Comments on: Staff Training Brings Down Hemorrhages!

By: wiffersnapper

wiffersnapper — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:16:00 +0000

OMG- If that’s not a clear-cut case of profit-over-common-sense, I don’t know what is! Raise your hand if you know what’s SUPPOSED to cause those uterine contractions. That’s right, ladies- BREASTFEEDING!

By: jmcqbigler

jmcqbigler — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:34:14 +0000

This was the standard at the last hospital I had a baby in. They gave me pit IV to augment my labor but after I delivered they would not remove it. They left it in for another 12 plus hours even though I asked many times for it to be removed. My midwife even told me I would only have the pit for as long as I needed but she wasn’t around to talk to. So I had two boluses more after the birth (with one horrible stomach kneed right after birth from the nurse from he**) and not once was I checked to see my bleeding after that. My first birth in a different hospital with a different cnm I got one shot of pit after I delivered but she gently kneeded my stomach and checked my bleeding regularly. Needless to say after the second hospital birth I looked for other alternatives I asked my birthing center midwives (for my third birth) why they would not remove the IV and never checked my bleeding and was told that is the standard at that hospital with the extra pit they do not have to check on the moms again they know it’s taken care of.

By: TopHat

TopHat — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:48:26 +0000

“Given the results, the researchers suggested that getting health professionals to adopt a new practice (using oxytocin) may be easier than getting them to eliminate an established practice (episiotomy use).”

Wow. Who would have guessed that doctors would be more open to adding interventions to their repertoire than eliminating them?

By: morganmcf

morganmcf — Fri, 23 May 2008 21:03:16 +0000

This happened at my friend’s birth. She had a natural hospital birth, but immediately after, the midwife started hooking her up to Pitocin. .I asked what she was doing (I was one of the two support women there) and the midwife said she was putting her on Pitocin. My friend said she didn’t consent and the midwife told her, “You have no choice. You can’t refuse this.”

By: Neene

Neene — Sat, 24 May 2008 09:27:15 +0000

I had an emergency C after 30 hours of Pitocin. I hated the way the Pitocin felt from the start. My son’s birth was a long, sad story (but thankfully he was fine, in the end). When they tried to put the Pit in the IV afterwards, I said I would yank the IV if they did. The nurse told me she had to put it in, but then gave me the tip to just tie the IV off.

By: julie

julie — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:14:22 +0000

GRRRRR!!!!!!!!! This is pissing me off! Every time a friend gets pregnant now I just want to run away with them and keep them safe. I’m so tired of this.

By: amyphilo

amyphilo — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:05:55 +0000

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: frankenraerae

frankenraerae — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:38:36 +0000

I welcome the trend of midwives but I also always thought that we have to tread lightly. Just because someone labels themselves as “midwife” doesn’t mean that they operate, philosophically, different from regular OB/GYNs.

My first birth was at a birthing center with a midwife but she ended up giving an episiotomy (when asked during the visit, she replied casually, “Oh, don’t worry, I’d never do that.” But during the labor she cut me without asking nor anesthetics. I had AWFUL time healing. It still hurts sometimes after 3 years.)

Midwife for my second child was a home-birth attendance, whose philosophical underpinning was same as mine. Not only that, she was a very talented midwife. If I had this birth at a hospital, I know that they would have given me a C-section, no doubt. But with her, I delivered a healthy baby with no tearing!!

When I was reading others’ comments about midwives administering Pitcin indiscriminately, I had to say something. The title “midwife” is often misleading.

By: uberhausfrau

uberhausfrau — Sat, 24 May 2008 18:22:07 +0000

staff-selected “opinion leaders”

what the heck are opinion leaders? sounds like drug manufacturers or something.

as for pictocin after birth, im less worried about that. i had one “med-wife” and one “mid-wife” birth. both times i need intervention to stop bleeding we waited and waited but i kept bleeding. everytime i shifted or tried to sit up a bit, blood would just gush out of me.

both times i breastfed immediately after birth and both time my babies were 9.5+ lbs. the second time, i wanted to eat some of the placenta, to aid contractions, but i totally forgot at the time.

