is induction or epi the problem? [Archive] - Bub Hub Pregnancy & Parenting Forum

bronny-jane

14-11-2007, 07:53

ok im sure we have all read here that being induced means your a high risk for a c/sec..... i disagree... having been induced 3 times with nice quick labours....once it started... no problems at all... i did use pethidine, which i now know helps me to dilate (i cant breathe through contractions, i tense up so they dont do the job as well as when im relaxed).

having friends who have been induced all had no problems either...that is unless they had an epidural...

i dont want to offend anyone right now..but i most likely will:D ... i think epidurals are the biggest risk of a c/sect..more then being induced...

so please tell me your thoughts and experiences... im just curious.... also if you had an epi..werent you paranoid that you couldnt feel your legs:eek: ... ive always wondered about that..

please dont be offended..just tell me your own experience

luckymama

14-11-2007, 08:03

hey BJ :wave:
For me personally, i think that both were the problem. I was induced with the gel first then needed all three doses of the drip. This made the contractions unbearable for me, so i begged for an epi. Once i had the epi, my legs were so numb, actually i was numb from the waist down. When it was time to push, it was nearly impossible. After two hours of pushing, DS just wasn't moving down, and i know if i didn't have an epi i could have pushed him out :gloomy: Which of course wouldn't have occured if i hadn't been induced.
So yeah for me, both was the problem.

tootiredtosleep

14-11-2007, 08:14

I was induced with the drip after my waters broke (with mec) and nothing else happened.
I wasn't given or offered an epi at the same time, just gas and pethedine.
In the end I had an emergency caesar with a spinal. After over 12 hours on the drip I was only 5cm.
By that stage I did not want to feel anything.

ETA: the only problem I had was bad care, and the fact that I put too much faith in the midwife. I don't blame the drugs, just poor, inexperienced decision making.

Tan-mumof3

14-11-2007, 09:03

I like you BJ have been induced 3 times and had 3 very quick and easy labours. I didn't have an epi i was scared of it and i was determined to do it without lol.
I am interested to see what others say i really don't know. iIjust know that i had 3 very intense but great and quick labours very positive for me :thumbsup: .

daisy1984

14-11-2007, 09:17

I was induced. I had two lots of gel, then my waters were broken, then the drip. I laboured for 12 hours with no pain relief, but I only dialated 3-4cm and bubs became distressed. Only then did I agree to an epi, but it didn't work anyway, it only numbed one side of my body. So I consider that the epidural had no bearing on the outcome (emergency c-section), I think it was just the result of being induced and my body reacting badly to a forced labour.

No more inductions for me!

QTB

14-11-2007, 09:25

luckymama

14-11-2007, 09:43

biscotti

14-11-2007, 10:33

I have been induced twice with the two girls (just with gel) and had two very quick labours (2 hrs and the other 3hrs), no drugs or pain relief and both wonderful birthing experiences :)

I went into labour naturally with my son and ended up with an Epi (which was stuffed up due to incompetency) and the birth from hell and it was a terrible terrible experience and resulted in him being born bleeding from the face with the enormous forceps. Never, ever again :no:

~Emmylou~

14-11-2007, 13:18

i think its a combo of the 2...

if you get induced and have an epi you have ALOT higher c-sec risk...

if you get induced contractions are usually hard and fast, which makes people ask for an epi, which again, can lead to a c-sec

KWIM? lol

:yes:

Also labours that are induced by breaking water are more likely to run into dramas because once the fluid is gone it's much harder for the baby to position itself properly.

But yeah, I think the big issue is that drip-induced labours are very, very painful and hard to manage without an epidural - particularly in a really long labour. Some women will get through shortish labours like this without pain relief but I haven't heard of many who can tolerate 15 or more hours on the drip without an epidural. Very very hard work.
So the two end up going hand-in-hand.

