Especially to me because, I myself, have had 2 inductions. The reasons?
1. I was 9 days overdue and my amniotic fluid levels were low and
2. I was 5 days overdue and they thought I had a 9 1/2 pound baby in there.
For reason number 1, now I know that I could have been dehydrated, or maybe not. It really could have been a medical need. I'm not sure what else I could have done in that situation.
- Your due date that is still only 85 percent accurate, plus or minus 14 days. Actually, the percentage of babies born exactly on their predicted due date is so small it's a wonder we bother with due dates at all. It's perfectly normal for 80 percent of healthy babies to have anywhere from a 38- to 42-week gestation. Several generations ago, a physician might tell an expectant mother that she was due "sometime in late October or early November"; today, women are given a "precise" due date, often determined by ultrasound testing. Many instances of so-called postmaturity result from nothing more than an inaccurate due date. It's probably best to stick with the "late November, early December" method"
-The fact that Pitocin can shorten the normal oxygenating intervals that occur between contractions is a threat to the integrity of the fetal brain and can have lifelong consequences for the affected baby. (One compelling theory, presented at the 1996 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association by Eric Hollander of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, links autistic children with Pitocin-induced labors. Hollander suspects that Pitocin interferes with the newborn's oxytocin system, producing the social phobias of autism. When he administered oxytocin to autistic patients, it made them four times more talkative, and according to the patients themselves, twice as happy, although not all patients responded.) -This was the most interesting piece of information to me, as I might have a child with autism....my frist induction. He did not react well to the pitocen..
** And now, for all of us who have had pitocen, we cannot feel guilty. We can only take this information and share it with our sisters, friends, and empower our own lives for the future....
2. I was 5 days overdue and they thought I had a 9 1/2 pound baby in there.
For reason number 1, now I know that I could have been dehydrated, or maybe not. It really could have been a medical need. I'm not sure what else I could have done in that situation.
For number 2, I should have waited! I could have pushed out a big baby! Plus, when I had him, he was only 8 lbs. Now my care provider is wonderful, I don't want anyone to think differently. She was wonderful because she told me all of my options. She didn't force or make me choose one option over another. She repeatedly told me that it was up to me and that she would support my decisions. So I only blame myself for not doing more research.
After I had my babies, I started attending births of my amazing sister-in-laws. They all have natural childbirths. Witnessing them changed my life. I thought, "If they can do this, then I can do this!" "Childbirth IS normal and natural, but we are blessed with medical care in case we have a complication....otherwise, you really don't need medical interventions!" Do you know that my aunt had a couple of her babies FOUR weeks overdue? Yeah, and everyone is fine. Amazing. So after witnessing my sisters-in-law, and learning so much more about childbirth, I decided to become a Doula! I have learned SO much and am amazing at how much knowledge and power women are missing out on. I had no idea it was out there. Society trains us to think that childbirth is scary, painful, and the only way we are to do it is check ourselves into the hospital and sit in bed with our epidural. Well, it doesn't have to be this way. Because of what I have learned and what I have learned at the 10 births I have attended, you can be sure that I will be avoiding any more inductions with my own pregnancies....
Some points that stood out to me, or should I say, yelled out to me are these:
-Pitocin has a 40 to 50 percent induction failure rate. This is why you hear of induced women who fail to progress and end up with a c-section.
-In 1978, the FDA advisory committee removed its approval of Pitocin for the elective induction of labor.
-The drug has never been approved by the FDA for the use of augmenting labor..(speeding labor along).
-Only 3 percent of women need to be induced for medical reasons.
-Another 3 to 12 percent seem to want to drive their mothers crazy and hang out inside that wonderful, warm, loving womb, so they are induced well after their due dates...Yet we hear of Pitocen being used at almost every birth, when really, it should only be an option at 15% of births.
After I had my babies, I started attending births of my amazing sister-in-laws. They all have natural childbirths. Witnessing them changed my life. I thought, "If they can do this, then I can do this!" "Childbirth IS normal and natural, but we are blessed with medical care in case we have a complication....otherwise, you really don't need medical interventions!" Do you know that my aunt had a couple of her babies FOUR weeks overdue? Yeah, and everyone is fine. Amazing. So after witnessing my sisters-in-law, and learning so much more about childbirth, I decided to become a Doula! I have learned SO much and am amazing at how much knowledge and power women are missing out on. I had no idea it was out there. Society trains us to think that childbirth is scary, painful, and the only way we are to do it is check ourselves into the hospital and sit in bed with our epidural. Well, it doesn't have to be this way. Because of what I have learned and what I have learned at the 10 births I have attended, you can be sure that I will be avoiding any more inductions with my own pregnancies....
Some points that stood out to me, or should I say, yelled out to me are these:
-Pitocin has a 40 to 50 percent induction failure rate. This is why you hear of induced women who fail to progress and end up with a c-section.
-In 1978, the FDA advisory committee removed its approval of Pitocin for the elective induction of labor.
-The drug has never been approved by the FDA for the use of augmenting labor..(speeding labor along).
-Only 3 percent of women need to be induced for medical reasons.
-Another 3 to 12 percent seem to want to drive their mothers crazy and hang out inside that wonderful, warm, loving womb, so they are induced well after their due dates...Yet we hear of Pitocen being used at almost every birth, when really, it should only be an option at 15% of births.
- Your due date that is still only 85 percent accurate, plus or minus 14 days. Actually, the percentage of babies born exactly on their predicted due date is so small it's a wonder we bother with due dates at all. It's perfectly normal for 80 percent of healthy babies to have anywhere from a 38- to 42-week gestation. Several generations ago, a physician might tell an expectant mother that she was due "sometime in late October or early November"; today, women are given a "precise" due date, often determined by ultrasound testing. Many instances of so-called postmaturity result from nothing more than an inaccurate due date. It's probably best to stick with the "late November, early December" method"
-The fact that Pitocin can shorten the normal oxygenating intervals that occur between contractions is a threat to the integrity of the fetal brain and can have lifelong consequences for the affected baby. (One compelling theory, presented at the 1996 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association by Eric Hollander of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, links autistic children with Pitocin-induced labors. Hollander suspects that Pitocin interferes with the newborn's oxytocin system, producing the social phobias of autism. When he administered oxytocin to autistic patients, it made them four times more talkative, and according to the patients themselves, twice as happy, although not all patients responded.) -This was the most interesting piece of information to me, as I might have a child with autism....my frist induction. He did not react well to the pitocen..
** And now, for all of us who have had pitocen, we cannot feel guilty. We can only take this information and share it with our sisters, friends, and empower our own lives for the future....
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