Oct 18

“Well, I Wouldn’t Want To Die On The Day My Baby Was Born.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to die on the day my baby was born.”- OB to mother at a prenatal, while discussing the need for routine pitocin for third stage management.

72 people dislike these words.

There are 19 comments to this post.

Tee had this to say, Oct 18, 2011 @ 2:13 pm (Quote)

For the love of all that is pure and holy!

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The Deranged Housewife Reply:
October 24th, 2011 at 6:47 am The Deranged Housewife(Quote)

LOL!

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Lori had this to say, Oct 18, 2011 @ 2:37 pm (Quote)

I asked my OB about this and she said that “studies (and she gave me the names of the studies) have shown improved out come for the mother with active management of the 3rd stage” and she strongly recommended it based on that. Honest answer with out the death threat.

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TheHausewife Reply:
October 18th, 2011 at 2:44 pm TheHausewife(Quote)

See, that would make all the difference- if care providers would learn (be taught) to offer information without resulting to scare tactics, but with informative, evidence-based reasons, that would go SO far!

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Vicki Beauchamp Reply:
October 18th, 2011 at 3:05 pm Vicki Beauchamp(Quote)

Those studies are referring to patients in the hospital, where routine use of pitocin is common. Tire out the uterus and it’s bound to have a hard time clamping down in the 3rd stage… Find a study done with no pit in the second stage then you’ll have a better answer.

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Cattaca Reply:
October 18th, 2011 at 4:15 pm Cattaca(Quote)

I had a completely textbook natural birth (no meds or medical interventions…progressing 1 cm every hour) and still needed pitocin for third stage. I was able to nurse immediately after birth, tried nipple stimulation, everything and I was still bleeding out on the table. I think I might have started pushing before I was ready but who knows?

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jaed Reply:
October 18th, 2011 at 7:18 pm jaed(Quote)

Oh, some mothers end up needing it, no question. But that’s not the same as giving it to everyone as a matter of routine, needed or not – which is what I take the original post to be talking about.

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Amber Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 5:06 am Amber(Quote)

Great, another study to show we will all explode if we attempt a VBAC.

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Jessica had this to say, Oct 18, 2011 @ 2:47 pm (Quote)

Great! Then you can assist by not using traction, and by letting me nurse my baby immediately after birth instead of taking him away and sticking him under a warmer before poking and prodding him. ‘Cause those things also help with third stage management.

I’m all for using drugs when they’re necessary, but if I’m trying to avoid them by using other “friendlier” techniques, why not?

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Lisa in Texas Reply:
October 18th, 2011 at 3:14 pm Lisa in Texas(Quote)

^^^This!!!

Pitocin doesn’t have to be given routinely and automatically with EVERY single birth. I never received it for my 4 homebirths and I had midwives who didn’t use traction and allowed me to nurse my baby.

If you find that it’s needed after all that then by all means use it. Just don’t make it a standard that every woman gets.

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Samantha had this to say, Oct 18, 2011 @ 2:49 pm (Quote)

Well it wouldn’t be my first choice either Dr.

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himom had this to say, Oct 18, 2011 @ 3:14 pm (Quote)

So, instead of the dead baby card, he’s playing the dead mama card. Same scare tactic without any real information being shared.

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Jenny Islander had this to say, Oct 18, 2011 @ 3:42 pm (Quote)

I always want to ask these people if they were asleep in history class–all twelve years of it. How long do they think the human race has been on this planet? When we first looked around us, did we see pre-measured syringes full of pitocin growing on nearby trees? Same goes for “Your baby will starve because newborns always need formula” and so forth. Yes, some medical advances have made life easier for some laboring women and newborns these days. But these people are talking as if the human race couldn’t exist without XYZ modern medical invention.

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Nica Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:03 am Nica(Quote)

Yep, always wondered how my grandmother gave birth to four children at home ( and LIVED to have my mom, her fifth child, in a hospital…). There must have been a pitocin tree in the backyard…

I do realize there is a time and place for pitocin use and it CAN be a good thing, but it doesn’t need to be used in ALL births as many of the ladies here have shown…

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Heather had this to say, Oct 18, 2011 @ 5:20 pm (Quote)

And that is the exact reason I cried the entire way to the OR for my cesarean with my first. I was certain that I would never get to hold my baby, that the cesarean would kill me.

Of course, at the time, I didn’t know that the Pitocin (augmentation bullied into after a 5 hour stall) had already tried and stolen 3 minutes of my life.

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Melissa had this to say, Oct 18, 2011 @ 5:28 pm (Quote)

“Holistic physiological care compared with active management of the third stage of labour for women at low risk of postpartum haemorrhage: A cohort study”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20226752

a link to the full text:
http://www.womenandbirth.org/article/S1871-5192%2810%2900022-3/fulltext

Go read this!

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Carrie C had this to say, Oct 18, 2011 @ 8:56 pm (Quote)

Nope. It is my greatest hope that I die the day AFTER my baby was born. Idiot.

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Thencamehenry had this to say, Oct 19, 2011 @ 8:32 am (Quote)

This conversation happened as we were reviewing my birth plan a couple of weeks before my due date. I was planning (and achieved) a natural birth in a hospital. The exact wording she took issue with was “I prefer not to receive Pitocin after delivery unless required due to heavy bleeding.” I wasn’t refusing pit, just asking that it be used as needed instead of routinely. I was seeing a naturally-minded OB practice at the time and the other OB and all three CNMs signed off on the birth plan with no problem, so I was taken aback. Not a very professional thing to say to a woman who is 8 months pregnant.

I get that she had a strong viewpoint she was trying to convey, but it would have been much better received if she had engaged in a dialogue with me about the pros and cons. I guess fear-mongering is faster and easier than informed consent. During the appointment she actually said, “I’m not one of those paternalistic doctors,” and I thought that’s exactly what you are!

Unfortunately this OB was on call for my son’s delivery. Fortunately I had a great nurse and the OB was only there for maybe 30 minutes out of the 8 hours I spent in L&D. She asked again if I wanted pit and I said only if I need it, which I didn’t. I bled very little and my uterus returned to size quickly, so much so that a postpartum nurse said she had trouble finding it because it was so small already.

I am all in favor of modern medicine, as evidenced by my choice to birth at a hospital. But the numbers just don’t add up. If every woman would die without Pitocin, how has our species survived? If 1 in 3 pregnancies require a c-section, then how is the Earth’s population nearing 7 billion?

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