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Appropriate Use of Interventions: Induction or Augmentation with Pitocin

February 1, 2012 By admin 4 Comments

Pitocin — the synthetic form of oxytocin, the body’s natural hormone that stimulates contractions — is one of the most frequently used medical interventions to induce or augment (speed up) birth. Below are some facts and tips to help you learn more about Pitocin, including how to avoid it, when it’s necessary, and how to keep labor as normal as possible if you are induced with Pitocin.

From The Official Lamaze Guide: Giving Birth with Confidence.

What to Know:

  • Pitocin increases stress on your baby and your uterus and makes contractions more difficult to manage.
  • Pitocin use necessitates an IV and continuous EFM, restricts your mobility, and raises your risk of epidural and cesarean.
  • The WHO believes that Pitocin induction and augmentation are often used inappropriately.
  • The ACOG notes the risks of Pitocin use and recommends cautious decision making.

You’ll Need Induction if:

  • Your labor is slow and doesn’t respond to movement, position change, and hydration.
  • You don’t go into labor spontaneously by forty-two weeks gestation.
  • You have a uterine infection.
  • You have severe pregnancy-induced hypertension.

How to Avoid Unnecessary Use:

  • Be patient waiting for labor to begin and to progress.
  • Remember that your body knows how to give birth.
  • Surround yourself with helpers who trust birth.
  • Stay confident.
  • Use all the comfort measures you’ve learned.
  • Don’t agree to be induced because your caregiver says your baby is getting too big.
  • If your water breaks before contractions start, or if you go past your due date, discuss with your caregiver natural ways to stimulate contractions, such as drinking a bit of castor oil in juice, stimulating your nipples, and being active.
  • Ask, “What if I wait?” if your caregiver is insistent about inducing labor.

How to Keep Labor as Normal as Possible if You are Induced:

  • Make sure your helpers give you continuous emotional and physical support.
  • Actively seek comfort in response to the pain of contractions.
  • Remember that your body knows how to give birth.
  • Visualize your baby rotating and descending through your birth canal.
  • Keep moving and changing positions as much as possible.

Did you have Pitocin during your birth? How did it affect your experience? What advice can you give to other moms who may have Pitocin?

Filed Under All Recent Articles Tagged With hospital birth, interventions, labor induction, Pitocin

Postpartum Care: “After Pains”

November 4, 2011 By Cara Terreri 4 Comments

Among first-time expectant moms, “after pains” are little known and seldom discussed. Ask any second-time (or beyond) expectant mom about after pains and she knows them all too well. The sensation of uterine contractions in the hours and days after birth — also known as after pains — is a normal but typically uncomfortable experience for women. The 40+ weeks of pregnancy cause a woman’s uterus to grow 25 times its original size; post-birth contractions help shrink the uterus back down to pre-pregnancy size within about six weeks.

Many women are surprised to find that after pains can feel as powerful as contractions during labor. In my three postpartum experiences with after pains, I had to summon deep breathing and focusing exercises that I used during labor! Breastfeeding helps to stimulate these postpartum contractions, which speeds up the shrinking process, but can also mean added discomfort during feeding sessions in the early days after birth.

While after are pains one of the “necessary evils” of postpartum recovery, there are some things you should know and can do. First, they are very temporary — typically, within a few days, the uterine contractions will become so subtle that you won’t even notice them. There are ways to lessen the discomfort caused by after pains in addition to (or in place of) the hospital standard of ibuprofen or tylenol. For my most recent birth a couple of months ago, my doula brought a rice sock to provide comfort during labor. As it turned out, my birth was way too fast for any of the standard comfort measures! But the warmed rice sock was AMAZING for the after pains. It lay across my abdomen perfectly and provided wonderful relief from the cramping. A heating pad would provide similar relief. Gently massaging your lower abdomen may also feel good during the contractions. Experts also recommend emptying your bladder often as a full bladder causes inefficient uterine cramps. Belly binding, or other forms of abdominal pressure, can also help relieve the pain.

And if all else fails, remind yourself, “My body is working the way it should — this is shrinking my tummy and slowing my bleeding!”

What did you do to alleviate after pains?

