NOTE: Just something I researched while I was pregnant. Its not meant to scare or offend anyone. This information is from the documentary "Pregnant in America" which I watched long before I was ever pregnant. I will also say, births don't always go as planned. I, personally, had an unexpected labor and did have drugs like Pitocin and I did have the epidural. I would have liked to not have them, but things happen. I did not feel pressured to have the epidural, but it was my absolute last choice.
Around 4 million women in America give birth each year.
98% of those women give birth in a hospital.
Child birth has become more focused on how painful it is, rather than how empowering it is.
The conversation among women seems to have gone from if they are going to "Are you going to have an epidural?" to --> "How soon will you be getting the epidural?"
Isn't child birth something nature intended for us to feel??
Up to 80% of women are choosing to have the epidural. This is actually the same percentage I was given at my hospital too...80% of the women here have an epidural or some sort of pain med. Its not the most common thing for a nurse to actually see a drug free birth!!
Many women say that they felt they had no control after the epidural - due to not being able to feel. Many women also say that they didn't know when to push because they couldn't feel their body telling them to anymore.
A mother and a baby are designed to work together during labor. When both are drug impaired, they can no longer do this.
Here are the risks of an epidural, some are very small risks and some are larger:
- Toxic drug reaction
- Itchiness
- Rash
- Fever
- Allergic shock
- Infection
- Severe headache (comparable to having a migraine)
- Nausea
- Frequent vomiting
- Frequent shivering (I shook so bad; it was uncontrollable)
- Difficulty breathing
- Convulsions
- Unconsciousness
- Septic meningitis
- Fecal and urinary incontinence
- Bladder catheterization (this is actually almost always done when you have an epidural) (I had a catheter and found it hard to pee for awhile after I delivered)
- Bacterial meningitis
- Hypotension (leading to an emergency c-section)
- Seizures
- Trauma
- Prolonged labor
- Weaker uterine contractions
- Inability for woman to push baby out (many women complain about this)
- Increased likelihood of being induced
- Increased likelihood of episiotomy
- Increased likelihood of using forceps
- Increased likelihood of c-section
- Misplacement of catheter
- Accidental injection of anesthetic into the bloodstream
- Punctured dura
- Post dural puncture
- Headache (PDPH)
- Feeling of emotional detachment
- Decreased maternal-infant bonding
- Complications to the baby
- Direct drug toxicity to the baby
- Allergic reaction
- Fetal drowsiness
- Fetal respiratory insufficiency
- Fetal distress
- Abnormal fetal heart rate
- Fetal hyperthermia
- Neonatal jaundice (my son was jaundice; whether it was due to the epidural, I don't know)
- Poor fetal muscle strength
- Death of baby
- Increased likelihood of post-partum depression
- Neurological complications
- Permanent nerve damage
- Chronic back pain
- Chronic migraine headaches
- Chronic "pins and needles"
- Numbness and tingling of lower limbs
- Chronic bladder dysfunction
- Loss of sensation and sexual function
- Paraplegia
- Damage to spinal cord
- Cardiac arrest
- Maternal death
Holland is the home birth capital of the world. They don't see child birth as a medical thing, they see it as a natural thing that sometimes needs medical attention. Almost 90% of women deliver at home in Holland. They see very little complications in child birth there. Home birth is very inexpensive (usually under $1000) and is covered by insurance. In addition, most women do not use any pain medication. They feel that a woman's body is made to give birth and feel birth.
In Germany, their hospital rooms are made to cater to a woman's many needs in birth. They have large tubs to give birth in, comfy beds, different tools to ease pain.
Midwives are much more common outside of the US.
At Ina May Gaskins Midwifery Center:
2,000 women have been in the care of the center - give or take.
95% of those women needed absolutely no medical intervention and did not go to the hospital
Less than 30 of them had to have a c-section - that is 1.5%
OXYTOCIN
"It is well known that to give birth, a woman, like all mammals, is supposed to release a complex flow of hormones, a cocktail of hormones. The main one being Oxytocin. Oxytocin is the main one because it is necessary to contract the uterus. There is immediately after the birth of the baby, a short period of time which will never happen again and which is critical in the mother-baby attachment. In our society, many women are not in the right environment to reach the right hormonal balance. They cannot release their Oxytocin, they cannot release their endorphins. That's why most women, at the present time in our society, needs pharmacological substitutes - DRUGS - to replace the hormones that they cannot release by themselves. And of course, what they need first is a drip of synthetic Oxytocin. The most common trademark in the USA is Pitocin, a synthetic Oxytocin."
