This issue of Clinics in Perinatology will carry the reader through the perinatal period and examine pain management throughout that continuum. Beginning with the genetics of obstetrical pain and opioid use in pregnancy, the discussion moves to the provision of anesthesia to the mother and fetus during fetal surgery - an area of intense concern and interest in many centers. There is an extensive discussion of both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic management of pain during delivery. A discussion of regional anesthetic techniques is increasingly relevant in light of increasing evidence of...