Filed Under All Recent Articles, Featured Story, Postpartum Tagged With postpartum care

A Woman’s Guide to VBAC: Weighing the Pros and Cons

September 27, 2011 By A Woman's Guide to VBAC 1 Comment

Weighing the Pros and Cons of Planned Vaginal Birth after Cesarean and Repeat Cesarean Section

This article is part of A Woman’s Guide to VBAC: Navigating the NIH Consensus Recommendations, a collection of resources that address the most common and pressing questions women may have about their birth choices. View all sections in the guide, including a link to the authors, on the index page.

 

By Allison Shorten

The decision to plan a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) or a repeat cesarean section (RCS) is a very individual one. There are different risks and benefits for mothers and babies. It is important to weigh these risks and benefits while taking into account each woman’s unique values, needs, expectations,
past experiences, and desired level of involvement in this decision-making process.

The following summary table compares the various risks and benefits of planned VBAC and planned repeat cesarean section.  This is a list of complications that are often talked about when women are thinking about planned VBAC or planned RCS. In a group of 100,000 women who plan a VBAC, there will be some who experience problems. If those same 100,000 women all planned repeat cesarean surgery, there would also be some who experience problems. There is no certain way to predict what the birth will be like no matter which option is chosen. That is why it is important to think about all of the things that are important to you in making any healthcare decision.

For many of the complications listed, the number of women who experience them during VBAC or RCS is still relatively small in number. It is always important to discuss any questions or concerns about options for birth with a trusted pregnancy care provider who can provide more detailed information and meet your individual decision making needs.

 

 

Information in these tables has been collated from the Final Statement of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference on VBAC held in Washington on March 12, 2010. The other main source of information is the evidence-based report that informed the NIH conference panel (Guise et al 2010). The following list of resources may also be helpful to you if you need further information.

Additional Reading

Filed Under A Woman's Guide to VBAC, All Recent Articles, Birth, Pregnancy, Preparing for VBAC Tagged With A Woman's Guide to VBAC, VBAC

Healthy Pregnancy Tips for Vegetarians and Vegans

September 23, 2011 By FitPregnancy Leave a Comment

 

Rest easy, all you pregnant vegans and vegetarians out there: Medical experts, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Dietetic Association (ADA), have given you the green light to continue your current way of eating— as long as it’s well-planned. “You can have a healthy pregnancy on such a diet,” says Dawn Jackson Blatner, R.D., an ADA spokeswoman who sees pregnant vegetarians in her private practice. “You just have to do it right.”

A vegetarian (meat-free) or vegan (no animal products, not even milk or eggs) diet can help prevent obesity and chronic illnesses, including heart disease, cancer and diabetes. It’s also more Earth-friendly than the typical American carnivore’s diet. That said, “Pregnancy is not the right time to become a vegetarian if you aren’t one already,” says Lara Field, M.S., R.D., a dietitian at the University of Chicago Medical Center who counsels pregnant women.

Here’s the reason: The risks of nutritional deficiencies are more pronounced with a vegetarian diet, and pregnancy is a time when you need more of certain vitamins and minerals. If you’ve been eating animal products, quitting now would just limit your options, Field says.

In addition to taking a high-quality prenatal vitamin, here’s how you can make up for any nutritional weak links if you do decide to stay meat-free during your pregnancy.

Protein This nutrient is vital for cell growth and development—yours as well as your developing baby’s—and you need about 70 grams every day right now. Beans can provide much of what you need. “Beans are the magic bullet for vegetarians and vegans,” says Blatner, who is also the author of The Flexitarian Diet (McGraw Hill). “Along with lots of protein, beans provide iron and zinc.” Zinc is also necessary for cell growth and normal fetal development.

To get the protein you need, simply replace animal products with any type of beans, including soybean products like tempeh and tofu; just keep in mind that experts advise limiting your soy intake to one or two servings daily during pregnancy. In recipes, substitute one-half cup of beans for every 3 ounces of meat.

And here’s a bonus if you’re concerned about putting on too much weight during your pregnancy: Beans are a low-calorie protein source: 1 cup of soybeans has 298 calories and 29 grams of protein; 1 cup of lentils has 226 calories and 18 grams of protein; 1 cup of pintos has 245 calories and 15 grams of protein; and 1 cup of firm tofu has 176 calories and 20 grams of protein.

