labor anesthetic and its timing.
For example, if you had already two deliveries that ended with you getting a cesarean section under general anesthesia, because the baby was having trouble and needed to be delivered very quickly, your anesthesiologist and obstetrician will recommend you to have an epidural as soon as you come to the hospital. So that in case the baby, once again, is uncooperative and needs to be delivered quickly, you’ll have the epidural in place and don’t need to have again a general anesthetic, which unfortunately means you will be asleep during delivery and your spouse or partner will not be in the delivery room.”
