I can’t tell you how many women I’ve talked to over the years who fully intended to have a natural, medication free birth only to end up with an epidural or worse, a C-section, when their labor was late getting started.
This happens because obstetricians typically get really antsy when pregnancies go past their due date. Women prefer to induce labor naturally, but practitioners sometimes offer only drug based solutions. Since up to 10% of all pregnancies are late, this is a very common challenge women can potentially face.
Even when a pregnant woman is only a few days late, the nagging about getting labor induced usually begins along with all the fear based reasons why she should agree to pitocin right away.
“Your baby could be stillborn!”
“The placenta could fail and your baby be brain damaged!”
“The baby could get too big and you would have to have a C-section (OBs say this without ever telling the patient that accepting pitocin is itself a big risk factor for C-section!)”
Fear is a very effective strategy to get a patient to do what they want, and knowingly or not, many doctors use this to their advantage.
The problem is, once a woman accepts one intervention, in this case, pitocin, she has perhaps unwittingly boarded the freight train to a completely medicated, interventionist birth.
Do OBs know this when they are pushing for pitocin?
Of course they do.
It is well known that pitocin induced labor contractions are much more painful than natural contractions and very few women are able to withstand the pain without medication such as an epidural.
Pitocin = Epidural = C-Section
This is a common progression of events once a woman makes the first mistake and accepts just a little pitocin “to nudge things along”.
It is imperative for women seeking a natural birth to avoid induction at all costs as pitocin is a dangerous drug which has the very real chance of putting your baby in distress greatly increasing the risk of a C-section. Making the decision whether or not to induce is in no way insignificant.
This from the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA):
Pitocin can cause a tumultuous, difficult labor and tetanic contractions, rupture of the uterus and dehiscence of a uterine scar, lacerations of the cervix, retained placenta, or postpartum hemorrhage. Postpartum perineal and pelvic floor pain is increased as a result of augmented uterine contractions. Fetal complications might include fetal asphyxia and neonatal hypoxia, physical injury, and neonatal jaundice. The use of Pitocin also might be a factor in cerebral palsy, due to oxygen deprivation, and autism in the child.
Avoiding Pitocin with Acupuncture
My first pregnancy went past the 42 week mark so I know firsthand the stress that an overdue pregnancy can cause.
I was very much concerned that I would have to be induced and I was well aware of the dangers of pitocin.
Even though I was receiving prenatal care from midwives at a birthcenter who in no way pressured me to induce, they did tell me that the law in my state would require me to be seen by an OB and possibly admitted to the hospital for induction, labor and delivery if I went much past the 42 week mark.
Using the typical, natural methods to get labor started such as herbs, evening primrose oil, lots of walking etc was not working quickly enough and using castor oil as a last ditch effort was not very appealing to me.
Fortunately, my family doctor at the time was an MD as well as a doctor of Chinese medicine and she suggested I use acupuncture to induce.
Acupuncture to induce labor? What a great idea!
This is apparently a pretty common thing in China.
I immediately knew that this was absolutely the right way to go, so I made an appointment with the acupuncturist my doctor recommended who made house calls to come over that evening.
If I recall correctly, the acupuncturist used only 4 needles. Â I don’t remember exactly where he put the needles but of course it didn’t hurt at all and I was completely relaxed during the entire procedure.
He told me that the treatment would stimulate oxytocin to be produced, which is the natural hormone that initiates labor.
He also told me that labor should begin within 48 hours.
Shortly after the treatment I noticed that the spot at the top of the bridge of my nose between my eyebrows was quite tender if I pressed it. Â This is the spot also known as the third eye where Indian women frequently wear an identifying mark.
I found it very curious that this spot was tender as it had never been tender ever before. I pressed it lightly with my fingers and noticed that when I did so, I had a painless Braxton-Hicks contraction.
Figuring that this spot must be an important acupressure point of some kind that would faciliate labor, I continued to lightly press this tender spot periodically over the next 24 hours and continued to notice contractions occurring shortly after.
The next afternoon I went in to be checked by my midwife to see how things were progressing if at all.
She discovered that I was a full 4cm dilated!
She told me that labor would be starting shortly and to go home and make sure everything was ready to go.
Sure enough, that night labor started and my first child was born 9 hours later with no medication or intervention required. Â What’s really interesting is that the third eye acupressure spot was no longer tender immediately after my son was born.
