I am just over 33 weeks pregnant and was advised by my Obgyn that if I don't deliver naturally by August 1st, I will be induced with Pitocin. I have spoken to a couple non-diabetics, who are dead against it, and I just did some research online, and everything I seem to find on it, is not very positive...there seems to be a lot of side effects that go with it, and I'm starting to wonder if there is another option out there for me...could you please let me know your story if you were put on it, and let me know how long you were in labour, and if in fact you had any side effects?
there is NO reason for your doctor to say that at this point. the ONLY reason you would need pitocin is if you seriously do NOT go into labor and your baby is needing to come out. that is NOT the case. babies come when they are ready…sometime between 38-42 weeks on average.
its a convenience thing for doctors. controlling. this is your experience, not your doctors. forbid him to use pitocin…its really that simple. trust your body.
I am NOT a diabetic, my daughter is. I will tell you in my personal experience is that pitocin was not pleasant, and I know many people who do not like it. It seems to make the contractions worse. The most important opinion to me were the moms who had used pitocin for one labor and not for another - that way they could compare. None of those women ever wanted to use it again. Now away from the horror stories - there are plenty of moms who were induced that it doesn’t bother. Either they managed their pain just fine or the epidural did fantastic. If I were in your shoes I would tell my Obgyn that I am hoping to go into labor on my own and that I will am really uncomfortable with the idea of pitocin. I wouldn’t back the doc into a corner I would wait to see what happens, but yet they can’t force you to have anything. You have to sign off on pitocin so just say no until you are comfortable. I would give myself to 42 weeks which is still in the the “safe” time to deliver, but after 42 weeks then I would go for it. As much as I hated pitocin, I wouldn’t wait any longer than 42 weeks b/c it isn’t safe for the baby. I hope this helps some.
Ellen
I have been induced with it twice… and then I had a crazy fast spontaneous labor with my third… in my book unless you’re on massive doses of pit, there really isn’t much difference. I only needed very low doses of pit (and AROM) to get my first two labors going, then my body took over. My inductions were all of 4 and 5 hours… my spontaneous labor was only 2 hours… so they were all fast, and intense (mostly at the end).
I think the difference really is that instead of going from “hmm, is this it?” to knowing you’re in labor, as a gradual thing with a spontaneous labor, pitocin is more immediate… but my contractions on it weren’t painful at first, just uncomfortable… transition for me was very similar with all 3 of them, and that’s where things started to get really intense, but I wasn’t on the pit at that point with my inductions (they turn it off after a while if you are contracting well), so I can’t blame that.
As far as side effects… I don’t know that I can really link anything specifically to the pitocin, more than it just being and effect of being loaded up with fluids… I was very swollen after delivery (for several days) with both of my inductions, but that was after 4-5 liters of fluids in a short period of time. With my spontaneous labor, I barely got to the hospital before I delivered and they had only just gotten the IV in me (it’s protocol at my hospital to have a large bore IV in case you need blood products) so I basically didn’t get anything at all (I think they had estimated 200mL?)… and in turn, I didn’t swell up… I felt great.
I have to say, induction is one of those things that many people are going to disagree on. Having had 3 babies now, I can say that if we were to have another, I’d absolutely be induced (though I do have some opinions about how, and it would absolutely be on my terms)… my spontaneous labor was scary (in a number of ways), and I don’t want to be in a position of worrying if we’ll even make it to the hospital in time… because there really was no time to spare - I walked into the hospital at 9cm, just as I was hitting transition. It’s also easier as a T1 if you can plan when you’re delivering, and make appropriate changes to your insulin ahead of time. I had a full dose of Lantus on board from the night before (6 hours earlier?) with spontaneous labor, and I ran low for more than 24 hours after delivery, and that’s without bolusing for meals… so not ideal, and while I was able to handle it, it would have been nice NOT to worry about it.
Wow, thank you everyone for all of your stories, I am so appreciative of you ladies taking your time out to write to me. As to Boedica and estpeters, in British Columbia, Canada, the way they run things here is that if you havent; gone into labour naturally by 38 weeks, you have to be induced, as the chances of death in utero run high. Type 1 diabetics supposedly become ripe 2 weeks earlier than a woman without diabetes, and the placenta can dry up. If I was to wait, then the chance of me having a c-section would significantly increase and if I can avoid that in any way, I would like to, also I do not want to run my chances of something tragic happening to the baby…I guess I will talk to my obgyn about it and let her know of my concern and see what she has to say, but by the sounds of what you tell me Sarah, it may not be so bad
My first labor didn’t progress fast enough for my doctor. I was dilated at 1/2 centimeter for hours. So they augmented my labor with pitocin. It does cause hard labor (painful contractions). It still took me 24 hours to deliver and I tore, receiving a 4th degree laceration (tears through the rectum). My advice is to wait if you can. Do lots of stretching, walking, etc. Pitocin is not fun at all!
And I had two more babies, so I do know the difference in labor without pitocin.
My wife was induced with pitocin for our first child. He was tardy by a few days. She hadn’t dilated at all. Pitocin kicked in, she had a rough labor, and wound up going for an emergency c-section (baby was in distress). Our boy showed up just fine and he’s a healthy 11 year old (god help me I’m getting older by the second!). We’ve since had 2 girls, both scheduled c-section. My wife has never delivered on time. I think our kids were just plain lazy!!
my ex was induced with our first child, and it was a bad experience. the contractions were much worse than with our latter two and she experinced some minor tearing that was not an issue with the others. as our daughter was doing flip flops and we were worried she would be breach if she went on her time we decided to have her induced while she was “head down.” all in all it was the right decision, but i would not do it just because the doctor wants to get you maked off his “to do list.” My doctors hate when i remind them that i am in charge and they are merely consultants, advisors, and contractors. i’ve even had a couple “dismiss” me from their practice (that’s when the doctor fires the patient). remember it is you child, your body, your decision.
i understand that a man’s semer has enzymes or hormones or something that help move labor along more genly than pitocin. So get your husband, bf or significant other and make each other happy.
