Contents
Medicalized delivery or cesarean section: a mandatory consultation
This visit with a anesthetist, provided for by law since 1994, usually takes place at the end of the 8th month and, in any case, several days before the date of our delivery. It is compulsory in all cases where a caesarean section or an induced birth is scheduled (Article D 6124-91 of the Public Health Code). Likewise, if we deliberately choose epidural analgesia in advance, we are strongly advised to comply with this interview. Its goal : allow the anesthetist who will take care of us on the day of our delivery to have perfect knowledge of our medical file to ensure our safety.
Without epidural: an optional consultation recommended
Peri or not ? Even if we have not really decided, but we are wondering about this intervention, it is better to go to this visit : the anesthesiologist is also there to answer all our questions and help us make our choice. A visit all the more imperative if our child comes in seat or if you have a multiple pregnancy, which further increases the risk of not only an epidural, but also a cesarean. In reality, a birth always being an affair, no woman can be sure that she will not be faced with complications likely to require the installation of an epidural or a spinal anesthesia, or even a general anesthesia. This is why, even in cases where we have planned to give birth in a less medicalized structure (technical platform, physiological center, birth center or even at home), we are recommended to attend this visit, because a transfer to the maternity ward is never excluded!
The pre-anesthetic consultation: how does it go?
During the pre-anesthetic consultation, the doctor will ask us about our pregnancy (term, experience), but also about our medical history (previous pregnancies, illnesses, allergies, surgical history, etc.). He will ask us about the medications and treatments in progress, telling us which ones to modify or suspend. He will carefully examine our file, and in particular the results of the prescribed clinical assessments (hematology, blood group, etc.). He will take our tension, our weight and auscultate us. He will inform us about the postoperative preparation to be carried out if we have a scheduled cesarean section. He will also answer our questions and prescribe a complete blood test, to be carried out within 30 days before delivery. He may also be required to prescribe various additional examinations depending on his findings (chest x-ray, electrocardiogram, etc.).
What if I give birth before this consultation?
Do not panic ! We should benefit from the epidural without any problem. Indeed, whether or not we had this pre-anesthetic visit, a anesthetic assessment will in any case be carried out in the hours preceding the intervention. In short: if, when the time comes, you want to have an epidural or if the circumstances require an emergency surgical intervention, the clinical and blood tests planned during this consultation (platelet count, in particular) can be done (in this case , you may have to wait a little longer for the peri laying, while the tests are done). Moreover, even if these assessments were performed during the consultation, they are often renewed a few hours before the operation, because some data concerning us may have changed in the meantime: possible state of fever, blood pressure problems, etc. .
Will the anesthetist met be present on the big day?
Not necessarily. For operational planning reasons, another anesthetist that the one met in consultation is likely to support us for the intervention (especially in public structures). But our medical file will have been sent to him and he will know our case inside out!