It seems to me that if they can do abdominal surgery to remove a child from the
womb, and the mom can breastfeed after, then they should be able to use some of
the same techniques to put this mom out for gallbladder surgery, granted, it
would need to be a longer acting method, but why not use an epidural?  So she
is awake, They should be able to give her something to relax her enough to
sleep that has a short half life.
Vickie