Hoping for a non-augmented birth after two that were...

[allisonrose]

I am wondering if my body is capable of giving birth without pitocin augmentation.

My first son was a hospital planned birth: I was GBS+ and my water broke before contractions. I was "allowed" some time for contractions to start but when they weren't coming on as quickly and strongly as they liked, I was pushed into getting pit.

My second son was a planned homebirth. I was in active labor for a long time: probably around 36 hours. It was likely malpositioning that caused such an abnormally long labor. Eventually I was exhausted and couldn't take the pain anymore and we transferred. I was given IV pain meds and pit and managed a vaginal birth.

Now I am pregnant with my third. I am considering an out of hospital birth but am anxious that my body is incapable of delivering without pitocin augmentation.

Does anyone have personal experience or has know or seen someone have a delivery without augmentation when previous births were augmented?

[greenmamato2]

With my first I contracted every 5 minutes for 8 weeks.  They eventually gave me pitocin to "induce" labor, and I had a really hard 17 hour labor.

With my second I had no pitocin, went into labor naturally, and had her in 6 1/2 hours. 

Definitely each baby is different!  I hope you get the labor/birth you're hoping for.
 

[starrlamia]

your body can most likely do it! You were put into situations that dont really have any bearing on how well your body can labour. As greenmamato said every labour is different and there is absolutely no harm in labouring without pitocin only to end up needing it. I would speak to your midwife, and discuss your previous births and how those previous issues could resolve in different ways.

[allisonrose]

Originally Posted by greenmamato2 

With my first I contracted every 5 minutes for 8 weeks.  They eventually gave me pitocin to "induce" labor, and I had a really hard 17 hour labor.

With my second I had no pitocin, went into labor naturally, and had her in 6 1/2 hours. 

Definitely each baby is different!  I hope you get the labor/birth you're hoping for.
 

Wow, your first sounds quite extreme.

Sometimes I think as long as it's only 24 hours of labor, I can do it. On other forums, moms would think I'm nuts.

Originally Posted by starrlamia 

your body can most likely do it! You were put into situations that dont really have any bearing on how well your body can labour. As greenmamato said every labour is different and there is absolutely no harm in labouring without pitocin only to end up needing it. I would speak to your midwife, and discuss your previous births and how those previous issues could resolve in different ways.

There would be harm to our savings account to opt for an out of hospital birth and need to transfer for pit. If we go with the birth center, we will have to prepay out of pocket. (They will file with our insurance company but with our deductible and their refund policy, I don't think we will get a single penny back.) In that case, if we transfer, we will still have hospital bills on top of what we paid the birth center.

I did set up an appointment to consult with a midwife at the birth center about whether I might be a good candidate for the birth center. But there's a little voice in the back of my mind saying "what will the complication be with this labor?" Each of my complications were independent of each other: no GBS+ status and no premature rupture of membranes in second labor and, as far as I am aware, there was no positioning issue during my first labor.

[amlikam]

I am going to send you a PM about this.

[JudiAU]

I don't know.

But I can say that how your birth is "managed" makes a big difference. For instance, with my first I dilated fully and the baby hadn't descended. Had an epidural and waited five hours (no distress) and gave birth vaginally. The odds of that happening with most obs is pretty much zippo and I only had the experience because I had the most liberal midwife on call. Also, my water broken and I didn't go into labor for about nine hours so someone might have had me on a "clock." And yes, the midwife was watching the time but it was a different, less paranoid clock. So most doctors would have said malpositioning or whatever and given me a csection. And I probably was so in the next labor I had a lot of chiro to open up my hips and I had a two hour labor.

And with this labor it seems likely that my water will break again and I will have a delayed contractions and I am also gbs positive and had a two hour labor. So an ob might say we should schedule a csection to avoid all risk. (Happened no joke on my babycenter birth board)  Instead my midwife sent me home with hibicleanse to clean 3x daily + probiotics and we did another test in a week. So if I come back clear I'll continue with the hibicleanse until delivery and not worry about it. And if it doesn't then I can have the option of either doing nothing, or taking antibiotics at birth, or waiting for my water to break if it does and starting antibiotics then because the recent research is really 2 hours not 4 hours and if my water breaks I would probably have enough time.

My point is that often management is the issue and then sometimes it isn't. I would just encourage you to think about how past interventions or non-action may have made a difference. Needing pit for a vaginal birth might just be what your body needs. But it might be something that is avoided by actively addressing other stressors you've had.

[allisonrose]

I think the quick summary of my first labor covers how it was managed: I was on a clock and my body wasn't moving fast enough for their taste. Maybe my labor would have taken a slow, meandering path or perhaps things would have picked up all on its own.

For my second, there was very little management. My midwife was very hands off. There were times when I really wanted to just get that baby out but the midwife was taking a wait and see approach. During a postpartum visit she told me that she could have given me black and blue cohoshes to augment labor but she saves those till she is sure labor is the "real thing". I guess me being at 9.5 cm for a couple hours didn't seem "real". Instead she recommended taking herbs that would cause the contractions to slack off so I could get some rest. It was the least restful rest ever and I was somewhere around 5-7 when she checked me in the morning.

But anyway, just because your water broke early in one labor does not mean it will in the next one. I was in early labor throughout Sunday, called my midwife early Monday morning to come check on me, active labor all day on Monday and into Tuesday and in the morning she artificially ruptured my membranes since they were still intact and I was really out of all reserves and the hospital would did it anyway. We transferred mid day on Tuesday and my son was born around 3 pm.

[cinderella08]

I'm hoping for a non-augmented birth this time.  My 1st was an induction due to HELLP (resulted in a c/s).  My 2nd was an induction due to preeclampsia (VBAC).  The 2nd induction really was a breeze (labor), but I'd love to not have to go through that...

[etsdtm99]

my 1st, my water broken @39 wks, ctx didn't start 'fast enough' - they made m stay in bed as soon as my water broke (i went in cause i thought it was leaking, it broke in L&D)  started Pit - she was born 19 hours after my water broke, about 11 hours after i got the epidural .. 16 after starting pit..

my 2nd i was induced at 41 wks, 12 hours star of pit to birth..

my 3rd was a homebirth, water broke at 40 wks 2 days, ctx started right away, 7 mins apart/mild, got intense 5 hours in and she was born 5 hours later.. 

so, my body totally did it without pit the 3rd time around.. i wasn't sure it was possible either, and her position was not ideal ..  

[allisonrose]

Staci - Thank you so much for posting! Nice to know it is possible. I am kind of putting together a "pregnancy plan" to help lead up to a natural birth: staying active, doing yoga, (hopefully) a couple of visits to a chiropractor and chugging red raspberry leaf tea!
Edited by allisonrose - 11/20/12 at 4:55am