Emergency anaesthesia for the compromised fetus encompasses anaesthesia for both acute fetal distress and the chronically hypoxic fetus. Fetal distress, a poorly defined term, is still used by clinicians today. Parer and Livingston defined fetal distress as “progressive fetal asphyxia, that if not corrected or circumvented, will result in decompensation of the physiologic responses (primarily redistribution of blood flow to preserve oxygenation of vital organs) and cause permanent central nervous system and other organ damage or death.” More recently the term “non-reassuring fetal status” has been adopted as a better descriptor than fetal distress.