Pitocin after baby is born?

Lhand11 · January 2012

A friend of mine said she was given pitocin after her baby was born to help her uterus contract and tighten up to help with a faster recovery. Is this common practice?

*she was not given pitocin during labor.

Indiechixor · January 2012

Haven't heard of this...usually they do stomach/pelvic compressions (read:they squish your stomach back into shape) for the first 4 hours after birth.

It hurt...but I couldn't see being hooked up to Pit just to help recover. The stomach massage is done until they like the "feel" of your muscles, then they stop.

2BMrsMcW · January 2012

I have heard of this, but only with women who had scheduled c-sections - with the theory essentially being that you need the contractions to tell your body that the pregnancy has ended.

singhanna · January 2012

I have heard of this. It is supposed to help with expelling your placenta - if you are not moving it along naturally. During our natural birth class, we learned that this is #1 not natural and #2 not necessary. If you are planning to hold your LO immediately after birth, there is a very cool thing called the "breast crawl". You let your LO sort of crawl up your stomach to your breasts for her/ his first feeding. The action of crawling massages your stomach and allows the placenta to move more naturally. Pretty neat.

https://breastcrawl.org/

sweetky_06 · January 2012

It is common practice at my hospital and with my OB practice. They did however mention that it was given as a shot in the thigh, so even if you didn't have an IV in for epi or other drugs they wouldn't have to put one in just for that.

star173 · January 2012

It's common at some hospitals. And it's very helpful in SOME cases. I just hate how things become "routine" when they aren't always necessary or beneficial. I refused it last time and the placenta was out within minutes (no stomach massaging either).

Oh, and breastfeeding helps your uterus contract and shrink.

SoonToBeMsP · January 2012

2BMrsMcW:
I have heard of this, but only with women who had scheduled c-sections - with the theory essentially being that you need the contractions to tell your body that the pregnancy has ended.

Through the fog of pregnancy brain, this is about what I remembered.

Angelrelic · January 2012

My hospital does it, i think as a matter of practice. I was induced last time, so they just hooked up another bag and ran it wide open to make sure everything contracted down. They also did the squish my stomach thing which really hurt! But that might have been cause apparently my uterus kept trying to pull towards the right, whatever that means. But the pit afterwards isnt anything like during labor.

theladyjess · January 2012

star173:

It's common at some hospitals. And it's very helpful in SOME cases. I just hate how things become "routine" when they aren't always necessary or beneficial. I refused it last time and the placenta was out within minutes (no stomach massaging either).

Oh, and breastfeeding helps your uterus contract and shrink.

This! I'm declining the pit. If for some reason I can't expell the placenta on my own or my uterus is having problems contracting back down then I'll consider it.

summer1117 · January 2012

It may be necessary if your uterus isn't contracting fast enough and you are bleeding excessively.

bigbear · January 2012

I've heard of this many times and it is rather common. They will try other things first but will give you pitocin if things arent going quite quickly enough. They covered this during my birthing class, too

julybride_07 · January 2012

It's not common (at my hospital)... Does she have a bleeding disorder? Was her uterus not contracting after the baby was born? These are some reasons they would do this to ensure that the uterus is contracting so that the risk of hemorrhage is lower.

SVAQ11 · January 2012

star173:
It's common at some hospitals. And it's very helpful in SOME cases. I just hate how things become "routine" when they aren't always necessary or beneficial. I refused it last time and the placenta was out within minutes (no stomach massaging either).
Oh, and breastfeeding helps your uterus contract and shrink.

This. I'm kind of a cynic, but I think hospitals are just so scared of getting sued that they let low probability events dictate routine practice. Also, the more interventions they give, the higher the bill. I don't think any single doctor is trying to do harm, but modern obstetrics does seem to use some questionable practices that may not have developed in the best interest of women.

purpletulip · January 2012

Some hospitals/doctors do it routinely, but it's not always necessary.
My doctor gave me a small amount of pitocin with my consent after my drug-free birth to help expel the placenta because I was having a lot of bleeding and they needed it out quickly.
I already had a hep lock in place so they gave it to me via IV and I felt no side effects from it.

VABride2008 · January 2012

Yes, I was given pitocin this time after the birth to help deliver the placenta and to help prevent blood clots/massive bleeding. It was just one dose. No big deal.

AliW220 · January 2012

It's common at our hospital. You should ask your OB/midwife if it's common where you'll be giving birth, if you have strong feelings about it.

I'm ok with it. I'd rather have the little bit of pitocin than risk hemmorage. Its the one medical intervention that I've specifically asked for in my birth plan. Otherwise I'm hoping to go all natural. I've never hear of it being used to speed up recovery... more to contract the uterus right away so that the risk of over-bleeding is significantly decreased.

BritanyV · January 2012

I was induced with DS #1 and they kept me on the pitocin, I think 12 hours after. With this LO, I had a c-sect and they also gave me pitocin afterward. Different doctors and different hospitals for each.

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