Being Induced Tomorrow - Rutherford,NJ

HI J.,
As a mother of an almost 5 month old pitocin-induced boy, I can tell you it is NOT fun. And reading Mindy's post above was exactly what I was worried about since I was Bradley trained and wanted a natural birth, free of interventions. But, we don't always get what we want when it comes to childbirth and you sometimes have to go with the flow of how the labor is progressing, or not! Pitocin is really painful, harder contractions with no breaks in between. I wasn't able to move around at all during the pitocin, totally the opposite of what I'd envisioned. BUT, if you are set on going naturally without pain meds, it IS possible, because I did it!!! I didn't want an epidural and, although the pain was excruciating at times, I didn't succumb to it. Your body can take it - it's what we are built to do!!! "Pain with a purpose" is what Bradley students are taught and its that theory that got me through pitocin. That, and the fact that I knew I would be meeting my son soon!!!

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

I'm wondering what the purpose is for you being induced. Why are you not waiting for it to happen naturally? I went in after feeling the contractions get closer apart. I was given pitocin which I dreaded the thought of having but needed because of i was only 2 cm dilateed at the time. It helped move along the pregnancy but I didn't need much of it and at one point it was even turned off. Everyone's body is different but I read a book which was given to me by a doula. It explained that the baby can be anywhere from one to two weeks past the due date and it can cause stress to the infant to give too much pitocin. Not trying to scare you but something to consider. Not sure why people get induced other than physical reasons that may result in danger...

I was induced with my first daughter since I was not in labor and the hospital broke my water during a pelvic exam. I was on pitosin for 8 hours. I was lucky labor was moving slow and my doctor said he was giving me until 5pm and then I was going in for a c-section. 5 minutes to 5 I was ready to push. My second daughter came on her own and that was an easier birth for the most part. Had a few problems with the nurses who were telling me that I did not have to go to the bathrooom when I knew I did and once they emptied my blatter she basically just fell out of me. She was also smaller than my first so that also made it easier. I felt that going naturally was better. I felt more in control of my labor plus I was also able to stay home until it was closer to the time. When I was induced I was stuck in the labor bed and unable to walk around and had to stay laying down. If I ever have another child I would want to go natural but sometimes if the baby is not ready to come and it is past the due date the doctors have to induce. Good luck to you and congrats.
Jenn

Hi J.,
If you're absolutely being induced and not making a decision one way or the other, I'm not sure what purpose a comparison would serve?
Pitocin typically means labor contractions are closer together, longer and stronger than spontaneous labor. It means more interventions - IV, continuous monitoring, etc. than natural labor requires. More women receiving pitocin request pain relief medication but it doesn't mean that you will absolutely have to have it - I teach Bradley Method natural birth classes and about half the moms in my classes who receive pitocin don't use any pain meds. Women receiving Pitocin are also twice as likely to end up with a cesarean section - the main risks of pitocin are fetal distress and uterine rupture, it's also possible that labor can progress more slowly because women who are induced are more likely to spend their labor lying down in bed = due to the IV, the monitor, the epidural if they have one. As long as you have no epidural, don't be spend labor lying down. Even if you can't travel far with all of the equipment, you can rock on your hands and knees on the bed, you can sit on a birth ball next to it, you can kneel at the bottom of the bed if you ask the nurse to push it down, you can stand and sway ...
Good luck!!

I was induced w/both of my girls. They began the P-drip around 6AM w/Sami & I had her at 12:32PM - with Haley they began it at around 9AM & she wasn't born until 4:32PM. I guess it varies w/either natural or induced. Good luck & I'm sure that either way, you will be estatic!

