Many women in the United States receive analgesia for labor and delivery. The ideal labor analgesic technique would confer complete pain relief without side effects. The analgesic technique would not cause any lower extremity motor blockade nor interfere with the progress or course of labor and would be sufficiently flexible to produce anesthesia for instrumental or cesarean deliveries. Furthermore, the baby would be vigorous at birth. Modern obstetric analgesia techniques and medications achieve these goals. This article reviews current labor analgesia techniques and medications used during labor and delivery.
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