How to decide if Pitocin Induction is Necessary?

[TRANSCRIPT OF ANSWER]

“How do you know that if somebody says to you, you need Pitocin at this point in your labor, that is the right decision. That’s a really difficult question because you are with a provider that you have a trust base with and sometimes you don’t have the knowledge base to make a great decision. 

Check for Tips to Get Through a Long Labor

As a rule, if you’ve been in labor for less than 24 hours, there’s probably time for you to continue laboring and there may be more of an urgency on the part of your provider to hurry things up a little bit. 

As a rule, if your labor has been progressing, meaning each time somebody examined you, you were a little further, even if it was a little bit, then your labor is working really well and you can continue to move forward without any kind of Pitocin or any kind of other assistance. Rather, you know you can be mobile, you can do all those other things that help speed labor up, but you probably don’t need Pitocin at that point.

Other Ways to Help Progress Labor Without Pitocin

When things start to get more urgent is when you were progressing for a while and then nothing happens for many, many, many hours. We sometimes don’t know why labor goes away. We have no idea why that happens. And then if your waters break, you’re at an increased risk for infection. 

That’s the time where a conversation about how we speed things back up may be pertinent and it may not necessarily be Pitocin. There are other ways to get your labor started up again, so make sure that you have a conversation about what are my alternatives. 

BRAIN Acronym and Decision Making

We’ve talked before, you’re on birthpedia about using the BRAIN acronym and this is a great time to use it. Ask your provider and the nurses around you what the benefits are, what the risks are, what the alternatives are, what your guts telling you. That’s what the I stand for, intuition and what happens if we do nothing. That’s the way you approach the question when you’re just not sure if what’s being recommended is what’s right for you and your baby.

So use this acronym. Have good conversations so that when the decision is made to use Pitocin, it’s your decision.”