Question on birth plan - after delivery

JenniferAnnes · August 2011

I am planning to discuss my birth plan with my OB today during my appointment. One thing I didn't think about including was whether I want a shot of pitocin and/or the nurse to "massage" my uturus by rubbing my belly after the baby is born. With the pitocin, I think I'd prefer to go without unless it is necessary. Can you ladies help me with the pros/cons of the massage? From what I've heard it sounds kind of painful. I feel like it may be unnecessary since I plan to nurse right away, which is supposed to help the uterus contract.

ridesbuttons · August 2011

I can only speak from my 2 experiences and that was I delivered the placenta without any problem a few minutes after the baby was born. No shots, no massage, no nothing.

It was no big deal at all. Not painful. Interesting to look at after the fact.

cottonlily84 · August 2011

Some babies don't want to nurse until say 30 minutes after delivery. The nurse will have already checked your uterus at least once by then. I think the important point to make in a birth plan about post delivery is that you want to be checked, not massaged, unless necessary. Some will just go right into digging their fist in your abdomen. That's totally unnecessary if the uterus is clamping back down on its own and you're not showing signs of excessive hemmorhage.

I have a friend who says the fundal massage hurt worse than any contractions, and you'll still be contracting at this point too. But I haven't decided if I'll put this in my plan or not. I'm going to ask at my hospital class if they check or massage. If they only check then I don't care. If it hurts I'll tell them to stop and check again after nursing. If it doesn't hurt then I see no reason not to do it or to have put it in a birth plan. It's great if the nurses only check and don't massage right away. You can rub your own uterus down and apply only what pressure isn't painful to you. You can lie baby on your chest skin to skin in an upright position and as s/he searches for your breast will press on your uterus with their feet also. Then when nurse comes and checks that your uterus is firm and low, no massage by her needed!

I am specifically refusing pitocin in my BP. I don't want that stuff before or after delivery.

JLG95 · August 2011

I bled a lot after delivering my son and my placenta broke apart while I was delivering it. You have to be open to possibilities if the placenta delivery doesn't go perfectly.

In the end, I got pitocin to help me stop bleeding and the midwife had to scrape out the placenta with her hands. It was terribly painful. Worse than any contraction or the ring of fire.

I didn't even notice any contractions from the pit and the rubbing on my abdomen didn't hurt. It was the scraping that hurt.

JenniferAnnes · August 2011

Thanks for the advice ladies! I think I'm going to opt out of both, unless it becomes necessary for one reason or another.

CircleInTheSea · August 2011

ridesbuttons:
I can only speak from my 2 experiences and that was I delivered the placenta without any problem a few minutes after the baby was born. No shots, no massage, no nothing.

It was no big deal at all. Not painful. Interesting to look at after the fact.

This. I didn't get to nurse dd right away, but was able to do so with ds. And while the placenta IS pretty cool to take a peak at, I'm always so distracted by the new baby, lol. I do remember both my care providers being excited that I actually wanted to see the placenta though...sorry, totally off topic

kaeti_su · August 2011

I had a shot of pitocin and the massage. I don't know if it was my midwife's standard practice to give the pitocin or not, though. She did say that I had "some" bleeding and that she massaged a large clot out. Maybe I just got lucky, but the uterus massage didn't hurt at all. (Had to confirm this with the hubs, but he said that I didn't complain about it.)

tokenhoser · August 2011

I just took the shot of pit (in my leg, as I didn't have an IV). It hurt for a second, but I didn't care enough to refuse it. It wasn't going to impact my baby, which was my primary motivation in going natural. I did some research on third stage of labour management and was comfortable getting the shot. I don't remember any massage, but I do remember they were concerned my ute wasn't shrinking fast enough.

lisa5201 · August 2011

I had heavy bleeding after birth and got a PAINFUL double shot of pit in the legs

I have read that pit has been linked to post-partum depression. I did not suffer from this, but I would never, ever use pit unless it was truly and completely necessary

Question on birth plan - after delivery

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