Here it is. With my first, my water broke 5 weeks early but only leaking here and there and my body would not go into labor on its own and I was gven pitocin to get the labor going (18 1/2 hours). I found it horrible. Then my second felt very heavy and I asked to have him out a week early and had to be induced and came out at a normal birth, 7lbs and 9 oz. Good size. Again, horrible time with pitocin, but at a different hospital and they gave me a full dose and that was too much all at once and he came after 4 hours of labor. My third, they were concerned about him getting so big near the end and suggested that he come out a week early and was induced and sure enough, he was 8 lbs, 10oz a week early and again pitocin. They have tried different things with my third to have me go natually but my body wouldn't go. Breaking my water, etc. and nothing. I hate the pitocin and I have decided, no matter how big the next baby (if we have another one) gets if it's 9 lbs and some oz, if was to be 11 lbs, okay yeah, let's get him/her out early. Never had epidural and gave birth to all of them natually and you can do it. You have to convince yourself and be strong about it in your mind and if you have to pretend there is no epidural and you have to do it without...if that helps. But, if you can't then epidural can ease it up but you can't feel and I know a girl who had pitocin because she couldn't go into labor on her own either and she had ptiocin and epidural and it made her soooo sick and was not feeling good at all. They say you can't feel so it's hard to push it out when you have epidural that is one of the mother's explaination to me. Let us know...but one question, usually they give you up to two weeks then induction. Make sure they aren't going to induce you because it's convenient for them....check into that and ask why not wait until next week or two weeks and then if the baby says no, then you can induced.

J., I have three kids, a 9yo girl, a 5yo girl and a 3yo boy. All were induced to birth. I always wished to feel a natural labor pain to know how it is, I didn't feel any in my three deliveries and doctor couldn't wait longer to put in risk the baby, you know that. I couldn't compare either. Although they say with pitosin you feel stronger pain, I always got the epidural, so it wasn't that bad; and I always think that vaginal birth no matter is induced is much better that go through a c-section; and we always need to be grateful because we have that option in this days, compared we old decades where moms lost babies and put her own live in risk if days passed and didn't feel labor pain; they couldn’t have their babies. So, good luck and congratulations on your new baby!!!

Hi,
I was one week early with #1 and 4 days late with #2. They wanted to induce for baby #2 and I refused. I had natural, drug-free labor when the baby was ready to come out.

You DO have a choice - but you'll need to weigh the risks/benefits. Don't feel pressured by the doctors to be induced...

I did follow the Bradley method mentioned below and I really advocate this.

However, the priority is the health of you and your baby, so keep that in mind.

I don't have any comparisons for you. Good luck!! :)

Hi J.,

I had natural labor with my first and was induced with my second. The natural labor was longggggg and hard. The delivery was also very long because they gave me too much epidural so I had a lot of trouble pushing, I ended up with an episiotomy due to the trauma to my tissue from pushing. I was exhausted. My labor and delivery lasted from 2:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (15 hrs).
I was induced with my second due to problems during my pregnancy. The morning of the induction I got up and showered and arrived at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. the nurses prepared me with an I.V and started the pitocin drip. labor pain was mild, I did have another epidural but this time it only took on one side. At 2:00 p.m I started pushing and my daughter arrived at 2:30 p.m. Although tired, I felt much better during and after the second delivery than I did after natural childbirth.
Wishing you a short labor and easy delivery And most of all a healthy baby!!!!
Best,
S.

He is only a week late, I would question why the rush to get him out, is he getting too big or causing you issues. I had both mine with different OB/GYN groups and both went by the 2-week late, then induce way of thinking, unless there was a good reason to take them early. Anyway-

With my first-five days late-36 hours labor start to finish. I was in very hard labor but it was not dilating at all after 5 or 6 hours of contractions that were 3 minutes apart. I was given an epidural first then the pitocin. They had to break my water and it stil took another 10 hours for him to arrive though there were other things going on (he was very high, cord wrapped, miconeum n fluid-spelling?) etc. I had back labor, so I could still feel my legs, when I had to pee, all of my back contractions, but it was bearable.

With my second, I had my first contraction at 9pm, he was born at 1:05am. No epidural, nothing at all-not my choice, only because they "didn't have time". I had back labor again and didn't think I could get through it.

Two very different experiences except for having back labor and the meconium thing for both and o yeah, the ripping thing for both as well.

If you are open to an epidural, I would go for it and not worry about the pitocin too much.

My water broke 3 weeks early, but I was not in labor. Nothing, maybe 1 cm and no contractions. I walked and walked hoping it'll come on its own, and nothing. They induced me around 5 or 6 pm, and nothing happened, and they induced me again arounf 8 pm. My water broke around noon. At first nothing happened with the 2nd induce, but it came like a run away truck at 9:30 or 10, and I gave birth at 11:41. I had very little contractions until the time it started to work, and was not in any pain. I pushed for about 45 minutes or so, and that'll all it was. I guess in a way I was lucky. congratulations.

