Anyone have natural labor, or induction w/o pain meds?

[smz1789]

Hey ladies!

I've always wanted to have an all natural labor experience. I was induced with my daughter, and the contractions just seemed so relentless! Super strong one right after the other with no breaks in between! I ended up getting a pain medicine through my IV, that the nurse assured me would not take all the feelings away, but would just take the edge off a bit... 20 mins later I was completely passed out! It was not what i had been expecting, or what I wanted my labor experience to be like. Fortunately it wore off 2 hours later, and I woke up upset and in excruciating pain. They checked me, and I was at an 8, and they offered more medicine, and I declined. I was able to deliver her vaginally about an hour later after 4 or 5 sets of pushes.

I was just wondering if any of you had been able to go into labor on your own with mild pre-e? Also, for those of you that have had to be induced, have any of you gone with out any other interventions? Is there such a thing as a slow induction? If pre-e is mild, and both the baby and myself have steady vitals might that be possible? I'd assume that all those crazy contractions aren't great for the baby... I'm due May 10th, and last week my protein came back at 319, BP at 130/80. They haven't officially diagnosed me, but i think it's just a matter of time.

I'd love to hear about any of your experiences!

[txmom7]

Yes. I had my pre-e baby without paid meds or epidural. I had mag, pit and abx running though. I had a very supportive OB, good nurses and two doulas though. I had a ton of support. The next induced baby (PIH) it was just me and my husband alone in the middle of the.night. I opted for the.epidural.

[aajatwins]

My experience might not help you much because I had no hypertensive issues in my last pregnancy. But I will say that my OB did agree she could induce me (ended up going on my own) with a lower dose of pitocin if I still looked good at the end. Like I said, I went on my own, but I had back labor and was in excruciating pain because of it without making a lot of progress on my own. So I did end up getting a low dose of pitocin and epidural, but I thought the contractions were still reasonably spaced (not like I've heard about the regular inductions, like you are talking about) and I could still feel them at the top of my belly.

That said, it is a good idea to have a great deal of discussion with your OB in order to reach an agreement you are both comfortable with. I started the discussion about VBAC with mine really early in the pregnancy, so she knew what my goal was and I think that helped a lot. But my BP never gave me any trouble this time around and if it had, I suspect she might not have let me have any pitocin whatsoever because of the trainwreck my previous induction had been (ending in seizures and emergency section). So for you, I hope and pray you and baby are safe through the pregnancy and get your dream experience!! I know how important it is But healthy and safe delivery are always the priority (I'm sure you know that).

Do you have that good relationship with your doctor that you can talk things through? I wouldn't leave without mine telling me just in general what different scenarios might look like. she knew I wasn't holding her to anything by asking about it, though.

[alexis]

I do know a couple (I've had 2 sections, so not me personally) but there are 2 things that I think should be kept in mind when facing a PE induction:

1) Mag is a tocolytic. So they're trying to balance the mag and the pit, and the induction may take a while--more likely to need pain relief.
2) Epidurals lower blood pressure and they may suggest that you have one for this reason. I know several people who were able to have a vaginal birth because of this.

I'm not going to give cautious stories, but I feel like PE adds a lot of other factors into the mix that aren't really talked about in your typical birth literature, and IME, people who have only had a "regular" induction aren't always familiar with that.

[smz1789]

Thanks for the responses so far!

My biggest complaint is that most OB offices in my area are large. Mine has seven doctors. If I'm induced, I have some say in who I end up with.... but if I go on my own I just get whomever is on call then... that makes me nervous, because I have spoken to several of them and they all feel differently about my wanting to have as little intervention as possible. So I can't be sure to have a supportive medical team... Obviously if the baby or myself is in danger, then i will do whatever needs to be done! I would never put the baby at jeopardy just to have my ideal birth experience. Baby's safety is my biggest priority. But if things stay mild like they did with my daughter and i need induced I'd like to give it a go with no pain meds, as the ones they gave me didn't work as they said they would. I'm missing 2 whole hours of my labor, and my memory of the last hour after the meds wore off before she was born is also very fuzzy.

I have no experience being on magnesium sulfate, i guess i didn't need it with my delivery with DD. I didn't know that it sort of counteracts the pitocin, and there needs to be a certain balance, that is interesting to learn! That's what I like about this forum, I'm constantly reading new things that I never knew about pre-e.

[aajatwins]

I also use a large OB practice - 5 docs, I think. The one on-call the night I went into labor told me point blank that he would never have let me VBAC if I had been his patient (and he's head of the practice). So I'm thankful he respected his fellow doctor (and me) enough to honor my wishes. Do you think that would be the same for you?

I will also say that because my OB didn't want to induce me, I walked like you wouldn't believe in the 5 weeks leading up to delivery! That's the only sure thing I can tell you will make labor happen: walk, walk, walk. I walked around the neighborhood when I could get someone to watch my kids (who were actually in bed) and my hubby could go with me. I walked up and down the hall in our house. I walked around and around our tiny backyard. I think what did it was a trip to the zoo! Our zoo is large and has a lot of hills and I went into labor in the middle of the night after having walked the zoo that morning. I was desperate to go into labor on my own, I tell you!

