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Oxytocin Shot

post #1 of 19
6/24/10 at 11:44pm
Thread Starter 
Is anyone here who is planning a HB considering the oxytocin shot during the crowning of the baby? My midwife talked to me about this today and I'm not sure if I should just get it or wait until I show signs of a potential hemmorage. I guess WHO recommends all women who HB get it because it has shown to decrease the percentage of hemmorages by 40%. I have had 2 HB before and never got it, but this midwife seemed pretty adamant about it. Any thoughts?
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post #2 of 19
6/25/10 at 12:02am
I take it, am grateful for it and would argue to get it. I would rather get my shot *before* bleeding to anemia rather than *after* that point. Anemia has wrecked more than one babymoon for me, and I'm not giving it the chance to do so if something as minor as a stupid little injection has a good shot of keeping that from happening. I had the shot my most recent birth, had very manageable blood loss and iron levels in the mid 12s at 3 weeks post partum.

I think it's reasonable to decline but it's something I'll always ask for personally.
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post #3 of 19
6/25/10 at 1:07am
the WHO and other recommendations are for "active management" in clinical settings the standard is not the same for home delivery

BTW here is a recent study refuting the usefulness of active management for low risk of hemorrhage-

Women Birth. 2010 Mar 10.
Holistic physiological care compared with active management of the third stage of labour for women at low risk of postpartum haemorrhage: A cohort study. Fahy K, Hastie C, Bisits A, Marsh C, Smith L, Saxton A.
The School of Nursing and Midwifery, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, 2308, Australia.--
-------skipping most of the abstract-----
RESULTS: At the tertiary unit, 344 of 3075 low risk women (11.2%) experienced postpartum haemorrhages (PPH). At the midwifery-led unit, PPH occurred for 10 of 361 women (2.8%), OR=4.4, 95% CI [2.3, 8.4]. Treatment received analysis showed that active management (n=3016) was associated with 347 postpartum haemorrhages (11.5%) compared with receiving holistic psychophysiological care (n=420) which was associated with 7 (1.7%) PPH OR=7.7, 95% CI [3.6, 16.3]. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that 'holistic psychophysiological care' in the third stage labour is safe for women at low risk of postpartum haemorrhage. 'Active management' was associated with a seven to eight fold increase in postpartum haemorrhage rates for this group of women. Further prospective observational evaluation would be helpful in testing this association.
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post #4 of 19
6/25/10 at 2:22am
yeah, it is not the golden standard for homebirth by any means. me personally i would decline, and particularly where you don't have a history of PPH, i don't know how urgent it is for you. i would ask her to see the literature. does she have a handout of some sort?
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post #5 of 19
6/25/10 at 3:37pm
Thread Starter 
not sure about the lit.. Do you ladies know if there is a difference in effectiveness in getting the shot during 3rd phase and waiting to see if there are any signs of possible hemmorage? I will ask to see her literature and pass the above study info on to her. thanks
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post #6 of 19
6/25/10 at 3:42pm
PPH sucks. Anemia sucks. I'd take the shot procactively now that I've had it, but not otherwise. I would make sure my MW was carrying it though.
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post #7 of 19
6/25/10 at 5:05pm
There are herbal options for bleeding that you can take as well, that don't have negitive side effects. I'm pretty suprised that your midwife is pushing it so much. Do you have a history of bleeding a lot?

I bleed a lot, but I treat it by eating some of the placenta (in a smoothie you can't even taste it) and by taking arnica.

I'm fine within hours, up and walking around, no dizziness even.

Eating the placenta has many, many benefits. Raw is best, IMHO. Like I said, in a smoothie, you can't taste it, smell it, and there's no texture. Do some research on it
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post #8 of 19
6/25/10 at 6:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BabyMae09 View Post
There are herbal options for bleeding that you can take as well, that don't have negitive side effects. I'm pretty suprised that your midwife is pushing it so much. Do you have a history of bleeding a lot?

I bleed a lot, but I treat it by eating some of the placenta (in a smoothie you can't even taste it) and by taking arnica.

I'm fine within hours, up and walking around, no dizziness even.

Eating the placenta has many, many benefits. Raw is best, IMHO. Like I said, in a smoothie, you can't taste it, smell it, and there's no texture. Do some research on it
This.

My midwife tries herbal remedies before anything else. Also, ingesting the placenta is a fantastic option.

I'm planning on a placenta smoothie immediately after the birth no matter what. (Getting the rest of it encapsulated ) It's worth looking into.
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post #9 of 19
6/26/10 at 9:00am
With my first I had the oxytocin shot just after ds was born. I can't imagine getting it while my baby is crowning. My midwife was more into the moment, told me to reach down and feel my baby's head and that really helped me! If someone had given me a shot I would have taken longer to push him out and probably have hit them
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post #10 of 19
6/26/10 at 12:04pm
The WHO recommendation is not as the baby is crowning, it's after the shoulder delivers. Which is still very *rightnowrightnowrightnow* but the distinction is important.

