Opinions on Pitocin

brittbergh · January 2011

I am going into the hospital on Sunday night to begin Cervadil, then Monday morning will begin to recieve Pitocin... I have heard mixed reviews of pitocin, and just wondering if you ladies could share some of your experiences.... TIA

ThirtyOneGifts Mom · January 2011

I had Pitocin with both of my first two children. The first one, I did not have an epidural and I thought my contractions were going to kill me. With my second baby, I had an epidural and even with the Pitocin I was not in a lot of pain.

I have heard several other women say that their labor was much harder with Pitocin. On the up side, it did its job for me both times and I delivered both of my first two vaginally.

Good luck!!

EmjayTheHunted · January 2011

I love Pitocin. Had it with my last two deliveries.

Skip10 · January 2011

I have not had it, however my MIL has told me repeatedly that it was the worst experience ever, she did not have an epidural.

Aprilynn0206 · January 2011

My water broke and I never went into labor. They gave me pitocin and the contractions were pure HELL. I had two epi's done and still felt everything. I hope you have a better experience.

brandoonie · January 2011

Never had any problems with it. My water broke before contractions got started so I had to have it with both my 1st two. From what I hear the contractions are stronger on pitocin but they still weren't that bad. After I got my epidural I never felt anything so I really didn't care how hard the contractions were.

bell0niner · January 2011

I had a TON of it with DS, managed to still have a vaginal birth with no epidural. I got demerol (sp?) around transition time....keep in mind DS was 9lbs 1oz and his father (exH) was beyond UNsupportive, so I'm pretty proud of myself that I was strong enough to get through it all without the epi and no support...good luck!

kabarbanel · January 2011

I had a little bit when induced with DS, and honestly I can't really form an opinion! I mean I have no real complaints...but I have nothing to compare it too really. My body was contracting on its own after they broke my water first, and then they gave me the about a half hour later. Yes, the contractions got more intense, but that could have just been because my body was progressing more anyway. I got the epi about an hour after I got pitocin, so I was good to go after that lol

missfire · January 2011

One tip I've heard is that you can ask to have it turned down to see if your body will sustain contractions on its own once they've started. That might make it easier on you (and the baby) if you're having a rough time with it.

mrswright2006 · January 2011

I had Pitocin with DD. I honestly didn't think it was bad at all (although I have read some horror stories on here). For me, I didn't really feel like the pain was any worse than menstrual cramps, which I get really bad most months. For me, I was induced because my water had broke (or that is what they thought at the time, but it turns out I had a "high leak"), and my contractions weren't steady or strong enough, so they put me on Pitocin.

I honestly zoned out until about 7 or 8 cm when I started to feel a little more intense ... at one point my parents were talking to me, and my dad took one look at me, and told DH to "get the trash can," lo and behold, he barely got it to me, and I lost my proverbial lunch. From 9 cm until she was born hurt like h3LL, but at that point I knew it was almost over.

I was in the hospital for 10 hours before DD was born, and I would say only the last 3 truly hurt. By the time it hurt bad enough for me to even consider pain meds, I was already far enough along that it would have been pointless. Of course, everyone is different, but I hope your labor is just as easy (with or without pain meds). Good luck!

MG7 · January 2011

I had heard negative things about it before giving birth but they hooked me up to it right away when I walked into the hospital. Looking back there was no reason for that at all - my water had basically exploded at home 45 min ago and I was contracting all day and continued to contract at the hospital rather frequently. For a while I was completely ok with the Pit and figured everyone who had prewarned me must have just been a wimp since there didn't seem to be any difference in my contractions.

Then the nurse walked in and apologized for forgetting to actually turn the Pitocin on...then all hell broke loose. Really quickly things went from perfectly manageable to holy crap. Contractions started to come closer together and got really painful really quickly. I was not at all prepared for it and ended up caving for the epidural much sooner than I had hoped. I just felt so, I don't know surprised I guess by how quickly things turned around that Pitocin is something I want to avoid this time around.

Obviously everyone's experience is different and everyone's pain tolerance level is different but I'm doing what I can to avoid it this time around.

smiley007 · January 2011

I went in on a Sunday night... given cervadil around 8pm.... at about 3am contractions started on their own and no Pitocin was needed. GL!

Molluskwrangler · January 2011

After 7 hours of no progression with contrax 3-4 mins apart I was given pitocin, within 4 contrax with it I was begging for pain meds. I could not get an epi because of back issues and was given a spinal it didn't last longer then 2 hours. I hope to never have the stuff again, I have never experienced so much pain in my life, pushing her out was the easy part. I don't know how high my dose was it started of low but I was in labor for another 9 hours after I was given the stuff and was slowly upped.

00tedsgirl · January 2011

I did not have a good experience with it and will not regale you with a horror story. I found an OB this time who does not like it, either.

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