The Pain of Labor

Anesthesia is a field in medicine that was developed and dedicated almost exclusively to the relief of pain. Maternal Labor is a painful process, and with today’s advances in technology and medicine, we now have the means to provide patients with having a not only memorable, but also almost pleasurable experiences in labor, mainly through spinal and/or epidural anesthesias. The play on words here is that the field of Anesthesia is no “walk in the park”, and it’s almost ironic that Anesthesiologist work long and laborious/painful hours in their line of work to help in their own quests to relieve pain. In my work as an Extern for the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Illinois Hospital, I work closely with the Obstetrics Anesthesia Residents to provide laboring mothers with relief from their pains of labor.