EPidural's Impact on Contractions and Fetal REsponse

"The eligible patients will have their vital signs (blood pressure, saturation, heart rate) and the Doppler velocities in the uterine arteries, umbilical artery and the fetal middle cerebral artery measured directly before the administration of ELA. They will be also asked to rate their level of pain on the visual analogue scale (VAS).~The specific method and drug regimen for ELA will be determined by the attending anesthesiologist. The mode of administration (continuous infusion, intermittent bolus, or patient-controlled epidural analgesia) will be recorded along with the anesthetic agents used for future subgroup analysis.~The vital signs, the Doppler velocities and VAS score will be recorded after 30, 60 and 120 minutes. After 2 hours the patients will be examined to assess the progress of labor."