Questions for BTDT Moms- Pitocin

macncheese0712 · January 2013

Were you given Pitocin either to induce labor or to speed it along? What are your experiences? Did you feel like it positively or negatively affected the experience?

If you did not receive Pitocin, did you decline it? Is there a lot of pressure to accept the drug?

I've been looking into it and think that as long as my baby is healthy, I would prefer not to have Pitocin, but I am hearing that it is incredibly common for doctors to administer it. I am wondering if anyone else has made this choice and how it worked out for them.

Carrie3102 · January 2013

Pitocin is the devil. haha

On a serious note, I declined it and they did it anyway my water broke at 10:30 am (at home) and I was at the hospital by 11:30 am. I told them I wanted to labor on my own (I was having contractions about 3 min apart) they said no.

It was seriously awful, their was no "break" between contractions, pitocin contractions are no joke. I even had an epi after a while and it didn't work so I got to feel the whole thing the whole time.

But in some cases its necessary. I know if I'd have gone 10 - 12 hours with no progress it would have been in baby's best interest to "speed things along" and would have done it willingly. I was in labor for a total of 14.5 hrs, 12 hrs to go from 1 - 2 cm and 2 hrs to go from 2-10 cm then 30 min of pushing.

CarlaAndJames · January 2013

It totally just depends on your labor process. Many, many women are induced now around their due date, and the main way to induce labor is pitocin. Another reason drs administer it is if your water has broken and they want to deliver the baby to avoid infection (although in reality, you have about 24 hours before this is a problem, but drs will try to admnister it faster), or just to hurry labor along.

I was induced, and was scheduled to have a pitocin induction, but was given a cervical softener overnight to prep me. The softener ended up putting me into labor on its own and I never needed the pitocin!

One of the major problems with pitocin is the cycle of intervention you'll hear about. Your body isn't progressing, so they give you pitocin. But pitocin contractions are AWFUL, so you decide to have an epidural. Which naturally slows your labor. If more pitocin doesn't work, you end up stalled out and with a c-section you might not have needed if your body had been able to progress naturally.

Carrie3102 · January 2013

aylacbw:

I have not had it as this is my first child, but this is why you have a choice on your caregiver. If you want to approach labor and delivery a certain way, you find a doctor/practice/midwife that shares your beliefs.

Going med-free is very important to me, and I am lucky to have found a midwife practice that shares my beliefs, so medical intervention will always be used as a last resort, I don't have to worry about them pressuring me to take drugs I don't want to take.

good luck! if I were you, I would have this conversation with your caregiver, see where they stand and go from there.

The best laid plans. I went into labor on Sunday. My OB wasn't on call. The OB there didn't care what I said. Not really my OB's fault or mine. I did my research and found an OB that would support my wanting a med free birth, and yet, I didn't get her, I got some guy who I'd never met, who was only on call on the weekends, and he didn't g.a.s what I wanted.

JCWhitey · January 2013

Sort of along the lines of PP, if this is a huge concern of yours bring it up with your caregiver and if they don't give you the answers you need there is still plenty of time to seek out a new one! I chose my practice because it's a birth center where things like epis and pitocin aren't even available. The only time you will get those is if you beg and they transfer you, or if there is something really stalled with labor and you make the decision to be transferred. Whichever way it goes, I figure at that point it's either my decision or a medically needed decision and it's in the baby's best interest, not designed to speed things along when it's not needed.

But I'm in the same boat as you, pitocin is the thing I'd really love to avoid! I've heard it just makes things so much more painful and intense.

dreadiemama · January 2013

aylacbw:
I haven't had it as this is my first child, but this is why you have a choice on your caregiver. If you want to approach labor and delivery a certain way, you find a doctor/practice/midwife that shares your beliefs.
good luck! if I were you, I would have this conversation with your doctor, see where they stand and go from there.

This. Also look into the hospital policy and the laws of your state. It's not uncommon for staff to bully you into thinking that you have no choice when, legally, you have every right to refuse them.

Then again, sometimes hospitals have policies that allow the doctors to "force" things on you... so the best advice I can give is to be well read.

rahrahlee · January 2013

CarlaAndJames:

One of the major problems with pitocin is the cycle of intervention you'll hear about. Your body isn't progressing, so they give you pitocin. But pitocin contractions are AWFUL, so you decide to have an epidural. Which naturally slows your labor. If more pitocin doesn't work, you end up stalled out and with a csection you might not have needed if your body had been able to progress naturally.

This is exactly what happened to me. In my case, the pitocin was administered kind of as a matter of course; I don't recall even being asked, just having it administered. I was on IV pain meds at the time, so I was in no position to advocate for myself, and my husband was not in the room.