Don’t forget about nuts, too: These are also rich sources of protein (and healthy fats), as are low-fat dairy foods—milk, yogurt and cheese.

A word of advice: Don’t rely too heavily on cheese or faux burgers to replace meat in your diet. Why? Veggie “meats” are usually laden with sodium, and cheese is very high in saturated fat. “Vegetarian and vegan diets are perceived to have a ‘health halo’ around them,” says Blatner. “But if you’re not eating the right foods, these diets can be unhealthy, too.”

Iron This mineral, which helps red blood cells deliver oxygen to the fetus, also protects you from anemia, a common problem during pregnancy even among meat eaters. According to Blatner, pregnant vegetarians and vegans need as much as 50 milligrams of iron daily. Besides beans, other vegetarian iron sources include iron-fortified cereals, prune juice, black-strap molasses, spinach and raisins.

To help your body absorb the iron contained in foods, eat vitamin-C- rich foods (such as red peppers, citrus fruits and strawberries) and sprouted grains along with them. “Sprouting decreases the compounds that make it more difficult for your body to absorb iron,” Blatner explains.

Vitamin B12 This vitamin, which is required for proper red blood cell formation and neurological function, is most abundant in animal products, which makes getting enough of it a little tricky for vegetarians. Though there are a few nonmeat sources of B 12 (fortified breakfast cereals, for example), the ADA recommends that both vegans and lacto-ovo vegetarians (those who eat eggs and dairy products) take B 12 supplements to help them get the 2.6 micrograms daily needed during pregnancy.

Calcium & vitamin D Dairy products are chock-full of these baby bone-building nutrients, but vegans will have to turn elsewhere to get the 1,000 milligrams of calcium and 400 IU of vitamin D they need daily. “Vegans can eat dairy alternatives—like milk and yogurt made with soy and hemp—as well as orange juice,” Field suggests, “but read labels to make sure they’re fortified with calcium and vitamin D.” Fortified tofu, seaweed, figs, collard greens and mustard greens are good vegan sources of calcium.

Omega-3 fatty acids Cold-water oily fish, such as salmon, are the main sources of these healthy fats, which enhance fetal brain and nervous system development. Good plant sources include algae, canola and flaxseed oils, walnuts and leafy green vegetables. Supplements are also safe during pregnancy. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for pregnant women is 1.4 grams daily, but up to 3 grams of fish oil daily is probably safe. Vegan omega-3 sup- plements are also available.

3 SMART VEGETARIAN SNACKS

■ VANILLA HEMP MILK 1 cup contains at least 25 percent of your daily requirements for calcium and vitamins D and B 12.

■ PLAIN YOGURT 8 ounces of low-fat unsweetened yogurt contain 12 grams of protein and 45 percent of your calcium needs.

■ LENTIL SOUP 1 cup contains 9 grams of protein and 4 milligrams of iron.

>> By: Nancy Gottesman is a health and nutrition writer in Santa Monica, Calif.
Filed Under All Recent Articles, Health and well-being, Nutrition, Pregnancy Tagged With nutrition, vegetarian and pregnancy

Are You Pregnant and Working? Your Input Is Needed!

September 21, 2011 By Cara Terreri Leave a Comment

Researchers from the University of Georgia and Texas Tech University are studying the attitudes and behaviors of pregnant working women in order to understand how organizations can do a better job at helping pregnant women in the workplace. The researchers involved are also mothers and understand the struggles pregnant working women face.

In order to complete their project, the researchers are asking pregnant working women who are 18 years of age or older to fill out a short survey.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY. Please also forward this link to other pregnant working women.

You can learn more about the researchers here (Laura Little) and here (Amanda Hinojosa).

 

Filed Under All Recent Articles, Pregnancy Tagged With Pregnancy

Call for Submissions: What Did Your Doula Do for You?

September 19, 2011 By Cara Terreri 7 Comments

 

A doula can be an amazing ally in your journey through pregnancy and birth. Time and again, research shows that doulas can increase a woman’s chance for having a spontaneous vaginal delivery (ie, without vacuum extraction, forceps or cesarean surgery), shorten her time in labor and facilitate a more positive childbirth experience. For my most recent, third birth, I hired a doula for the first time and I will say that I loved having a doula. Even though my actual birth experience was super-fast and allowed very little time for anyone to provide hands-on labor support, my doula provided amazing emotional and informational support and guidance throughout my pregnancy and postpartum — and perhaps the most vital benefit for me, was the confidence I gained by knowing that she would be there for me in labor to help me achieve the epidural-free birth that I wanted.