What’s even more interesting is that with my subsequent 2 pregnancies, that third eye spot always got tender right before and during labor and delivery even though my second and third children were born pretty much on their due dates and I never needed to use acupuncture again.
Despite the effectiveness of using acupuncture to induce labor, it seems that this method is not typically considered or even well known at least in the United States.
Why not?
My hope is that more women will come to know about the use of acupuncture as a safe, natural, and effective method to induce labor and forgo dangerous intervention with pitocin.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source: Â The Truth About Pitocin
Accupuncture worked for me, i was 42 weeks 3 days!
This is why I love my midwife so much. No cervical checks unless you are in labor (don’t need them!), no pushing me to induce, and a wonderful, knowledgeable, supportive person at my side when I finally did have my babies. Every woman is different, and I really wish the medical establishment would get that already.
Had a horrible birth experience with my first child. Broke my water, tried pitocin but we didn’t react well to it…was prepped for an emergency c-section before they realized she was crowning. The nurses were way too worried about the monitors & text book births with a nice curved chart for labor. Had a 100% natural Bradley Method birth with my 2nd and it was the best experience ever!
good to know. I am full term this week and have been using some herbal supplements so far to strengthen the Braxton hicks and the uterus. hoping I don’t have to be induced like my last baby. it was the worst experience of my life- lauren
Gave birth to my 3rd beautiful boy 12 days ago- totally different experience than the first two- water broke, but no contractions, decided 12 hrs later to start pitocin- found contractions to be similar to natural labour- no epidural, no c-section. Very thankful for how things turned out & I don’t regret starting the pitocin, even though its not what I had originally wanted.
My son was 2 weeks late.. I wanted to be induced.. I begged for it. I also begged for the drugs because my pain tolerance is very low. To each their own.
I tend to agree with all you said above; however, the “known fact” that pitocin makes contractions worse than natural contractions isn’t quite true. I got induced for my third child based in my request. My second child was 10lbs 5oz and was a very scary vaginal delivery. My third was also measuring large and I did not want to relive a similar experience. I was naturally dilated 3cm and then 5cm, but not going into full labor. My body was ready so I tried acupuncture via my acupuncturist friend. It may have helped me dilate more, but didn’t get labor started. My midwife and I discussed my options and we decided to induce. My son was 9lbs 8oz and besides pushing, the labor with the pitocin wasn’t so bad. All three of my children I delivered with no pain medication. I know that it was my third and not my first so the relative ease of it and my experience and knowing what to expect may have helped, but my mother delivered her first with pitocin and agreed with me. Contractions stink whether they come naturally or with help. We didn’t notice any difference between the two. Delivering a huge baby vaginally can be extremely difficult and although ultrasound measurements are quite variable, you are looking at the lesser of two evils. I agree, try acupuncture first! Avoid interventions as much as possible, be your own advocate, and ask lots of questions, but know what you yourself are facing. If pitocin is in your future, don’t get yourself caught up on what “common knowledge” is about its pain level. You can handle it, just like you can handle whatever labor comes your way.
My water broke with my first child and after going 8 hours with no contractions they gave me pitocin and I had the baby in just over four hours. They were miserable hard contractions and I tore. I did not get an epidural or any pain killers and that probably reduced my risk for a c-section some. With my second child my water broke and I had immediate contractions and had her in under 5 hours but I opted for Stadol in a panic and regretted it as it made me so tired and I was actually falling asleep during labor. My baby’s shoulders got briefly stuck and even though they told me it wasn’t due to the pain meds, I have always wondered because I felt I had no strength to push. I also tore with her as well. With my third child I had a natural birth. My water broke again and he was born 8 hours later. No pitocin, no epidural. Once I hit a 6 he came so fast the nurse had to catch him cause the doctor didn’t make it in time, but it was my best labor experience and even though he was half a pound bigger than my daughter, he didn’t get stuck. They also let me nurse him immediately after birth, which I loved and I felt so good and best of all no tear!
Tiffany Lindbeck- Business of Being Born (on Netflix) is Ricki Lake’s documentary that I’ve watched many times and really appreciate.
I couldn’t afford to do acupuncture when I was pregnant with my first, but I did use acuPRESSURE and it worked wonderfully. I was also past my estimated due date, which I’m sure helped the process.