ANY DOCS OR NURSES HERE? how would a general anethsetic affect unborn baby?

[meeeeow]

Hello!
I may be pregnant. Have not done test yet. Too scared!
I have been going through 2 years of reconstructive surgery due to cancer and my final operation (yeay!) should be in about 2 months time, which cant be delayed.
If I am pregnant what are the risks? I dont want to have an abortion but if the risks are too high then I may have too.
I just want to find out facts before I do the test. I dont want to get excited about having another baby and then find out the bad news
Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated. x

as long as the anaesthetist is told that you may be / are pregnant, there are particular variants of the general anaethetic which are safe for unborn babies. that's my understanding.

fingers crossed for you meeeeow

I had a general for my emergency section, and DS is fine! I have seen postings on here from ladies who have their appendix out while pregnant - no probs.

Good luck.

i'm an anaesthetist (on mat leave not slacking off work!), the drugs we use today don't deform or harm the fetus.
the risk is of miscarriage/premature labour which can be brought on by the "stress" of surgery ie the response of your body to surgery.
different types of surgery cause different amounts of stress and therefore risk.
having minor surgery, like an operation on your wrist is less likely to cause problems than major intraabdominal surgery eg gall bladder.
my advice as an anaesthetist is to avoid any routine surgery whilst pregnant, urgent or emergency surgery should be undertaken but tell the anaesthetist, surgeon, nurses, everyone that you're pregnant so the most appropriate techniques etc can be used.

thanks all.
Dunscard - my final operation is on my head. I have a skin graft and 3 tissue expanders. So my final op is taking them out and putting everything back together. I cant put this off as I have already had 2 infections and leaving the expanders in for 9 months could cause more infections.
I have always responded well to anathsetics and recover quickly. I have now had 6 in 2 years. What do you think my chances are?

The only thing I sometimes have once I have woken up is cyclasine if I feel queezy. How would that affect the baby?

I had an emergency appendectomy under GA at 21 weeks pregnant and baby appears fine in all scans and tests and growth wise ( I am due friday)

They use a different combination of anaethetics, it does affect your post surgery drugs though, which can be tough.
I got one low dose of morphine and then straight onto paracetamol
Also if you are sick afterwards, they are loathe to give you anti sickness drugs although I did find out aftr begging that there is one available that is ok in pregnancy - well has been used a fiar bit with no known effects on the baby.

wow piffle, sounds harsh!
I may pre warn them about the anti sicknes one in that case so they can prepare it for me! I do not like feeling or being sick! I can cope with the painkiller thing though if I have too.
I may not even be preggers yet! Will do test later today. I will be so happy if I am!
Good luck Piffle with new baby! xx

meeeow
as soon as you know you are pregnant i'd contact your surgeon and together with the anaesthetist you can decide on timing etc
that said it's relatively minor, surface surgery, it's not like there'll be masses of fluid shifts like with an abdominal op.
loads of antisickness drugs, we use the oldest (and unfortunately not usually the best first) as they've got the longest history of safe use in pregnancy but there are other options out there
but as i said i would contact your surgeon asap rather than risk being cancelled at last minute by "clipboard questionaire"

piffle glad to hear all went well good luck for friday

Thanks Dunscard. I feel much better now about everything. I will post later if Im pregnant or not