Is pitocin natural?

ademc05 · February 2011

If I'm induced, but don't use medical pain management, is it still considered a natural birth? What about recovery medication? WDYT?

BrideNamedMeg · February 2011

I think everyone has their own definition of what "natural" means. It's certainly not a black and white issue and there's nothing wrong with that.

For me, a natural birth meant getting through without pain medication first. Less important was getting through without any method of induction or augmentation to my labor just because that would make it harder to reach my first goal!

As far as recovery goes, I only needed ibuprofen. If I had needed something stronger I would have taken it and it wouldn't have changed how I viewed the birth itself.

iris427 · February 2011

I don't get questions like this. Does the label really matter? If you get Pitocin because you and your doctor/midwife agree it's the best approach for your birth, isn't that what's important?

FWIW you will probably find different people have different answers to this question. It's not a black and white issue between natural and unnatural births. There is a continuum of births from no interventions to a lot of interventions, and then you can get into the debate of whether intervention X is more or less natural than intervention Y. Which is part of the problem of trying to label births and fit them into neat little categories.

monkeyqueen · February 2011

Does it really matter? If you and your Dr./midwife decide that the best route for your situation is induction, does it really matter if it's called "natural"? It's just a label that only holds meaning if you let it.

As far as recovery meds.: I just took tylenol when I felt the need. Also, you may want stool softeners on hand......

iris427 · February 2011

monkeyqueen:
Does it really matter? If you and your Dr./midwife decide that the best route for your situation is induction, does it really matter if it's called "natural"? It's just a label that only holds meaning if you let it.
As far as recovery meds.: I just took tylenol when I felt the need. Also, you may want stool softeners on hand......

Is it still a natural poop if you loaded yourself up on stool softeners first?

Wink

papagena · February 2011

iris427:
monkeyqueen:
Does it really matter? If you and your Dr./midwife decide that the best route for your situation is induction, does it really matter if it's called "natural"? It's just a label that only holds meaning if you let it.
As far as recovery meds.: I just took tylenol when I felt the need. Also, you may want stool softeners on hand......
Is it still a natural poop if you loaded yourself up on stool softeners first?

*snort* If it isn't, I don't want to know 'natural'.

laurasuzanne2006 · February 2011

iris427:
monkeyqueen:

Does it really matter? If you and your Dr./midwife decide that the best route for your situation is induction, does it really matter if it's called "natural"? It's just a label that only holds meaning if you let it.

As far as recovery meds.: I just took tylenol when I felt the need. Also, you may want stool softeners on hand......

Is it still a natural poop if you loaded yourself up on stool softeners first?

A poop induction!!! love it

monkeyqueen · February 2011

laurasuzanne2006:
iris427:
monkeyqueen:

Does it really matter? If you and your Dr./midwife decide that the best route for your situation is induction, does it really matter if it's called "natural"? It's just a label that only holds meaning if you let it.
As far as recovery meds.: I just took tylenol when I felt the need. Also, you may want stool softeners on hand......
Is it still a natural poop if you loaded yourself up on stool softeners first?

A poop induction!!! love it

LMFAO!

ckolak:-) · February 2011

iris427:
Is it still a natural poop if you loaded yourself up on stool softeners first?

LOL. Awesome.

MissyOlivePants · February 2011

ckolak:-):
iris427:
Is it still a natural poop if you loaded yourself up on stool softeners first?

LOL. Awesome.

You mean like caster oil??!!

TofuMama7 · February 2011

iris427:
monkeyqueen:

Does it really matter? If you and your Dr./midwife decide that the best route for your situation is induction, does it really matter if it's called "natural"? It's just a label that only holds meaning if you let it.

As far as recovery meds.: I just took tylenol when I felt the need. Also, you may want stool softeners on hand......

Is it still a natural poop if you loaded yourself up on stool softeners first?

I'm too pregnant for comments like this, I just almost wet myself! Smile

stargazer08 · February 2011

Most people consider natural to be vaginal and without pain medication. The induction method does not usually matter, but I have heard that many women have a hard time handling pitocin contractions naturally. Not that it can't be done. But most times with pitocin they want to use EFM to make sure the contractions aren't too much for the baby, and it's very difficult to manage even normal contractions if you cannot move around outside of the bed. Recovery though, IMO, has nothing to do with the birth. Although, I only needed a little Tylenol, too, like a PP said.

flyer23 · February 2011

Ditto iris and monkeyqueen. DD was a hospital birth, induced with Cervadil/Pitocin, continuous EFM, continuous IV for Pitocin and antibiotics (I was GBS+) and the fluids they ran in without asking me if I wanted them -- the works. DS was a homebirth, spontaneous labor, intermittent monitoring, no IV, etc.

I suppose some people would say that DS's birth was "natural" and DD's was not. To me, they were both just BIRTHS. They were the best days of my life because I got to meet my babies. Call 'em what you want. Doesn't matter to me.

Bluescarf · February 2011

I don't understand the problem with this question. Lots of people don't consider it a completely natural birth if you are induced, but others still do. I personally don't consider it completely natural if you are artificially induced, because I strongly believe that part of a natural birth is letting your baby and body decide when the time is right for the whole labor process. However, if I needed to be induced for health reasons I have no problem NOT having a completely natural birth.

tcjane · February 2011

I also don't understand the problem with this question. This is the "natural birth" board after all, jeez.

My mom was induced with my brother, but wasn't given any pain meds, and I always thought of that as a natural birth. So in general I've associated "natural" with foregoing pain medication first and foremost. If I were medically induced but didn't accept any pain meds, I'd probably consider that a natural birth, even though it technically isn't - that is just where my main goal is in going natural.

AutumnBride929 · February 2011

I don't consider it natural (that's what I had with my first) but it's a pretty relative term. The other day, the nurse at my chiro office asked me if I had my first by c-section or naturally. Umm... neither, really? lol But I just answered with the option that was closest to the truth, haha. So to some people, natural simply means vaginal, even if you were medicated up the wazoo!

kspies · February 2011

laurasuzanne2006:
iris427:
monkeyqueen:

Does it really matter? If you and your Dr./midwife decide that the best route for your situation is induction, does it really matter if it's called "natural"? It's just a label that only holds meaning if you let it.
As far as recovery meds.: I just took tylenol when I felt the need. Also, you may want stool softeners on hand......
Is it still a natural poop if you loaded yourself up on stool softeners first?

A poop induction!!! love it

LMFAO! I still need a poop induction!

OP, the problem is the term "natural." Everybody's definition is different. Do you define natural as intervention-free? Medication-free? Pain med-free? Epi-free? As PP said, it's a spectrum. I was induced via Cervadil and breast pump and had EFM and AROM, and my OB used forceps as DD was crowning (but that's a whole other can of worms I'm not quite over yet). I consider my birth "natural" because I think most people definite natural as no pain meds, but some people might consider only an unassisted home birth "natural." Also, I don't think anybody thinks twice about recovery meds. I took ibuprofen and colace like it was my job.

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