please tell me induction is way worse than natural childbirth - Page 2

[umbrella]

I had one pitocin induced labor, and one AROM induced labor. The pitocin labor was way harder.

[stormborn]

Originally Posted by zinemama

Wel...I hate to not reassure you. But I was induced the first time and yeah, hell on wheels.

The second time I did it naturally and I got back labor. Hell on wheels. The pain was different, but absolutely just as painful. Maybe if you don't have back labor it's better.

Eh, that's my basic story too but I'll take the back labor any day! For me the most hellish aspect of pitocin was NO BREAKS it was like one long contraction with no time to breathe. Even with back labor and dd2 presenting with both hands up to her face (forget the term..) my natural labor was more managable than my induced one.

[writteninkursive]

I don't know from experience since they insisted on drugging me for no apparent reason, but I was told that I had to have an epidural during the induction because it would be too painful to handle. I know that isn't true, and a lot of women are induced and still don't have epi's, but I guess it's the common mentality of the hospital staff that unmedicated induced labor is quite difficult. I just know the contractions were harder once I had pitocin.
Another thing to remember is that each baby is different! My first 14 hours of induction were med-free and it was extremely tolerable! I just focused and was fine. This pregnancy (I'm 37 weeks), I've already been having contractions that are way, way stronger than they were even 14 hours into labor with my first. So just because your first labor was hard and really painful doesn't necessarily mean your second will be the same!

[christina10106]

I was induced with pitocin with my first. It was terrible, and I ended up with an epidural. I was on my back in bed the whole time and in a hospital. With my second, I was at home and never got in bed for my whole labor. I walked around, swayed my hips, got in the shower, bounced on the birth ball, and got in the birth pool. I will take natural labor and childbirth ANY DAY over an induced labor. That is, if I can move around and do what I please.

[Pinoikoi]

I have had two inductions, and one non induced labor.. HUGE difference imho. My first induction was 20 hours.. vomiting everywhere.. my second induction was 18 hours.. My third labor was not induced and only 4 hours beginning to end. He was born about 45 minutes after we got to the hospital, because I didn't think I was even in labor the difference was so profound! The nurse told me you are "at 7" and I didn't even consider that she meant cm!

Nursing was SO much easier also.

[jul511riv]

another vote for totally different without...though my second was also a homebirth and I'm sure that helped. But also, every birth is different.

Anyways, I was induced with pit at a hospital for the first birth. I was also asked to stay on my back in bed for large chunks of time. I also had back labor the entire time. Nothing was turning dd (duh! She wasn't ready to come out!!!)

With my second birth, no induction. I didn't even know I was in labor. Progression wasn't stalled or stopped (as it was in the 1st birth when labor was interrupted with a drive to the hospital) totally managable until I hit transition , where I freaked out a little bit and then got it back together and it was intense, but managable. This part was for the last 1.5 hours (maybe less?) I found that getting in a comfortable position (which I had been fighting, I have no idea why) really helped with that. I did take some herbs my mw gave me, which helped me relax and get some rest between ctx, I think it was the cohashes and skullcap and someother things. We also used essential oils. I did also have a period of back labor, which really started to freak me out (enter transtition) but the second half, which was back labor for at least a part of it was TOTALLY managable in a way that it had not been when induced.

[MommyMad]

I haven't birthed our first LO yet. However, my sister has done it with and without pitocin. She says she will take the natural birth any day over the pitocin induced one.

[orangefoot]

I've had two ordinary labours and then two which were augmented with pitocin due to malposition and failure to progress. The choice was pit or section and I have a blood clotting disorder so the pit was preferable.

I would take the ordinary spontaneous labour over induction/pit every time. Pit is like being slammed with a plank over and over again. My second labour like this was better than the first because I stood up for as long as I could then rested forward over pillow and didn't lie on my back at all. I used the Entonox the second time too which helped me keep my focus.

I think there *are* ways to deal with a pit labour that make it a bit more tolerable if it becomes a necessity and I wouldn't want anyone reading this to carry a huge amount of fear and dread about it if you end up needing it.

I'm not sure that is the right way to say it but I think sometimes it is easy to do a good job of freaking pregnant women out with terrible stories. I took a lot of fear into my second pit induced labour and I had to work hard to let that go.

