one long 2.5 hour contrax - without pit?

[naturegirl7]

I did not have Pit or anything like that during labor, I did use RRL and cohosh tea before labor started though. And when I got the hospital, they tried AROM - but DS's head was wedged in my cervix so securely that nothing came out until I was crowning several hours later. everything I read or hear about Pit labors - that describes what I was feeling better than any non-Pit labor...

Could the AROM or the Cohoshes have caused a Pit-like labor??? Is herbal induction just as bad as artificial induction with Pit?


I don't know if it will help - but here is more info....
I got to the hospital and transition kicked in after the AROM. I had a wicked transition with him - for 2.5 hours I had one long, continuous contrax. I can't even really describe it as a contrax though - I was having GREAT contrax up until that point - good strong, coming close, intense but not painful despite it being back labor. Then the contrax changed to - I could not determine when a contrax started or ended - all I felt was this ungodly pressure - I honestly felt like I was being ripped apart as he descended further into the birth canal and at the same time, felt this really really intense (and painful) pressure bearing down inside me. He did end up with nasty bruises on his little cone head - you could see exactly how far I was dilated - so I am assuming the pressure and pain was from him trying to come out. I did ALOT of vomitting from the pain....and finally relented to a small dose of stadol cuz I just couldn't handle it anymore and needed a break from the painful pressure and the puking.....I napped for not even an hour, woke up pushing, and had DS after a sticky shoulder dystocia situation was resolved.....

Now that we are thinking about getting pregnant again - I am wondering if my labor was "naturally" like that (and could be like that next time too) or if it was the result of the herbal induction or the AROM.....

[lorijds]

To me it sounds like the pain you describe wasn't contraction pain, it was the pain and pressure of his head up against your bones and tissues as he descended. Transition is often described as intense, overwhelming pressure. I've been at births before where the mother couldn't tell when the contraction was begining or ending, but we could by palpating her uterus. "It just won't let up. The contraction's not ever going away." is what a lot of women say.

I wasn't there, I wasn't in your head, I wasn't feeling your abdomen to feel for contractions, of course I can't say for sure that the feeling of a continuous contraction were really the feelings of transition. But in my experience this is the case, that your uterus is still contracting and relaxing as normal, you are just experiencing such intense pressure in your pelvis and cervix that you can't feel anything else. Actually, I'm not sure it is possible for a uterus to contract nonstop, without relaxing at all, for 2.5 hours without there being some major problems. That would use a lot of energy on a cellular level, and I'm not sure if it is physiologically possible. Someone more knowledgable than me will have to weigh in on that, I really don't know.

Could AROM or the herbs have something to do with it; maybe. Could these sensations have happened without any augmentation? Definitely. Could it happen again? Yes. But it seems to me that each labor is so different for women, just like each *child* is so different.

Did you have a midwife? If so, when you have your next appointment, you can ask her about it. "It seemed like I had one continuous contraction for 2.5 hours; it was so intense. I'm wondering if that is reflected in my record? Could you explain that entire time period to me, from the practitioner's point of view?" That might help give you their perspective, and for you to give them yours.

Hope that helps.

[AlpineMama]

The poster above had a much better reply than me, but I will say that I had NO meds or cohoshes or anything and I had no breaks after my contrax started. It was continuous. I'm amazed when people say they went shopping or did housework or played cards through early labor - once I started, I was done for. I had a ten min break when walking from one wing of the hospital to the birth center, then another after transition. No other breaks. I did have peaks and valleys, but they were right on top of one another with no rest in between. So that I know is possible. The "pain" (not really that painful) was continuous though.