Does the joy of nature childbirth necessarily go through pain? We offer another option, so that labor pain is no longer the only way to experience.

What is epidural analgesia? What are the benefits?

• Epidural analgesia had matured in western countries as early as the 1990s, and was applied to parturients to relieve their pain for childbirth delivery.
• Epidural analgesia uses regional anesthesia technique which enable the parturient to experience childbirth easily. Some mothers will have better chance of natural birth and shortened waiting time due to pain relief.

Am I fit for epidural analgesia? How painful is labor pain? When is the best time to perform it?

• The vast majority of parturients are eligible for epidural analgesia. All parturients will be evaluated by obstetricians and anesthesiologists before catheter implementation.
• Labor pain may not be the worst type of pains, but it's surely in the top threelists.
• In the past, epidural analgesia was performed when the patient’s cervix opened at least 3 centimeters. However, the latest research indicates that it can be administered after the evaluation by obstetricians and anesthesiologists.

What are the side effects of epidural anesthesia? Will it affect the natural birth process?

• There are occasional headaches, itching, or tremors, and very few cases (less than 1 in 10,000) of infection or neurological injury following epidural analgesia, but these side effects can be minimized by early detection, diagnosis, and treatment.
• Recent studies have shown that epidural analgesia does not affect the progress in labor.

Is it true that those who have undergone epidural analgesia are prone to back pain?

• This issue dose hang some mothers and their family back. In fact, there are many causes for back pain. Postures and hormones makes ligaments of pelvis relaxation during pregnancy and theses may be factors. In addition, literature studies do not directly prove that regional anesthesia or epidural anagesia is the cause of back pain.

Could epidural analgesia provide painless labor?

• Epidural analgesia can relieve labor pain but not completely eliminate it as pain severity can be scored from 0 (no pain at all) to 10 (worst pain imaginable), so the purpose of administering epidural analgesia is to make the pain fall to between 3 to 4 points.
• In the late stages of labor (when the cervix opens at 6-7cm), the pain will be more intense. The anesthesiologist will adjust the formulation of the drug after evaluation, so that the mother can get the best analgesic effect. Studies have found that achieving so-called painlessness can cause labor delays and increase the chances of a C-section. Therefore, the obstetricians and anesthesiologists worldwide all agree that it is necessary to adjust the dose and it cannot achieve complete painlessness, but contributes to a comfortable, pain-relieving and safe childbirth process.