By Richard Nordquist. Like adjectives and adverbs, prepositional phrases add meaning to the nouns and verbs in our sentences. There are two prepositional phrases in the following sentence: The first prepositional phrase-- in the kitchen -- modifies the noun air; the second-- of stale food --modifies the verb reeked.
Reality: An epidural involves injecting pain-blocking medication into a space between the vertebrae and the spinal fluid; it usually takes about 15 minutes to work and lasts as long as needed. A spinal is an injection directly into the spinal fluid; it is given as part of the CSE technique and takes effect in five minutes.
Answers to your questions about this popular labor-pain reliever. Considering that at least 60 percent of American women today have an epidural for pain relief during labor, it's surprising how misunderstood this procedure is. For starters, even doctors use the word epidural generically, to encompass three similar, yet distinct procedures: epidurals, spinals and a more recently perfected procedure, the combined spinal epidural (CSE), or walking epidural.