[mamatolevi]

there are too many factors to list as to whether or not an induced labor is gentler than a natural labor EVERY time. In general, however, yes pitocin induced ctx are harder to tolerate - depending on how the pit is dosed and how ready you might already be for labor.

I've had two induced labors. the first too early (40w) and was a freakin' nightmare with transition like ctx w/o no build up that wouldn't stop; I was literally screaming for the epidural by 3cm it was so bad. The pit had started out cranked and kept getting increased. I got cut.

The second was low dose/slow dose pit with a high bishop's score. It was easy. ctx were tolerable till I was asking for a paracervical block; I was stunned to learn I was at 8cm (that was my first VE durring that labor). baby was out w/in 20 minutes of getting the PCB. While I was howling for the epidural while pushing (b/c the pcb didn't do what I'd gotten into my head that it would), it was still nothing as intense or as painful as my first induction.

Positioning & freedom to move around makes a huge difference. I walked just about that entire second labor; I really believe that gravity did a lot of work for me in getting that baby into a position where she could come out so easily.

If you can't get out of CEFM then demand a telemetry unit so you can walk around. If they don't have one, you might be stuck if you're unwilling to refuse monitoring. Remember, they CANNOT force you to consent to the CEFM no matter what hospital policy says. But they can make you pretty damned uncomfortable if you get a nurse that doesn't support NCB.

I'm hoping to go into labor on my own this time and not need any pit. I plan to refuse policies that are detrimental to my being able to birth this baby naturally.

[tofutti]

xanadu - what a good description - the panic, the crazzzy panic, that was pit for me.

thanks for the stories everyone so appreciated.

[Craftymama]

Completely different!!! I was induced a month early with my son and wanted to go natural. Haha. My daughter was natural. I was at the hospital dilated to 7 and had her 30 minutes later. They were totally manageable.

[MamaMonica]

Moved to Birth and Beyond.

[kcparker]

I haven't had a pit. induction, but I've attended them as a doula. I can say from the outside that they look degrees of magnitude harder to cope with than a spontaneous labor. They come on harder, are longer, stronger, and give less break between than spontaneous contractions. I think the psychological feeling of having this thing done to you as opposed to accepting this body process that your body is manifesting without your conscious control is very different - it's a different set of conditions that you have to accept and work with and surrender to, and the outside intervention feels like more of an imposition or compromise of one's bodily integrity and might come with more concerns about baby's health, feelings of shame/failure/inadequacy that mom has to deal with -- all around just a tougher situation than when labor starts on its own clock.

Remember too, with a spontaneous labor, oxytocin is made in the brain, so it goes into the bloodstream and give the uterus the signals to contract, but it ALSO stays in the brain and has the effect of diminishing your sensations of pain. Pitocin does not cross the blood-brain barrier, so you get all of the contractions with none of the pain-diminshing effect. Also, the pit. is just on a steady drip, there is no biofeedback to tell the machine to increase or decrease the amount of pit. being run. I am certain that a woman's body is much more adept at regulating oxytocin levels to what it needs at any point in labor than the IV drip, which just marches on like an automaton regardless of how mom and baby are doing.

I think that if you are committed to having an unmedicated labor, you can totally do it. Fear not!

[kkar]

Originally Posted by zinemama

Wel...I hate to not reassure you. But I was induced the first time and yeah, hell on wheels.

The second time I did it naturally and I got back labor. Hell on wheels. The pain was different, but absolutely just as painful. Maybe if you don't have back labor it's better.

I'm going to have to agree here. Out of my three labors so far, the first was natural with back labor, and it was by far the worst of the three. The second was induced, and so much easier that I didn't even want pain medication until it was too late at 10 cm. The third was induced and somewhere between the first two - but still no where close to natural with back labor.

[filiadeluna]

I have only had one baby so far, and my birth was induced by Cytotec and then Pitocin. It was the most excrutiating pain of my life. I can't imagine anything worse. It felt like a Mac truck was running over my back constantly. I never want an induction again. Please do not consent to one unless it is medically necessary. Do yourself a favor and ask WHY it is necessary if your care provider tries to push one on you. I was induced at 42 weeks even though everything seemed fine, but my midwife was afraid of the placenta deteriorating.

