This is an excerpt from Babble.com’s blog.
Now I really like Babble.com but sometimes another mom’s tale of woe is simply scary stuff for other moms-to-be especially anyone facing an induction of labor.
via:http://blogs.babble.com/being-pregnant/2011/02/24/5-things-moms-should-know-about-induction/
“In a time where induction of labor is such a popular thing for mothers, there is a lot of misinformation, as well as information being left out, including risks and statistics.
With my oldest son I was induced, and there were many risks that were left out of the conversation with my provider. I was told I needed to be induced for a medical reason and went along with it despite being two days away from my due date.
In the long run, my induction was hellish, and ended in a c-section like many inductions do. Had I known this, I would not have opted for the induction because my biggest fear in childbirth was a c-section.
My top 5 things that I think all mothers should
via 5 Things Moms Should Know About Induction | Being Pregnant.
- Increased risk for c-section
- Increased risk for your baby
- Increased risk that your baby will be admitted to the NICU
- Risk for premature baby
- Pitocin contractions are stronger and longer”
As a maternal-child nurse articles like this one grate on my last nerve…I really feel badly for the mom that had such a bad experience.
To add more scare tactics there is an added video that accompanies this post and it literally makes me want to scream.
While working for an ob-gyn at a NYC medical center/teaching hospital I had the opportunity to interview many moms who came to our practice because of the experiences that they had at other hospitals in the metropolitan area. The differences in practices can be alarming.
- First and foremost a pregnant woman has to have trust in her doctor and the others in the group.
- Inductions should not be a cascade of bad events leading to a c-section.
- Yes, pitocin is a strong drug but it can be titrated to provide the stimulus for good productive contractions.
- Yes, these contractions will hurt and when the bag of water is broken these contractions can feel more painful. These are the facts.
- As far as the fetus getting less and less oxygen…well when the uterus is contracting the fetal heart does usually mirror the contraction. As the contractions get stronger the fetal heart pumps harder and then goes back to its baseline as does the uterus whether the contractions are induced or not.
- Unless there is umbilical cord compression or other reasons for fetal distress this is how the fetal heart will normally respond to labor contractions.
Fetal distress are words no one wants to hear…and lets face it this is a highly litigious medical area of practice. So as soon as there are legitimate signs of fetal distress a c-section will be discussed and strongly suggested.
Again…there really has to be trust in your physician at this point.
It is not the induction that is necessarily causing the fetal distress…there are so many factors.
- cords get wrapped around fetuses’ necks…
- due dates may be off slightly causing the placenta to be no longer functioning optimally,
- there can be a knot or more in the cord of a fetus who early on had been doing flips in utero.
These are events that are not predictable. Trust….
My sincere advice:
- talk to your physician and
- if you are uncomfortable talk to someone else
- read and gather information,
- talk to an experienced nurse from labor and delivery
Do whatever it takes to be an informed consumer of healthcare.
I have worked with many, many physicians and nurses. Most are excellent. There are the few not so good ones that make the news and the blogs…that is true with every profession.
No one wants to perform a c-section for a bogus reason…no one wants a mom to have a failed induction. But when a woman gets pregnant a c-section is a possibility.
Get to know your doctor….you usually have three trimesters …you should know each other pretty well by then.