It's good BJ that you've been induced and had no problems, but the statistics are pretty clear that this is usually not the case, especially for first time mums :(

missie_mack

14-11-2007, 13:23

erinjacob

15-11-2007, 12:30

i dont think any one should be induced unless there 2 weeks over or theres somthing very wrong its just not natural and ether are epi's i did have a epi with my 2nd an did not like it at all ya it stopped the pain but when it wore of my goodness it was 10000 times worse.

Melo

15-11-2007, 12:32

I was induced and had an epidural at a Private Hospital with a pretty big C/Section rate and I had a quick and easy birth!

luckymama

15-11-2007, 12:34

I would think the problem with inducement leading to c sections is where the baby gets distressed or the body doesnt dialate within whatever is considered the appropriate time frame. Having a epi may add to this but this seems to be the norm with or without the epi.

that didn't happen for me, i was fully dilated, and pushing for 2 hours, DS wasnt distressed, but i think the ob made the decision to cut me open cos he thought i couldn't push him out and id already been in labour for 14 hours, not completely sure of the actual reason though. Maybe just to get me out of the delivery suite :rolleyes: who knows really.

Noah_and_Elijah

15-11-2007, 13:32

I personally believe that it differs person to person. I think that the majority of inductions these days are medically unecessary and can be avoided. That's not to say that they won't be successful, or that they will or will not end in c/section, just that they could be avoided.

I went into labour spontaneously and dilated to 8cm on my own before my cervix began to swell and there was no room left for bubs to descend so it was either a c/section or try the epidural to slow things down and hope that by doing that the cervix goes back to normal.

It worked and I gave birth naturally, the way I had hoped to. As far as I'm concerned, the epidural did me a favour if anything. :yes:

doulacara

15-11-2007, 18:11

Inducing labour without sound medical reason is messing with nature and the way your body prepares for labour. Sure, for many people, induction gets labour going and it works out OK. But for many others, induction fails and surgery is performed.

Induction as many potential risks for both mother and baby (inc putting excess strain on the uterine muscles and stressing the baby). Many inductions that lead to c/s for foetal distress could thus potentially have been avoided by not inducing in the first place.

Epidurals have their own set of risks as well, as does any intervention or drug. Nature worked out a really good system all by herself and it works most of the time. IMHO, the interventions should be saved for when a problem is actually evident.

mmalt

15-11-2007, 18:28

BronnyJ - I too was pretty much like you. I had the gel at my check up with doctor with #1 as I had very high blood pressure and was sent to hospital for monitoring. I wasn't expected to go into labour but did naturally within hours. Things were progressing fine and then the pain became unbearable so I had pethadine!! Big mistake for me. It sent me very woozy and tired and therefore, I didn't have the energy to push my baby out. She came out through forceps in the end but I only had a 3 and half hour labour all up.

With #2, I was induced by drip followed closely with my waters being broken and with just having the gas this time, he was out in 1hr and half!!

I have booked in for an induction again as I live an hour and half from my hospital and choose not to chance going into labour where I am and not making it to my hospital. I'm hoping that things run as smoothly as my first 2 did but you just never know.

I personally handled the very fast comings on of labour with being induced, well, I don't really know any differently. I am not someone that would like to have an epidural for the same reason that I don't think that I could handle not having control or feeling from waist below! However, I'm not totally against it either, if I was to be in labour for an extended amount of time, then it may be my only option for some respite.

Everyone is different with different views and experiences but Me, I'm totally with you!!

Bring it ON!!! (pardon the pun :laughing::laughing:)

~Bec~

15-11-2007, 19:02

I was induced 16 days over due, had an epi and was close to having an emergency c/s. The reason was that bubs just didn't want to come out and it turned out that I wasn't very good at pushing. (It could be argued that bubs wasn't ready to come out which is why he was so hard to budge. I was really struggling in the last week or so of preg. I couldn't sleep and was getting more drained every day so I was ok with being induced.) When the possibility of having an emergency c/s was mentioned during 2nd stage of labour this was all the motivation I needed to push him out and out he popped (with the help of the vacuum). I had an epi and it was fantastic. The epi allowed me to get some much needed rest during labour. If I hadn't of had that rest I would have probably been even worse at pushing and more likely to have had the emergency c/s.

