I called up a few friends that couldn't make our Friday meeting, but they said they would try to come out on Sunday. So, we had Katrina Mark, Joy Childs, and Maggie McGrath come this time along with my kids and hubby of course.
We chose the topic of "Seduction of Induction" and went over some notes I had gotten from Gena Kirby's Youtube video about this subject. We also listened to Maggie's birth story about how she got induced the first time and decided to have a home birth the second time.
Gena Kirby's video talked about Pitocin as being the "main" way of induction. Her talk also showed us that Oxytocin is the "natural" form of this that every woman has when the baby is ready to come out. This is what usually triggers labor to start naturally. Pitocin is the artificial version of this. We went over stats that the majority of woman today are induced and it is not "informed consent". It is just kind of like this conversation below: "You are 39 weeks pregnant and looks like you are tired and ready for this baby. Would you like to come in tomorrow morning and have this baby?" This is the "seduction" part--we are seduced by our doctor to think, "Oh, great I can have the baby tomorrow or I can pick the day my baby is going to be born." Who wouldn't say "no" to this? So, the woman decides to go ahead and come in and the nurse says, "Pitocin won't hurt the baby. Everyone gets it." Well, this is "not" informed consent. Of course, the hospital is going to say it is OK. There are reprecussions to having Pitocin.
Maggie tells us her story here--"I was overdue by 7 days and the doctor wanted to do a vaginal exam. Well, I think he stripped my membranes, because my water started to break. It was a slow leak though--not a big gush. But, he wanted me to go to the hospital because of "risk of infection". Well, I went ahead and went to the hospital--not prepared at all. My labor hadn't started yet, so they put me on Pitocin and kept increasing the dosage. I had a doula and she suggested I rest and see if contractions start in the morning or not. Well, I was in labor like for 48 hours before I actually had the baby. I avoided a c-section by insisting that I did not want one--but I was kind of like "failure to progress" and I did get an epidural because the hospital wouldn't let me get up and walk around during labor. Anyway, I was able to push the baby out in the end, but felt cheated out of an all natural birth experience. The second time around, I decided to have parallel care with a midwife and doctor together. My OB wanted me to get induced "again" at same time frame 7 days later. I told him no--I was going to have a home birth. I went into labor naturally 9 days after my due date. Midwife was great support and she helped me alot. We were able to have a water birth and it did take awhile to push baby out--but he ended up being 9 lbs. 12 oz.! Wow, what a big baby. The midwife said--no wonder it took so long pushing him out.
So, I would recommend to anyone considering an induction to think about the "side effects":
1. Pitocin--harder contractions--less oxygen to baby
2. Can lead to epidural--baby can go into distress just because of an epidural.
3. Can lead to cascade of interventions.
4. You cannot move around like you want if you are induced.
5. You will have to push baby out lying on your back instead of a more natural upright position.
6. Sometimes Inductions lead to c-sections--because of "failure to progress" and "baby distress". In fact Gena mentioned when she had her baby 13 people were in their and 11 had c-sections and 2 did not. Wow! Reason? Inductions FAILED.
We also talked about "Bishop's Score" which is a term to see if your vagina is ready to have the baby and where the baby is positioned at. If you have a good "Bishop's score" you are more likely to have a more successful induction than if you have a low score. So, if you really still want to have that induction--get your Bishop's Score first. You may decide to wait a little longer and see if baby wants to come on his own instead of being induced if your score is low.
In conclusion--we had a great discussion and everyone agreed that Sundays at my house is good for now for meetings and I will still try Friday night at other location just in case someone shows up since I had advertised this.
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