obstetric anesthesia [L, obstetrix, midwife; Gk, anaisthesia, lack of feeling] , any of various procedures used to provide anesthesia for childbirth, including local anesthesia for episiotomy or episiotomy repair; regional anesthesia for labor or delivery, such as by paracervical block or pudendal block; or, for a wider block, epidural, subdural (spinal), caudal, or saddle block. Anesthesia for cesarean section may be achieved with an epidural or subdural (spinal) block or by general anesthesia.
