Use of epidural anesthesia for pain relief during labor and delivery will:

• A. Decrease the risk of serious perineal lacerations due to shortened duration of labor
• B. Increase the probability of vaginal delivery due to decreased stress of labor on the fetus
• C. Increase the risk for developing a fever during labor, which could lead to evaluation and treatment of their infant for suspected sepsis
• D. Decrease the risk of fever and infection during labor

Answer: (C)

Epidural anesthesia for labor relief can cause maternal fever during the intrapartum period. This fever may arise from noninfectious inflammatory responses and altered thermoregulation, and it can occur even without an infection. Because intrapartum fever raises concern for neonatal infection, clinicians often evaluate the newborn for sepsis and may start empiric antibiotics and perform cultures as a precaution.

So, this choice reflects the real clinical consequence: the fever associated with epidurals can lead to neonatal sepsis workup and treatment. The other statements aren’t supported—epidurals aren’t reliably shown to shorten labor or reduce perineal lacerations, they don’t reliably increase vaginal delivery probability, and they don’t decrease fever risk (in fact, they can raise it).