I was quite anemic up until a couple of weeks before this last birth, and if my numbers had continued to be so low I would have elected a variation on active management for myself (pit at birth, being a little more alert about enabling the delivery of the placenta). I've recommended the same to women before. I have bled a lot at a previous birth and would rather take the pit (the side effects aren't THAT bad IMO, don't last that long, and it works really really well) than deal with the total lack of energy and hashed-out feeling that a hemorrhage can cause. As it was, I did tell my MW that I wanted her to be really proactive about bleeding. That was my preference though, not something that she tried to convince me of.
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post #11 of 19
6/26/10 at 10:27pm
I was given the shot after birth of my first (in the hospital) and my 2nd (homebirth), though I did not have any signs of hemorrhaging. I had absolutely unbearable afterpains with my 1st and 2nd child. I did not get the shot with my 3rd child, had no afterpains whatsoever. It`s purely anecdotal, but it certainly made me wonder...
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post #12 of 19
6/26/10 at 10:34pm
Thread Starter 
I have had not history of bleeding more than than the normal amount. My MW is just into knowing about all options available and letting me make in informed choice. I am thankful for this, but also think that she does tend to tone toward the side of being a bit overly cautious. I think that since I have not had any problems before I will just ask her to look for the signs of potential hemmorage (fast labor, long labor, more than the usual leakage of blood) and then get the shot if necessary. I was not aware that the shot came as the shoulders were coming out, I guess that makes more sense since the life of the oxytocin in so small. Thanks for that correction.
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post #13 of 19
6/27/10 at 1:34am
Just another anecdotal story, but I had a rough birth center birth with #1, and ended up with the shot after the birth. I pushed for over 3 hours because she wasn't engaged, and I had to lay on my side/back because the membranes were ruptured and they were afraid of cord prolapse. After the birth I was bleeding heavily and the placenta didn't come for almost an hour. They ended up giving me the shot to help force the placenta and slow the bleeding. For some reason they didn't want me to nurse after the birth; they wanted me to stay flat on my back because of the bleeding. Not sure why I couldn't have tried nursing in that position to make the placenta come and the bleeding slow down, but I think they (midwife, student midwife, and 2 nurses) were more concerned than they were trying to show me. That said, having the shot at that point worked well. My uterus contracted, I delivered the placenta (I think it was something like 50 minutes after the birth), the bleeding decreased, and then they stitched up my tears and helped me sit up and nurse.
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post #14 of 19
6/27/10 at 11:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BabyMae09 View Post
There are herbal options for bleeding that you can take as well, that don't have negitive side effects. I'm pretty suprised that your midwife is pushing it so much. Do you have a history of bleeding a lot?
Where can I read about the negative side effects post-delivery? I know about the negatives during labor, but this idea is new to me.

I have needed a shot of oxytocin once after a delivery, though I've been a heavy bleeder after all four.
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post #15 of 19
6/27/10 at 12:31pm
Thread Starter 
My midwife said that there are no negative side effects of the oxytocin shot. Since it is mimics your own hormone, there are no risks. Is there other info out there about side effects of this shot?
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post #16 of 19
6/27/10 at 1:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vanislandmama View Post
My midwife said that there are no negative side effects of the oxytocin shot. Since it is mimics your own hormone, there are no risks. Is there other info out there about side effects of this shot?
There are always risks. Some may be ones you feel are worth the cost...but there is never a drug without risks. It is NOT the same as your own hormone. Your oxytocin receptors do not uptake pitocin the same way they do its own oxytocin. Google Micheal Odent's work on this. You can also google to read the Pitocin package inserts for other clinical info.
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post #17 of 19
6/29/10 at 12:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vanislandmama View Post
My midwife said that there are no negative side effects of the oxytocin shot. Since it is mimics your own hormone, there are no risks. Is there other info out there about side effects of this shot?
Drugs commonly given during hospital labor may impair a woman's ability to breastfeed
http://www.naturalnews.com/028010_bi...stfeeding.html
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post #18 of 19
6/30/10 at 2:38pm
I gave birth at a FSBC and had PPH and pit administered after baby was out (I think before placenta). No afterbirth pains. Second birth was en route to FSBC, no PPH and mild afterbirth pains. Third birth at home PPH and HORRID afterbirth pains, managed with herbs. It took me months to recover my energy levels...my worst recovery by far. I'm having my fourth in August, another HB with same midwife. I am asking for more aggressive intervention--pit after birth of baby, and even methergine if she feels it would be helpful in hopes of a more normal recovery. I am also planning on a placenta smoothie, but my bleeding is pretty immediate and by the time I get that smoothie the damage will have been done. So if there's any sign of more than usual bleeding, I am taking a more "active" approach. It's a tough call to make. I have had that one perfect recovery and I want it again...no difference in what I've done prenatally; it's hard to figure out (unless it was just compensation for delivering in a truck on I-10, lol).
But none of this was pushed on me--I brought it up to my mw and we discussed different options and I told her what I wanted...
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post #19 of 19
6/30/10 at 3:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vanislandmama View Post
My midwife said that there are no negative side effects of the oxytocin shot. Since it is mimics your own hormone, there are no risks. Is there other info out there about side effects of this shot?
here are some links that you can check out, i haven't been through all of them in depth, but they seem to have some good information.


http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/a...tage/index.php
http://www.birthjourney.com/thirdstagemaze.php
http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/vict3rd.html
http://www.empoweredchildbirth.com/a.../bleeding.html
http://www.aafp.org/afp/2006/0315/p1025.html
http://books.google.ca/books?id=ELUe...20care&f=false
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