It resulted in an epidural, 12 excruciating hours of nonprogressing back labor, and finally an unplanned CS. If I had known better I would have made sure both my DH and I were prepared to deny it strongly.

JCWhitey · January 2013

Carrie3102:
aylacbw:

I have not had it as this is my first child, but this is why you have a choice on your caregiver. If you want to approach labor and delivery a certain way, you find a doctor/practice/midwife that shares your beliefs.

Going med-free is very important to me, and I am lucky to have found a midwife practice that shares my beliefs, so medical intervention will always be used as a last resort, I don't have to worry about them pressuring me to take drugs I don't want to take.

good luck! if I were you, I would have this conversation with your caregiver, see where they stand and go from there.

The best laid plans. I went into labor on Sunday. My OB wasn't on call. The OB there didn't care what I said. Not really my OB's fault or mine. I did my research and found an OB that would support my wanting a med free birth, and yet, I didn't get her, I got some guy who I'd never met, who was only on call on the weekends, and he didn't g.a.s what I wanted.

PP had mentioned that she found a practice that support med-free birth. It sounds like you had an OB that was a part of a larger practice that didn't. It's important to research all of the possibly caregivers that you will work with as it is very possible your OB/midwife/caregiver won't be on call during your labor if it's a larger practice. My practice has five midwifes and one OB and over the course of your pregnancy you meet and work with all of them. If there's one you don't mesh with you can actually request they not attend your birth even if they are the one on call (there's always a back-up). I'd definitely ask to meet the other caregivers who may be there for my labor for anywhere I plan to give birth. I'd especially hate to find out that I'm going to be cared for by someone I've never even met unless we're at an emergency situation, in which case I don't care if it's Santa Claus as long as everything goes well.

Carrie3102 · January 2013

JCWhitey:
Carrie3102:
aylacbw:

I have not had it as this is my first child, but this is why you have a choice on your caregiver. If you want to approach labor and delivery a certain way, you find a doctor/practice/midwife that shares your beliefs.

Going med-free is very important to me, and I am lucky to have found a midwife practice that shares my beliefs, so medical intervention will always be used as a last resort, I don't have to worry about them pressuring me to take drugs I don't want to take.

good luck! if I were you, I would have this conversation with your caregiver, see where they stand and go from there.

The best laid plans. I went into labor on Sunday. My OB wasn't on call. The OB there didn't care what I said. Not really my OB's fault or mine. I did my research and found an OB that would support my wanting a med free birth, and yet, I didn't get her, I got some guy who I'd never met, who was only on call on the weekends, and he didn't g.a.s what I wanted.

PP had mentioned that she found a practice that support med-free birth. It sounds like you had an OB that was a part of a larger practice that didn't. It's important to research all of the possibly caregivers that you will work with as it is very possible your OB/midwife/caregiver won't be on call during your labor if it's a larger practice. My practice has five midwifes and one OB and over the course of your pregnancy you meet and work with all of them. If there's one you don't mesh with you can actually request they not attend your birth even if they are the one on call (there's always a back-up). I'd definitely ask to meet the other caregivers who may be there for my labor for anywhere I plan to give birth. I'd especially hate to find out that I'm going to be cared for by someone I've never even met unless we're at an emergency situation, in which case I don't care if it's Santa Claus as long as everything goes well.

Oh, I definately met all of the OBs and MWs in the practice, it's the hospital's practice and the OB who was on call doesn't do appointments and isn't in the clinic, he soley does the weekends.

However, thanks for the idea of having some other OB because that guy will not be "the" guy again. I liked all of the others in the practice, every single one.

gemini2005 · January 2013

I was induced with pitocin at 39 weeks because my blood pressure kept rising and the doctor was worried I was developing pre-e. I had a great experience and birth although I want to go med-free this time. I just want to keep it simple I guess but if I need the drugs I have no problem with taking them again.

opheliainwaders · January 2013

This is my first, but I'm also VERY wary of being given pitocin unless it is a medical necessity. Thankfully, I'm giving birth with midwives who have a relatively low intervention rate, so although this is on my list of things to talk about, I'm trying not to worry about it so much.

Abeille · January 2013

Like PP said, really depends on your laboring process.

I did not receive pitocin while laboring w/my DD. My natural contractions never stalled even with an epidural, so the issue wasn't brought up.