Hoorah for epis :smiliedance:

neostudded

15-11-2007, 19:28

I went into labour naturally two days before my EDD,

2 hours after my waters broke I was 2 cms dialated.Contrations were 4/3 minutes apart.
4 hours after waters broke I asked for an epi.contraions were 3/2 minute apart.
5 hours after waters broke I was 10 cm's dialated.Contrations were on top of one another.
7 hours after my waters broke, I began pushing without turning the epi down one bit and I gave brith to my son after 25 minutes of pushing.

I didnt feel the pushing but I said I could so they wouldnt turn it down! :laughing: :o

doulacara

15-11-2007, 19:51

it turned out that I wasn't very good at pushing.

Did you still have the full epidural effect when pushing? The epidural can make it difficult or even impossible to push because you can't feel what to do.

Pixie

15-11-2007, 19:51

From my own research I believe it to be from being induced. I researched it as I was induced and ended up with a EMCS.

I think a reason being you are sent into labour before your body/baby is ready you labour a long time sometimes not even that long. You are marked down as "failure to progress" IE you're taking up to much time. or they say "NCT" Non conductive trace meaning the baby's HR is not "perfect" so they rush you off to have a EMCS. Increasing your risk of hemorrhage and other complications due to being in labour for an extended period.

Now as someone who was induced and had a PPH I have come to the conclucsion I made a huge mistake one that nearly cost me my life. One that I shall never under-take again. When I hear people saying Oh I am getting induced I just want the baby out I want to scream and say "I nearly died because I felt like you do" It scares me it has changed my life it has changed my views totally. I can only ever see being induced for medical reasons to protect both the mother and child.

Strong opinions but they are just my own.

~Bec~

15-11-2007, 20:01

Did you still have the full epidural effect when pushing? The epidural can make it difficult or even impossible to push because you can't feel what to do.

I can't remember if I had the full epi in - I think I did but I could feel a definate difference in the contractions when it became obvious it was time to push. I could push - I just struggled to hold the push in between taking breaths. I had some feeling below the waist, enough that I felt all the contractions but I managed to sleep through most of labour. I could feel the baby move outwards towards the very end as well. The midi tested the feeling in my legs every so often during labour by pressing an ice cube on various parts of my legs. I could feel something pressing but couldn't feel that it was cold - it just felt like a thumb pressing.

doulacara

15-11-2007, 20:09

Some babies just seem to take longer to get there than others. I supported someone recently whose second stage took 4.5 hours, but she got there in the end.

Having an epidural also means that you are reclining so not in an optimal position to use gravity to your full advantage.

It's a choice we make in having pharmaceutical pain relief - yes an epidural relieves pain, but you give up and risk a lot for it.

I just didn't want you to think you were bad at pushing - birthing is what you were designed for - perhaps there were other factors at play. :)

Cara

ShadyCharacter

16-11-2007, 14:07

ok im sure we have all read here that being induced means your a high risk for a c/sec..... i disagree... having been induced 3 times with nice quick labours....once it started... no problems at all...

having friends who have been induced all had no problems either...that is unless they had an epidural...

... i think epidurals are the biggest risk of a c/sect..more then being induced...

so please tell me your thoughts
I think that ancedotal evidence does not make fact. Induction is nearly (and I did say nearly) always the beginning of a slippery slope down the road of more intervention which may or may not result in a c/section.

But at the end of the day there are real physiological reasons why induction is more likely to lead to c/section... in a nutshell, you are introducing synthetic hormone into your body at a much higher rate than your body would produce naturally, in turn, bubs is more likely to get distressed, which results in at best, instrumental delivery, or a c/section.

Unfortunately I don't have much time to get into it in any more depth right now. I actually have some good statistics on this at home, so if you really are interested I can post back again tonight.