The current article covers some of the major themes that emerged in 2009 in the fields of obstetric anesthesiology, obstetrics, and perinatology, with a special emphasis on the implications for the obstetric anesthesiologist.

Anesthesia of a newborn poses different types of challenges to the anesthesiologist. Cervical meningomyelocele adds to the difficulty with positioning and airway problems. We report a case of successful management of such a case.