A spinal block is sometimes called a “spinal.” In this procedure, a narcotic or anesthetic such as fetanyl, bupivacaine or lidocaine is injected below the spinal column directly into the spinal fluid, which provides pain relief for as long as 2 hours.
It is easy to confuse a spinal block and spinal epidural because
they are both injections into the spinal area. For a spinal block,
narcotics or anesthetic is injected once with a needle. For a spinal
epidural or combined spinal epidural, a catheter is placed in the
epidural space to allow continuous anesthesia.
A spinal block may cause one or more of the following conditions:
- Hypotension (low blood pressure)
- Difficulty pushing during the second stage of labor
- Severe headache requiring an epidural blood patch
- Pruritus (itching)
- In rare instances, convulsions
- Both narcotics and “caine” medications cross the placenta and
- enter the baby’s blood stream
- Baby might have trouble breastfeeding after birth