By: bunnywhack

bunnywhack — Sun, 25 May 2008 00:02:36 +0000

erm one thing stood out at me from this article giving oxtocin after the vaginal delivery in this “educational *cough bollox cough* programme”not only resulted in fewer cases of excessive bleeding but also reduced the number of episiotomys needed. how can anything given after the delivery reduce the need for assistance in the delivery. im confused and its late so i might of got this muddled but its sounds to me like theyve got magic time travelling drugs teh tardis of the medicine world anyqwyas sleep time spelling is going to pot

By: Kat_MomofMonkeys

Kat_MomofMonkeys — Sun, 25 May 2008 06:37:02 +0000

after having 3 kids in hospitals (first was a c/s… pre-eclampsia)… other two were VBAC… I don’t get the rationale of giving pit after birth.

They didn’t give me any… in fact, the ONE labor I had to be induced, they did it so slowly that I was just having a great time hanging out, they shut off the pit completely before it was time to push, because my labor was doing so nicely.

I think it helped that I based my decision by taking tours, talking to the staff, and, with my last one, getting a great hospital where the nurses were used to the other half of the maternal wing… the midwifery unit.

So I was allowed to be induced on the birthing ball in the shower and just be monitered off and on.

In fact, they wanted me walking the halls, up and down stairs, all that good stuff.

I think that it is not necessarily the doctor vs. midwife as much as it is getting someone who is going to do things the way you want them.

You should deliver where you feel comfortable, how you feel comfortable, and leave the whole process feeling great.

And, as I did with my third baby (the first being a c/s and the 2nd him being all head and shoulders and tearing me despite all efforts to prevent it), ideally, you should be feeling great and up and walking to go potty asap.

By: wiffersnapper

wiffersnapper — Sun, 25 May 2008 09:56:17 +0000

Kat_Mom- My sentiments exactly! My first baby was at our area’s “top” baby-having center, and the birth was TERRIBLE! No one explained things to me, even my midwife, and I felt like no one cared. (And, yes, I’ve always wondered why they gave me pit after the birth!) My second one, I shopped around, and I wound up at a smaller, less popular hospital. Even though I had to have an emergency C-section, I still felt better emotionally about the whole experience.

By: sheepdoc

sheepdoc — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:28:41 +0000

Bunnywhack - I think they were trying to change 2 variables. 1) episiotomy 2)post-partum hemorrhage. The results seem to indicate that you could teach something new but that you couldn’t change established practices for long (since the episiotomy rate went back to where it was - I think article wasn’t clear if unchanged was the previous preinstruction rate or the postinstruction rate but didn’t decrease below).

I loved at my friend’s homebirth she bled and clotted a lot. Her midwife gave her the choice of drinking something or an IV. She drank most of a 16 oz glass in one go and suddenly she wasn’t grey anymore. Wouldn’t that be keen a hospital program that encouraged women to eat and drink in and AFTER labor.

By: crunchymama

crunchymama — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:23:48 +0000

Heather,

I’m really liking this series! When are you going to do one on ultrasound?? Pretty please?

-Alison M

By: karadorr

karadorr — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:46:22 +0000

I have nerve damage in my left arm from the IV they tried three times to start. The last time the nurse tried she stuck the whole needle straight into my wrist, no vein, just wrist. This was before I had even delivered. It was the most excruciating pain I have ever felt, my husband is pretty sure she damaged the nerves and the pain was when she hit the bone. (I have a very tiny wrist.) All of this was of course unneccesary. This was my third birth and I had never had any problems with bleeding before. And of course when I requested to be off of the IV after delivery I was told I had to wait until the dose was gone.
Many regrets with our last birthing experience, up to and including making me wait over 10 minutes before I could hold my baby after he was born, and no there weren’t any complications. Here’s an idea for a comic, from our delivery from hell hospital experience, how about one on the use of baby warmers after delivery? Why I had never heard of such a thing. Until they whisked away my son and wouldn’t give him to me and instead had him roasting in this thing. I told my husband to get my son I would warm him just fine. Just an idea…