Dr. Michael Odent - French OB
"The minutes, the seconds after giving birth, is when a woman gets the highest Oxytocin rush she will ever have in her life. That's called the "birth high" - its so that you go into ecstasy right after the baby is born to receive your newborn baby, to fall in love with your newborn baby. Your whole body responds to the presence of the baby on your body. The milk starts to come, the baby responds with its own pheromones and its own flood of hormones and begins to suckle. A successful bonding and breast-feeding are established and so is lifelong, beneficial relationship. Doctors of this time are so used to using Pitocin for induction that they literally do not know how to attend vaginal births. Doctors act like 'As a Doctor I have just saved a woman from a dangerous, pathological, chaotic, unknown experience. I've given her a controlled birth in a controlled environment. And I have delivered or produced from her a body and healthy baby, what's the problem?' A c-section is under the Doctor's control. There's no doubt involved, at least in the Doctors mind. And they are out of there and back in the office seeing their clients. From the mother's point of view, she may have been robbed of the first few moments of the babies life, the immediate bond, and the chance at successfully breastfeeding."
Robbie Davis-Flyod, PhD Medical Anthropologist - University of Texas
"The more you're relaxed and happy, the more your Oxytocin levels are high, the easier it is and the less pain."
Lillian Lammers - Professional Doula
"Once we introduce fear to the birthing process then Oxytocin is inhibited and adrenaline dominates."
Dr. Stephanie Mines - Psychologist and Author.
INDUCTION
"The pharmacological induction of labor is one of the most serious, drastic, and dangerous interventions that you can make and should ONLY be done if there is an important medical risk at hand. Between 1990 and 2000 the induction rate doubled from 10% to 20%. During those same 10 years, the number of babies born Monday through Friday shot way up. Its the "C" word - Convenience."
Dr. Marsden Wagner - Past Director, Women's and Children's Health - World Health Organization
"Its a good idea if you want to control your staffing requirements. Its a good idea if you want to talk about liability. Its a great idea if you own a drug company. Doctors use the intervention and then they have to save the baby because they've used the intervention. 50% of women who have inductions end up with a c-section. One thing happens after another and its like dominoes falling down. We don't know the long term effects of using Pitocin."
Barbara Harper, RN - Directer - Global Maternal/Child Health Association
"There are medical reasons - like if the placenta is coming off the wall of the uterus or if there are medical problems with the mom or the baby. Many, many, many more women will end up with a c-section than a vaginal birth by having an induction. We don't use the word due date. We use the word guess date because as soon as people find out their pregnant, they circle that date like if their baby doesn't come by that date, somethings wrong. A third of all women need a c-section?? How could that be?! What has changed? What if we could go back to just the 7% of c-sections? Because we aren't saving anymore babies with all this technology. And you can prove that by America being number 28 on the list of infant mortality right now.***"
Kerry Tuschhoff - Natural Childbirth Educator
*** The updated 2009 CIA World Factbook lists the USA at 46
*** The updated 2011 CIA World Factbook lists the USA at 176
"There are many risks to a c-section that aren't discussed. This is unfortunate and ethically inappropriate."
Dr. Joel Evans - OB/GYN
One girl being interviewed said that she was given Pitocin and her babies heart rate kept dropping so they said "we have to do a c-section." This same girl was induced. She said "I was induced, so if I would have waited until SHE was ready to come it might have been a different story."
A nurse being interview said that "This last Friday there were 15 babies born, 10 of them were by c-section. It was because Cinco de Mayo was that weekend. Thursday and Friday, c-sections almost double and then on Saturday and Sunday there are hardly any births at all."
CYTOTEC
Cytotec is not approved by the FDA to be used as an induction drug for pregnant women, BUT it is being used all over the country for just this purpose. As a result, many women and babies have died because of this. This drug causes uterine rupture and hyperstimulation of the uterus.
Hyperstimulation of the uterus can also occur from giving Pitocin. This causes the uterus to contract too much (4 - 5 times in a 10 minute period), the contractions may last too long, or the uterus may not relax enough between contractions. Uterine hyperstimulation can cause a decrease in the flow of blood containing oxygen from the mother to the baby and can cause hypoxia and acidosis in the baby. In addition to this, the uterus can rupture, which is life threatening to both the mother and the baby.
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