Now that I have the contrasting birth experiences — two without a doula and one with — I want to yell from the rooftops, “Every woman deserves a doula!” Instead, I thought it would be better to hold a blog carnival on doula support to share with expectant moms and families. We’re looking for stories (and photos!) from moms and dads about your experience with a doula. If you hired a doula for any of your births and had a positive experience, we want to know about it! Think about answering questions like, how did your doula help you in labor — both directly and indirectly; what did your doula do for you in pregnancy and/or postpartum; and, how did the support from a doula affect your birth experience?

 

Participation in the “What Did Your Doula Do for You” Blog Carnival is easy:

1. If you have a blog, write a blog post on the carnival theme. Post it on your blog by Wednesday, October 5. Make sure the post links back to this blog post. You may also submit a previously written post, as long as the information is still current.

2. Send an email with a link to your post to cterreri [at] lamaze [dot] org.

3. If you do not have a blog but would like to participate, you may submit a story for consideration by emailing it to me.

4. I will compile and post the Blog Carnival here at Giving Birth with Confidence on Friday, October 14.

 

Happy doula blogging! I can’t wait to read your submissions!

Filed Under All Recent Articles, Birth, Blog Carnival, Working with a doula Tagged With doula

Five Tips for Choosing a Childbirth Education Class

September 16, 2011 By admin 6 Comments

The following is a press release from Lamaze International dated September 13, 2011.

A recent report from the World Health Organization set off alarm bells for many expectant parents.  The report showed that newborns in 40 countries, including Cuba, South Korea and Poland, have a lower risk of death than newborns in the United States.

For expectant moms, one of the best, and often overlooked, ways of improving the odds of a safe and healthy birth is to take a good childbirth education class.  But how do moms know whether they are choosing a class that will make a difference?

“A good childbirth education class can make the difference between feeling out of control and overwhelmed, and being able to handle the expected and unexpected on the day of your baby’s birth,” said Marilyn Curl, President of Lamaze International.  “A really good class will also help moms-to-be avoid routine interventions like inductions and being confined to bed, which can actually increase the risks around birth.”

Here are some factors mothers-to-be should consider when selecting a childbirth education class:

1. Research the Class Curriculum

Ask to see the content covered in childbirth courses carefully before selecting one.  There are a variety of curriculums, and different approaches may work better for different people.  Some courses do little more than orient women to the procedures of the hospital, regardless of whether those protocols are backed by research findings.

Curl cautions that women should be wary of ‘patient obedience classes.’  “Any class that simply focuses on what women are or are not allowed to do according to the procedures of the institution is not going to equip them properly for labor and birth.” Curl said.

Expectant parents should consider what they want to gain from taking the class and make sure those points are part of the curriculum.  Lamaze classes focus on educating parents about six safe and healthy birth practices that are based on extensive clinical research.  “Women rarely receive all of the best care practices, so it is critical for parents to educate themselves about their options,” Curl said.

Typical topics covered in Lamaze childbirth education classes include:

  • Normal labor, birth and early postpartum
  • Positioning for labor and birth
  • Pain management techniques
  • Labor support
  • Communication skills
  • Comfort measures, including breathing strategies, relaxation and massage techniques
  • Risks and benefits of medical procedures
  • Breastfeeding
  • Healthy lifestyles

If the instructor teaches the class in a hospital setting or in a doctor’s office, parents should ask whether the instructor feels she has the freedom to discuss controversial topics related to childbirth and whether the class will discuss strategies for broaching these subjects with their care providers.  This information can help parents evaluate whether the class will focus on teaching the safest birthing practices, rather than explaining hospital policies.

2. Consider the Instructor’s Training

Check what kind of experience and background the prospective teacher has and ask about the instructor’s certification.  Lamaze offers the only internationally recognized childbirth educator certification program that is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA).  Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educators must pass a rigorous examination to show they meet the highest professional standards and have the necessary knowledge and skills to teach courses.  To find a local Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE), visit www.lamaze.org.