Just ask them to take it slow and not do a lot at once. I had pitocin with both of my kids. First one was failure to progress, I had pitocin for 6 hours and it didn't help the labor progress (no change in dilation) and I had a c-section after about 20 hours total labor. My son was 9 lbs so just as well a c-section but he had meuconium aspiration and the Pitocin may have played a role in it (no way to tell but the contractions felt too strong even with an epidural).
My daughter was an attempted VBAC. My water broke at midnight but no conrtactions started on their own so after 12 hours the midwife said it was pitocin or a c-section. I had a smaller amount of the pitocin and it was not too bad a labor 6-7 hours and I was just about ready to push but the baby's heart rate was going up and down. They rushed me in for an emergency c-section and she was wrapped in the cord. In spite of the c-section and NICU stays and assorted medical drama both kids are pretty much healthy now (the first few weeks with the meucionium were rough).

I was induced with cytotec. It was great. It is a natural hormone and much nicer than pitosin. It is a very small pill, no needles or IV.
Just a thought.
good luck,
P.

Hurts much more (and much earlier!), because the contractions go straight from 0-10 in intensity, rather than the typical gradual way your body would dilate. It's pretty hard, though not impossible, to go without an epidural when you're induced.

Good luck with your delivery! Hope it's fast, easy, and exactly what you're hoping for!

I was induced with my daughter. I went for an ultrasound since she was 5 days late and she wasn't moving much so they decided that I was ready. (There was nothing wrong, she would just move into a position and stay there if she was cozy!) I got an iv drip with a small dose of pitocin and had no problems whatsoever. Once the pitocin started me off, my body dilated and delivered my daughter with no problem. I don't think it's such a big deal. I was glad that they decided to induce me because I didn't want her to get too big in my uterus if it could cause problems for her.

Good luck with whatever you have to deal with. The hope is just for a smooth delivery one way or another and a healthy baby and mom - in the end, we are all moms, no matter how we got there! I was given pitocin b/c my water had broke the previous night and my labor was progressing slowly...I just remember feeling a lot of rolling pressure - as if my entire mid section was going to burst, starting at my chest and moving down to my pubic area. I don't remember there being any comfort breaks in between, it seemed pretty steady. I also had some serious back/pubic/muscle issues throughout my pregnancy so laying in bed was TORTURE. My butt was numb for two weeks! I Wound up with a C section b/c I never dilated passed 6m...Anyway - I have no idea if the pitosin labor is worse than regular labor since this is my first and only childd (2nd will most likely be a scheduled C unless my body decides otherwise) but that was my experience. Everyone has a different experience so again, God Bless and I just wish you all the best! CONGRATULATIONS!

I was induced with Pitocin for my first due to pre-enclampsya (it was on my actual due date and I was probably dialated ZERO). They started with Pitocin and then moved on to Cytotec. I ended up with a c-section because things just never moved along after about 28 hours. BUT if you are going to use an epidural anyway the best part about inducing is you don't have to wait to get it.

Good luck with everything!

I was induced with all of my kids (at 36 weeks 2 days for both my single daughter and my twin boys). As long as you get an epidural, I didn't see how it was any worse than "regular" labor. Of course, given that I've never had a "regular"/natural labor, I can't really compare. I just know that the pitocin wasn't bad at all. The only time it hurt was when they broke my water with the twins. In retrospect, I would have gotten the epidural first (which was what I did w/ my first delivery and I felt NO Pain through the whole delivery).

hi J.,
I have to be honest and say that the pitocin is awful! I had it with my son and was in excruciating pain. I of course wanted the epidural so if that's something you were hoping to go without, then you may want to reconsider the pitocin. The only way it paid off was moving the labor along because after my water broke, I was dilating so slowly. Other than that, it's AWFUL!

Good luck and congratulations though! :)
L.

Hi J.
God bless you with a smooth delivery.
There is really no need to compare. NO two births are the same. Just relax and know that you are in good hands, trusting all good things come from God and the OB's wisdom is a good thing.
K.