Overdue? Inductions- What do you wish someone told you? - Page 2

[BetsyS]

With #1, I did every old wives' tale out there. Bumpy roads, long walks, sex, spicy food, eggplant parmesan at "the" restaurant, pineapple, cumin, you name it. I did castor oil TWICE. And neither time worked.

I went into spontaneous labor with him at 41 weeks. It was long, he was big and malpositioned, and I ended up with a c-section. I wish that I had begged for an induction at 39 weeks with him (I had been 3 cm since 36 weeks). I think that he would have been small enough for me to birth. How's that for a non-MDC opinion?

With #2, I was now a VBAC. I did not want to be induced, because like a PP said, the emotion of that was stronger than I could deal with. Intellectually, I knew that induction was probably okay. Emotionally, I did NOT want an induction with a scarred uterus.

I tried everything again to get labor going. No dice. Only, this time, I only did castor oil ONCE. I had prodromal labor for about 6-8 hours a night for the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy. At 6pm on the night of 41 5/7 weeks, I gave up, and I decided that he was never coming. I absolutely did not want to go past 42 weeks (again, the emotional toll). It was late on a Thursday night, and the weekend was coming. He was born by elective repeat c-section that night.

[MegBoz]

Originally Posted by beep

I was given misoprostol instead of Cervidil, but it's pretty much the same thing.

Whoa, no it's not! Misoprostol is sold under the brand name "cytotec." First, it's a stomach ulcer medicine that was never approved for induction. Yes, yes yes, docs will say such "off-label" use is normal, but the manufacturer actually issued letters expressly instructing OBs to NOT use it for induction!

Cytotec is given in pill format - either vaginally inserted or orally. In either case, you can't really remove it! So if uterine hyper-stimulation occurs (ctrx on top of one another - which can deprive the baby of oxygen!) there's no going back. Gotta be a CS! Whereas with Cervidil, it's like a tampon that can be removed.

The book "Born in the USA" by Dr. Marsden Wagner has lots of great info on Cytotec. He expressly credits cytotec for the death of babies AND mamas - particularly in the case of VBACs. He also points to it's use for induction as YET ANOTHER case of OBs doing procedures/using medications on women that haven't been tested (other examples being X-rays in the 30's and thalidomide in the 50s &... I forget the other.) & what he calls "Vigilante obstetrics" - assuming something is safe until proven otherwise, as opposed to the way medicine should be practiced - waiting first for safety - and, at very least, getting informed consent from patients & letting them know they're being experimented upon with something of unknown danger & risk/benefit.

[SashaBear]

Baby #1 I had PIH and was on bedrest. I was offered an induction on Thursday and turned it down. On Friday night I went into labor on my own. The contractions were 3 minutes apart when I went to the hospital. I had not dialated past the one to two I was earlier. My doctor decided to take the weekend off (thats why he offered an induction) and I had his partner that I had never met. I think all this and being in bed stopped my labor. It started up again in the night when I would get out of bed. The nurses would yell at me and I would get back in bed. Labor would slow. I finally got pitocin to get the contractions regular and I was having back labor. Got epidural DS was born 24 hours after my first contraction with vacuum extraction and episitonomy. (sp?)

Baby #2 was induced at 41w1d for no fetal movement after a NST. 12 hours of labor with epidural. Doctor LIED to me and never mentioned that she was had a poor station. She never engaged and I had no chance of pushing her out at 10 cms. She was too high. Went for c-section. She was born with wet lung and almost died. Spent 6 days in the NICU and is perfect.