3. Invest Some Time

Between work schedules, family obligations and setting up the nursery, expectant parents may feel pressed for time.  But parents-to-be need to make certain they devote plenty of time and attention to preparing for labor and birth.  A one-day crash course might sound like the quickest way to get up to speed, but parents may not retain as much information from a course taught in this format.  Online forums and TV shows focusing on birth do not offer personalized or in-depth information that’s found in a class.

Lamaze classes typically provide 12 hours of instruction and discussion.  The classes are spread across six weeks to ensure parents have time to absorb the lessons and consider priorities as the big day draws closer.  “It may seem like a big time commitment, but nothing is more important than preparing for a safe and healthy birth and a good start for the baby,” Curl said.

4. Plan Ahead

Classes fill up quickly, so start researching courses early.  Try to sign up for a Lamaze class six to eight weeks ahead of time – around the first week of the second trimester.

5. Check Class Size

For first-time parents, in particular, having personalized attention from the instructor is an important part of a childbirth education class.  Ask about the size of the class.  Ideally, there should be a maximum of 12 couples enrolled to ensure each has a chance to interact with the instructor and ask questions.

Choosing a class with an informative curriculum, a knowledgeable instructor and personalized attention are crucial for ensuring expectant parents have their questions and concerns addressed before the baby’s birth.  More information on childbirth education courses is available at www.lamaze.org.

 

Filed Under All Recent Articles, Childbirth education, Pregnancy Tagged With childbirth class, childbirth educator, Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator

Transforming Depression, Increasing Awareness: An Interview with Liz Friedman

September 14, 2011 By Walker Karraa, MFA, MA, CD(DONA) 3 Comments

Liz Friedman is the Program Director at MotherWoman, Inc. and the Founder of the Postpartum Support Initiative.

What do you remember from your experience of postpartum depression?

Liz: When I became a mother almost 9 years ago I experienced a severe perinatal emotional crisis.  My pregnancy was complex, my birth was traumatic, my postpartum period was disastrous. I did everything right and everything went wrong.What I recall most distinctly from that period was the fear that I was losing my mind. I was terrified that I had made a terrible mistake and that I would never be an adequate mother for my beautiful son. I thought I would never recover. The isolation of that time was deeply damaging and my loneliness in the face of that crisis still brings me to tears. Yet step by step I found a path and began to recover with the help of a few excellent resources in my community.

 

How did that experience influence your work with MotherWoman?

Liz:  With every step forward that I took, I became angrier about what no one told me. How could I not

have known there was the possibility of this happening? Why didn’t I know that isolation, difficult pregnancy and traumatic birth are some of the key risk factors for perinatal emotional complications?  Why didn’t I know that there are ways to prevent and prepare for the risks of postpartum depression?  Most importantly, why didn’t I know that postpartum depression is the leading complication of childbirth? Why didn’t I know that 1 in 8 mothers experience perinatal emotional complications?

By the time my baby was 6 months old, I began to gather mothers together to share our experiences of pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period.  MotherWoman was born from the same desire to create a place for women to share their REAL stories of motherhood. Annette Cycon, LICSW founded the organization in 1998 and I joined in 2005 with the explicit goal of bringing a focus to perinatal mothers. We founded the Perinatal Support Initiative and developed the MotherWoman Support Group Model to address this issue. We believe in mothers’ ability to heal and lead powerful lives as the mothers and women they are meant to be.

 

Before you had children, what was your awareness of depression and anxiety in pregnancy and postpartum?

Liz: Awareness? What awareness? Not until after having lived through the experience did I gain any real awareness. And it wasn’t until I became an advocate and educator that I received a true education. This is the one thing that mothers say again and again as they walk into our perinatal support groups: “Why didn’t anyone tell me??”

I strongly believe it is our responsibility as educators and advocates ensuring that all mothers have accurate information regarding depression/anxiety disorders so they can be informed, and thoughtful about how to best approach the childbearing period of their lives. We need to do this in a way that doesn’t frighten them but rather empowers them. If we do not do this as part of our prenatal education we have done mothers a huge disservice.
What would you suggest to childbirth educators and doulas?