Did they give you nubane? That's what they gave me in triage before they decided to admit me and start pitocin... it was awful. I just felt drunk and it just took the edge off most of the contractions. I don't think I'll ever do that one again.

[smz1789]

Thanks Anna!

I'm at a new practice now, I've only been with them the last year or so. I haven't seen my doctor since the beginning of this pregnancy. My appointment next week is with one of the doctors that I like, and whose opinion I respect. I plan on laying it all out for her, and seeing what she has to say, and getting her honest opinion of the situation. I'd like to think that any doctor would respect my birth plan, as long as it was safe for both baby and me, but I'm not so sure about a few of them...

I'm not sure what it was that they gave me when I was having my daughter... all I know is it didn't take the edge off, it knocked me out! I'd explained very clearly that I wanted to be able to experience as much as I could... i'm not sure if that's how the drug usually works, or just how it happens to work in me.

With my daughter they had me in and out of the hospital and scared to death from the time they diagnosed me around 34/36 weeks until they induced me at 39 weeks. No one was ever able to tell me what was happening to myself or the baby, and it was a very frightening time for me. I've since learned that with BP readings never higher than 140/90, and a protein level that maxed around 500, and no other symptoms... I really had it very mild! Despite the way they made me feel... I know that it can go from mild to severe in a very short matter of time, and I take this disease very seriously, but looking back now I don't really think all the fear they instilled in me was really necessary. Of course I wanted to know the risks and concerns, but they could have presented them much differently...

This office on the other hand, doesn't seem too concerned at all for right now, and I only had my protein checked because I asked them specifically to do so. The difference of opinion is really startling to me. Hoping I can get some honest, helpful answers from the doctor next week. And maybe get her to illustrate the possible scenarios that I might soon be facing. I know that every woman, every pregnancy has the potential to be widely different from the next. Developing it at 28 weeks, instead of closer to the end has me pretty concerned. I guess only time can tell what will happen this time around... but I wish I knew what I was up against.

[Jessica8872]

Hi there!

I was diagnoised with severe pre-e and HELLP syndrome at 21 weeks, and I was induced at 21 weeks and 6 days. It took 13 hours of labor before my son was born. I was on heavy doses of Magnasium Sulfate and was given pitocen to speed up the delivery. Although I only had to dialte to 5 cm (I dialated to 6), I delivered my little one vaginally (feet first) with only a PCA pump to help with the pain. My mom, an RN, later explained that only having a PCA pump with the pitocen was like taking a tylenol for a gunshot wound! LOL- who knew? The PCA pump was my choice, and I only chose to have pain meds because my mom continually reminded me of what the pain of labor feels like, and the nurses only had one question- what is your pain drug of choice?! It seemed I didn't have a choice of no meds. I found the pitocen to bring on some serious contractions- my first time experiencing contractions-but I found a way to deal with the pain. I insisted my husband keep my IPOD going with relaxing music in one ear - only one ear so I could hear the doctor's instuctions - and I put myself in a different place mentally. I found this to be incredibly easy and therefore the labor was not half as bad as I had expected. Although, my son was only 10 1/2 inches and 13.5oz, so I would imagine my delivery was much easier than that of someone with a full term baby. It was my placenta that gave me the most trouble...it took over two hours to deliver. Luckily, the exhaustion and magnesium sulfate finally sunk in and I only remember bits and pieces of the painstakingly long process of that delivery. So, with that said, I plan on trying again next year, and, yes, I too plan on delivering as naturally as possible. I know after my experience to * and back, I can do this. I know you can too. I wish you the best of luck!

[JB]

I have only given birth once, and that was a c-section, so I can't really speak to what it's like to have natural labor with PE. However, afterward my blood pressure was still really high and I was in the hospital for another five days. During that time the nurses wanted me to take meds for the c-section pain. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain and I worry about becoming dependent on meds, so I was inclined to just tough it out. However, the nurses told me that pain can raise your blood pressure even if you can tolerate it and that I should take the meds while I was trying to bring my BP down. At that point I wanted to get up and out to see my baby so I took their advice. That might be something to consider, depending on how bad your BP gets.

[smz1789]

Thank you for your responses ladies! I had no idea that the epi might lower my BP, in the case of needing interventions. I will have to look into that more! I think I might rather have an epi than the mag sulfate if it came down to it.

Met with one of my doctors today. My BP at the visit was fine (120/70), and there was no protein in my sample. She knew all my results off the top of her head, and said she was upset that the previous doctor hadn't ordered a repeat 24 protein check. So I'm doing one now. It was so nice to talk to someone that seemed to know where i was coming from, and had all the same concerns as me for once!

She said that because my pre-e was so mild with my first daughter, if it remains in the borderline-mild range, and baby and I are both doing well, she would keep a close eye on me and let me go until my due date before inducing! If anything gets worse, obviously we will end up inducing, but it was just nice to hear that I at least have a chance, i don't feel quite so defeated now. I hope that things stay mild and I can go into labor naturally, but much more than that I just hope that both baby and I will be safe and healthy!