A nice nugget of info from Amy Haas at ICAN of Greater Rochester/Rochester Birth Network that I thought should be shared...

-Rachel

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Since we are on the topic, Epidurals are the most popular form of anesthesia for both vaginal and surgical births. Just in case you do want to do some additional reading:

(this is from a lecture series I have done for an infant and child development psychology class at St. John Fisher)

Undesired effects on the newborn:

- Short-term (six weeks or less) subtle neurobehavioral effects.

- higher incidence of jaundice.

-There [is little] data on potential long-term effects. [However, some studies are showing increased risk for drug addiction later in life, and the possible increase risk of autism.]

Behavioral –

-          Irritability

-          Immature motor movements & organization

-          Increase startling, jerky movements

-          Increase crying

-          Decreased alertness

-          Decreased visual skills

 Psychological:

-          difficulty bonding

-          less time spent with mother

-          less sociable

-          more difficult to care for

-“ Decreased infant responsiveness may lead to long-term consequences for the parent-infant relationship. Parents should be counseled to give their babies time to recover from the birth and medication and should avoid a label of "difficult child" or "incompetent mother." 

Penny Simpkin, PT; Weighing the Pros and Cons of the Epidural; Childbirth Soloutions Inc., http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/birth/epidural/index.php

(Penny Simpkin has lots more info on this topic!)

The effects of maternal epidural anesthesia on neonatal behavior during the first month.
Sepkoski CM, Lester BM, Ostheimer GW, Brazelton TB
Dev Med Child Neurol 1992 Dec;34(12):1072-80

"The epidural group showed poorer performance on the orientation and motor clusters during the first month of life. Epidural mothers reported spending less time with their infants while in the hospital; post hoc analyses showed that they had longer labor, more forceps deliveries and a greater amount of oxytocin. Controlling for the effects of these medical variables, a dose effect was found for the mean orientation and motor cluster scores. The results are discussed in terms of possible effects of the infant's early disorganization on the mother-infant interaction"

Adverse Psychological Effects of Epidurals

 Murray AD. Dolby RM. Nation RL. Thomas DB. Title Effects of epidural anesthesia on newborns and their mothers. Source Child Development. 52(1):71-82, 1981 Mar.

“[Murray, et al.[ii] studied effects of epidural anesthesia on newborns were studied using a sample of babies from mothers having (a) little or no medication during childbirth, (b) epidurals, and (c) epidurals in combination with oxytocin to stimulate labor. The effects of drugs on neonatal behavior were strongest on the first day. By the fifth day, there was evidence of behavioral recovery, but the medicated babies continued to exhibit poor state organization. At 1 month, examiners observed few differences between groups, but unmedicated mothers reported their babies to be more sociable, rewarding, and easy to care for, and these mothers were more responsive to their babies' cries. “

I also wrote an article for Midwifery Today on this topic, entitled “The Emotional Aspects to Drugs in labor: the Beginning of Learning to Parent”.  It is posted on my website, under suggested reading, if you are interested. www.healthybirth.net

Above all this is not about feeling guilty as you all did the best you could consider your circumstances.  It just goes to show how the effects of the American way of birth can be so pervasive and damaging for all.  There was a great lecture at the ICAN conf. called “what would animals/mammals do?” that discussed this issue in detail.

As to how to heal--- there are a couple of good books on the subject – Gayle Petersons book, An Easier Birth, for instance.  And the wonderful Birthing from Within, of course.