[ZoraP]

My first child was born after a very long pit-induced labor, during which I eventually accepted an epidural, not because I couldn't handle the pain, but because it was a compromise with the doc, who was becoming concerned and thought I might need a C-section. He gave me extra time to rest with the epi, and it worked, because after an hour or two of resting peacefully I'd finally progressed and was able to give birth vaginally (although I still had to push for over 2 hours). The baby was occ. posterior, which explained part of the difficulty I'd had. In any case, I didn't think the pit was as bad as people say it is and I also had a wonderful epi (with which I could move around easily but not walk), so it wasn't so bad.

That said, the second time around I wanted less intervention. I labored naturally (and comfortably) at home for most of a day before going to the hospital. When I arrived the nurse asked why I was there and when I said "to have a baby" she said, "You can't be in labor, you're smiling!" Well, I was already 7 cm. When I finally got a room and saw the dr, he wanted to break my membranes to speed things along. I didn't want this intervention but somehow he persuaded me. Anyway, I gave birth only 15 minutes later after two monster contractions, which were a bit scary and, well, LARGE, but also not particularly painful. There wasn't even time to offer me drugs, and I wouldn't have wanted them anyway.

I think in many cases a second or subsequent birth after any sort of vaginal birth (induced, medicated, or not) is much easier, so if I were you I'd focus on that. It was certainly true in my case, and birthing #2 was truly a breeze compared to the first birth. Given that, you're much more likely to get through it without intervention, too.

Good luck!

[callieollie]

Originally Posted by zinemama
Wel...I hate to not reassure you. But I was induced the first time and yeah, hell on wheels.

The second time I did it naturally and I got back labor. Hell on wheels. The pain was different, but absolutely just as painful. Maybe if you don't have back labor it's better.

I have to agree. My first labor was a mixture of both. I went through about 18 hours of natural back labor and it was horrible. LIke the train analogy, there was no slow rising of intensity followed by breaks, it was as though I was hit by a train instantly, I couldn't breath, I had no breaks, double and sometimes triple peak contractions. It was horrible. I then transferred to the hospital and got pit first and the contractions were much better compared to the back labor. Still intense, but I did have breaks in between them. And even the time I had double peak, they were still more "regular" than my back labor. Then I got the epi and slept!

But, to not leave you on that bad note, my second birth was a zillion times better. I used Hypnobabies and she was positioned well and the whole thing from start (waking up with mild pressure waves 2-3 minutes apart) to finish was 3 1/2 hours. I can honestly say 99% of it was pain free. A few moments were uncomfortable, and there were 3 contractions that were painful. During her labor, I actually remember saying to my MIL, "people weren't lying when they say you get breaks in between contractions. You really do. It's like they completely go away and you're completely normal and comfortable again." It was so different from my first experience!

[FREEmom1120]

I wouldn't say that anything about moving a human through your pelvis and vagina is easy.

I was induced with my first and thought my homebirth would be so much easier. In some ways it was, because I was free to move around like I wanted and get comfortable in the ways I needed to, but it was still intense and difficult and WORK.

You'll do great though. Seriously!! Relax and listen to your body. Don't be scared.

[Savoir Faire]

With induction from the moment of the first contraction it was KILL ME NOW. The pain was at a 10, horrible stabbing...uggg.

With going natural...I had the normal little contractions. I was able to sleep through them....I had at least 7 hours until they were to the really uncomfortable stage...but I don't remember them ever feeling like I did with induction.

Stay strong! Stay away from the induction, if possible!!

[engineer_mom]

induction is a completely different animal

My first was a pitocin-induced labor and my second was a med-free homebirth. The first one I felt so weak for asking for an epidural only 3.5 hours (3/4 cm) into the strong contractions, but it was so awful. I was "overdue" but I don't think my body was ready.

Both times I couldn't get off my hands and knees during contractions they were so intense. The second time, it was similarly intense but way easier to deal with. I had more time between the contractions and they were somehow different. Pain meds didn't even cross my mind (seriously).

If you've been through induction, you've dealt with more intense contractions than normal!