What side effects does general anesthesia have on a 30 week fetus?

Short-lived: General anesthesia that a mother receives passes through her system into the baby's system. However, it goes away quickly too. If the baby were born right away, it might be sleepy or need help with breathing. But assuming that the baby is not born yet, the anesthesia meds will be gone within a few hours. At 30 weeks, all the baby's organs and limbs are formed, so there is no risk of birth defects.

Relatively Few: Susceptibility to malformations in a fetus is highly unlikely the 50th day post conception. The critical time is between days 15-30. That said, at 30 weeks gestation, fetal safety is dependent on (1) prevention of the mother's aspiration of stomach contents during anesthesia and (2) maintaining adequate maternal blood pressure and avoiding uterine abdominal pressure during surgery. Good news!

Elective surgery: Is not recommended for a 30 week partitions. An anesthesiologist will monitor the fetal heart rate, maintain adequate oxygenation and perfusion, avoid certain medications, and of course, keep you safe as well. If possible, spinal anesthesia is a good alternative to general.

None: The baby will be anesthetized as long as the anesthetic is on board. Once the anesthetic is over, the baby will wake up. The big problem with pregnancy and surgery is the surgery itself. The most common surgery in pregnant women is gallbladder removal. This irritates the uterus and can lead to premature labor. Good anesthesia is important to prevent this.

Minimal: When we do anesthesia on a pregnant patient we are always concerned about effects on the unborn fetus. First thing that we worry about is, along with the surgery, triggering early labor. The anesthetic drugs that cross to the baby will not really affect the child at this stage. The use of narcotics might slow the child's movements. We monitor child during and after procedure.