I'd be sure to discuss all the "what-ifs" with your provider.

mittensonkittens · January 2013

I declined Pitocin for labor and wasn't pressured by hospital staff. My OB typically gives Pitocin after the birth to make sure the uterus contracts and bleeding stops. I declined that as well the first time and had no problems, but the second time they gave it to me without telling me.

nurseratched · January 2013

I had Pitocin and can say it actually wasn't that bad. That might be because I had my epidural first. I went into labor on my own, they broke my water for me, and after hours and hours of contractions that weren't causing any cervical changes they gave me Pitocin to help make the contractions more effective.

I was opposed to Pitocin in the beginning but at that point I was just ready to get the show on the road. I ended up with 20 hours of labor. After they started the Pit, I went from 2-10cm in just an hour or two. No complaints here, although with this baby I'd still like to keep interventions to a minimum but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

OSUJaydee · January 2013

I was induced with pitocin at 39 weeks for mild pre-e. I had my epidural an hour after they started the pitocin drip. I never felt a painful contraction during labor. Even the contractions I had during the pushing stage when they decreased the amount of medicine in the epidural were not painful. I labored for 10 hours, pushed for 1. I was dilated 3 cm when I was induced, so I think that probably helped a little bit.

Talk to your doctor about what she/he and the other doctors in the office think about giving pitocin just as a matter of course. My doctor always said that as long as labor was progressing normally, there would not be any need for pitocin.

The best thing you can do regarding the use of pitocin and other drugs and medical interventions is to be informed and to keep an open dialogue with your doctor. We took Bradley classes and while we obviously did not have an unmedicated birth, the information we received from the classes was invaluable.

PrimRoseMama · January 2013

Abeille:
Like PP said, really depends on your laboring process.
I did not receive pitocin while laboring w/my DD. My natural contractions never stalled even with an epidural, so the issue wasn't brought up.
I'd be sure to discuss all the "what-ifs" with your provider.

Agree. Definitely discuss what you do and don't want. If your husband can't be with you at all times make sure you create a little card for your bed side. A friend of mind did this for her wishes and desire for her son to be EBF.

She put the big sign (like a huge flash card) up by the monitor (which everyone looks at) saying, "Please: no episotomy, no Pitocin without consent, and minimal intervention. My child is to be exclusively breast fed".

It worked for her. I didn't do it because my husband never left my side and my MW was very informed of my choices and being an advocate for me. This time my doula and my MW are on the same page.

I never had to deal with Pitocin or any other type of intervention. My labor was very quick and uneventful. Good luck.

3sweetloves · January 2013

I will NOT get Pitocin again. Doctors gave me pitocin for my second after 6 hours because my labor was stalled. But had I known, I would never have gotten it. It was horrible, contractions were worse than when with my DD. To me pitocin is the devil and if they want me to administer it to me again for this baby, I will definitely decline.

macncheese0712 · January 2013

Thanks for all your responses! My insurance is Tricare Prime through the military, so I am required to deliver at the Naval Hospital (barring any serious complications,) and rather than choosing a care-giver, I am assigned one. That being said, thus far mine has been outstanding and very understanding! I will definitely take the advice and make sure she knows my wishes ahead of time!

macncheese0712 · January 2013

ncchnat:
Talk to your doctor about what you expect to be your birth experience. Have it written down and in your file, but realize that sometimes things don't go the way you plan. Sometimes, it is necessary.
That being said, if you can avoid it, try. I hate that stuff.

****Sensitive reading if you get upset reading about losses.****
My experience with it is slightly different than the others since it was used to induce labor when we discovered we lost our son at 15 weeks. That being said, the contractions were awful. I went along with it because I needed it to be over, but at 15 weeks, they refused to give me pain meds because "it wouldn't be that bad." The actual delivery part wasn't because he was so small (one push and he was out), but the contractions were non-stop for six hours until I delivered. Then another four hours because the placenta wasn't budging.

I can't believe they wouldn't give you pain medication! They give out strong meds for simple stuff like toothaches. That seems so unfair.

MrserinJ · January 2013

I had to have it with my first because my water broke and it took me 24 hours to get to 3 cm. then I stalled. DS was posterior so that could be why.

I won't say I loved it, as the contractions were very intense and came quick but once I got my epidural, it didn't bother me at all. It was way better than the alternative for me if having a csection!

My second labor was crazy fast, no epidural and he was born in one push. It was nice having my body do it on its own that time but if I had the same situation that happened with my first happen again, I'd be perfectly happy to have the Pitocin, as long as I had the epi!! Ha

sparkymcgeee · January 2013

I was because when my water broke I was at a 3 and then 4 hours later I still was at a 3. There was meconium in the fluid and we didn't want DD to aspirate any.
It wasn't that. Bad for me but it did help me progress quickly. I didn't feel my contractions much though so that may be a factor.

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Questions for BTDT Moms- Pitocin

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