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From: Angela
Email: angela.craft@logtec.com
Category: Induction/Pitocin
Date: 06 Aug 2005
Pitocin not a miracle drug Pitocin itself is not evil, especially if used correctly and moderately. I am angry at the lack of education among the medical industry about the use and abuse of pitocin. Here is my story. On Wednesday afternoon light contractions began and my water bag began to leak. I was unaware that it was my water bag leaking and was told that the baby was probably pressing on my bladder making me leak urine. On Thursday evening, I went to bed late and decided to time contractions for the fun of it. It turns out that they were 7 minutes apart exactly. I couldn't really believe it because it was still 5 weeks till my due date and the contractions didn't hurt at all. We called the doctor and they said to come in to get checked out. They didnt' believe that I was in real labor until we got there at midnight and put the monitor on me. I was having hard contractions and the fluid leaking was amniotic fluid. I was immediately given an ultrasound to check the baby. She was doing great. They put me in a room on an IV with antibiotics because of the broken water bag and immediatley started to mention starting pitocin because my contractions only had me at 1cm. A was told to rest, so I laid in bed until 10:30 the next morning when my doctor came in and finished breaking my water and started the pitocin because I was still only at 1cm. I heard a nurse in the hallway say something about a C-section. I was so scared. Then the pitocin kicked in an hour later. Up until then the contractions had gradually been getting stronger, but I could handle it. With each one, I was able to breath deeper and focus more. Once the pitocin hit, I had full active labor contractions with less than 30 seconds between them. They didn't swell like a wave, but were sudden and hard.They upped the pitocin and put me back into the bed on my back with an oxygen mask to help steady both our heart rates and speed up the labor. I was at 2cm by noon and the epidural was being given. The docotor came in to check me some time during the haze that was the afternoon and said that I had one our to progress. If I didn't and emergency c-section would be required because the baby was getting stressed. I didn't know it at the time, but I had also began to bleed. We prayed for God to help me progress. At 3pm the doctor came back in to prep me for the c-section and I asked her to check me one more time. She said that the pitocin could be turned up again, but the nurse said that it was maxed out and had been for several hours. I asked her again to check me and she said that it was no use because I wasn't progressing and I would just have to accept the c-section. She appologized but said that it just sometimes works out that way and left to call the OR. The student doctor came in to have me sign the releases and I asked her to check me at we chatted about the pitocin while she gloved up. She said that my cervix wasn't ripe when my water broke and the pitocin had failed because of that. She did the exam and looked up at me with shock on her face. By some miracle, I went from 2cm to 10cm in an hour. She said that she would give me a chance to push, but that I was bleeding a little and she wouldn't take the chance of a rupture. I pushed for an hour and had to wear an oxygen mask the whole time to try to get the baby enough oxygen. With the final snip of the epesiotomy, my baby girl was born on Friday. They rushed her off while I lay there being pressed by the doctor. I asked what was wrong and why she didn't cry, but was cut off by my doctor who said that I was really bleeding and needed more pitocin to get the placenta out now. After a few minutes of the worst pain I've ever felt, she had to manually remove the placenta and quell the bleeding. The pitocin failed to work for that too. It turns out that the intense contractions had robbed my baby of oxygen and they din't know if she was damaged or not. Now, eight months later, I am glad to have a baby who is finally rolling over and laughing. She couldn't smile until she was over four months old, but thankfully, she is doing much better. I, unfortunatley, am at a high risk for bleeding durigng another pregnancy because of the damage the strong contractions did to my uterus. I am not against pitocin in the right situations. But, I'm mortified that my docotr didn't know (or maybe didn't care) that my unripe cervix made pitocin unlikely to work for me. I hope that this helps you all to see that there is a right and wrong time for this medication. Talk to your care provider about the use of pitocin and best wishes for a healthy pregnancy and baby. Being a mother is wonderful and I would go through it all again. I'm thankful for the student doctor who listened to me and helped me understand the dangers of this drug. Labor is not a medical dysfunction, don't let your doctor treat it as such. Don't let my story scare you. It's meant to inform and encourage. Your labor can be a blessed event if you are em Email: angela.craft@logtec.com
Just for the record, all information posted here are personal experiences/stories. There are no Doctors/Nurses answering questions on the board. This board is for sharing stories so we can learn from each other! If you have any problems with the board, please email me at Angela4KP1@comcast.net