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Natural Birth
starrysmile18
member
Induced- but labored w/o drugs?
starrysmile18
member
Hey ladies, I'm overdue now, and going into the dr today to talk about a game plan. (They generally don't let ppl go over 41 weeks.)
I'm wondering if anyone has successfully been induced and had thier baby without the use of an epi.
I'm just nervous in general, because as much as I wanted to try to go natural, I'm to the point where I just want this to happen.
TIA
~~~ EDD for Baby #2 6/28/15~~~~
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Induced- but labored w/o drugs?
Can they try to stimulate labor naturally? Strip your membrane, or try to soften your cervix?
My mom had my brother without an epidural, and he was induced at 42 weeks. It was 26 years ago, but it's all I've got. I don't see why that wouldn't still work now.
I had pitocin started about 15 hours after PROM at 37 weeks with contractions not really starting or staying consistent. I did not have an epidural, but I did end up having some Nubain about 3 hours after the pitocin was started. For me, I had super intense contractions with pitocin and went through shaking, vomiting, feeling like I couldn't do it, so everyone thought I was in transition, but when I was checked I was only at 3-4 cm, so I felt totally defeated and was asking for the epi. I was convinced to try the Nubain instead, and while it made me feel totally weird, it helped because it allowed me to sleep and rest for awhile. DS was born about 6 hours later.
I've read lots of stories of women being induced and still managing with no meds, so it's doable. I think the key is to be able to move and not have to lie in bed. It's hard with pitocin because you have to have continuous monitoring, but if they have telemetry you can still try moving around some.
Started the induction process at 7 days overdue. Due to my particular complications (clotting factor, allergic to Lidocaine) everyone was on board with avoiding a c-section as much as possible, which included avoiding an epidural (actually, due to my allergy they couldn't have done an epidural anyway, they would have had to do an interthecal which involves a morphine derived drug and they can only do once and it only lasts 4 hours).
They did a very slow induction with me. I went in saturday evening and they started with cytotec and then cervidil. Sunday morning, they broke my water. That started labor, but it didn't progress enough and started slowing down overnight, so they started me on Pitocin on Monday morning. They used the smallest amount possible to start and then ramped me up over the course of the day (to compare, the dose of Pit I was on just before giving birth was less than half what they were giving to moms to START 10 years ago). Other than a sleeping pill on Saturday night and a single shot of tetracaine for the one stitch I recieved, I did not have any painkillers or other medical intervention until two hours after I gave birth when I asked for a tylenol to deal with the pain from the DTAP shot they'd given me (my arm hurt way worse than anything else in the aftermath!)
Make sure to advocate for being able to be up and moving around while on IV. At my hospital they gave me a rolling iv pole and though I had to wear monitors they made sure to give me wireless ones so that I could keep walking/squatting/taking hot showers/etc. If I hadn't been able to do that it would have been much much harder.
I was induced at 42 weeks and I didn't have an epi. From first drop of pitocin to baby delivered was 11 hours, but the first 6 were not that painful, then the midwife broke my waters and BAM instant agony. So 5 very tough, very painful hours.
It's definitely possible. But if you don't thats ok too. Pitocin contractions are very close together and painful. If things hadn't moved so fast for me I'm not sure I wouldn't have caved. when she checked me and said I was 8cm, I was reaching my breaking point with the pain.
Good luck!
A couple that wanted to go natural came to our class to discuss their birth - she ended up having to be induced, and she delivered with no further meds - she said the key is small amounts of Pitocin at first.
She did have the morphine that another poster mentioned at one point so that she could sleep/rest a little bit. But she said she never had the forceful, intense waves that a lot of women describe with Pitocin.
I don't have personal experience, but my recommendation would be to talk to your dr. about natural induction methods - and if he/she isn't on board with that - attempt some natural induction methods yourself. The truth of the matter is that there is a list of hormones involved when a person goes into labor. When a mom is given Pitocin (the synthetic form of oxytocin), the brain does not automatically start producing all of the other hormones that typically are produced when a person goes into labor on their own. For example:
-endorphines which help regulate / help mom tolerate pain
-estrogen & progesterone which help start labor at the very beginning
-relaxin: softens the cervix
-catecholamines (fight or flight hormones) which help regulate how fast labor is progressing...if the body is naturally going "too fast" or mom is experiencing too much pain, the body will start to produce less oxytocin to slow labor, and then once things are more stabilized the body will increase oxytocin again
So when a person is induced with pitocin, none of these other hormones are AUTOMATICALLY created. If your body was about to go into labor anyway, the body might start to create them, but otherwise your body is just relying on one of the hormones it needs. This is why laboring w/ pitocin has such a reputation for being more difficult or more painful! Because the other hormones that are needed in order to regulate the pace & progression of all that happens during labor and delivery are not being produced at the correct levels. Pitocin doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier which is why it doesn't elicit the body to make the other much needed hormones. Doctors have come up w/ some other synthetic hormones, such as synthetic forms of relaxin to soften the cervix. However once again, these don't start the whole hormone-loop like natural labor would. SO my point with all this is - if you use natural induction methods, you at least give yourself a shot at getting your body to produce all the hormones! I'd personally try to use a breastpump to stimulate labor, as well as lots of walking, squatting, and sex. There is lots of info online about using breastpumps to induce labor which I think is a safer bet than pitocin or other synthetic hormone approaches.