Liz: Pregnant women trust you because you are their childbirth educators and doulas. They will listen to you. Have courage and tell them the facts of the postpartum depression and anxiety mood disorders.

Every childbirth educator and doula must make it an essential part of their curriculum to cover the basics regarding PPMAD (perinatal and postpartum mood/anxiety disorders). This means telling mothers and their partners what symptoms, prevalence, and risk factors, and treatment options may be, and referrals in the area.  Partners need to know what to look for because often they are the ones who first notice a mother struggling.  Childbirth educators and doulas need to insist that pregnant women put attention on what emotional life is like postpartum and prepare for it.   Mothers and partners need to be encouraged to create a Postpartum Plans that is evidence-based and addresses some of the most common challenges in the postpartum time.   Partners need to be made aware of how much support they will be expected to give and how much physical and emotional support a new mother actually needs for the entire postpartum year!

 

What questions should pregnant women ask potential doula about depression/anxiety?

Liz:

  • Do you have experience supporting mothers who have had depression/anxiety?
  • Are you philosophically opposed to your clients using medications to assist with depression/anxiety?
  • How can you help me prepare for the possibility of experiencing depression/anxiety?
  • What resources do you have to help me if I develop depression/anxiety?

 

What advice would you offer pregnant women today?

Liz: Many mothers make a birth plan to prepare for their birth.  I recommend that every women make a postpartum plan!  If mothers had a real idea of what the postpartum period would be like, they would PLAN! In order to make a plan, you need to understand the risk factors, the likelihood of different outcomes and path for prevention that works for you. Could you imagine what our postpartum experiences would have been like if we had real support set up for us after we gave birth to our babies?

 

What was it like doing TEDtalks?

Liz: I won the TEDWomen’s contest in Dec 2010 and it was the first time in the history of TED that a postpartum mother’s story was highlighted and given international attention.  At TED you have to be bold so I told them the truth.  I spoke about the incredible despair and isolation I experienced during my postpartum time.  I told them my dream: I will do everything in my power to ensure that no other mother has to go through what I went through; alone
, terrified and not knowing if she will ever be ok again.  And then I showed them the path: through the MotherWoman Support Group Model we will bring women together to transform our lives and build solid foundations beneath our feet.

 

Where do you hope to see MotherWoman 10 years from now?

Liz: MotherWoman is going international! Our Support Group Model (SGM) is transforming the way professionals approach the issue of depression and anxiety mood disorders in pregnancy and postpartum.  Our Support Group Model is innovative, ground-breaking and provides the missing link in caring for perinatal mothers. Our model not only educates mothers about PPMADs and provides structured safety for diverse mothers to share their stories and to heal but it is also an empowerment model which believes in each woman’s inherent wisdom and ability to take positive steps that benefit her and her family. Our goal is to have one Support Group for every 2000 births nationally.  In communities utilizing our model, awareness about depression and anxiety disorders in pregnancy and postpartum is growing and the number of mothers who are seeking help and care is increasing– and that means that mothers are recovering and their families are thriving.

 

Filed Under All Recent Articles, Parenting, Post-partum depression, Postpartum Tagged With postpartum care, postpartum depression, postpartum disorders

What Does a Contraction Feel Like?

September 12, 2011 By Cara Terreri 12 Comments

This is probably the most oft-asked question by first-time expectant moms, preceded only by “How will I know I’m in labor?” The textbook answer is something along the lines of, “The way a contraction feels differs from woman to woman, but in general, you will feel a all-over tightening of your uterus and pain or cramping that may begin in your lower back and radiate to the front of your uterus.” Of course, if you do a Google search or spend any time on an expectant moms’ web board, you’ll come across responses that range from “intense menstrual cramps” to “pressure and back pain.” Some women experience what they describe as very intense pain while others describe contractions as nothing more than dull, crampy aches. And, your experience with labor can also vary greatly from one child to another.

Having just [very] recently experienced labor and birth again for the third time (this time without any medical pain relief), I would describe a contraction in active labor as an all-encompassing kind of pain. There was the tell-tale uterine tightening, but then the sensation is something that is hard to describe — I felt it mainly in my abdomen, but it was so intense, my whole body reacted to the feeling. Since labor with my first child, I’ve always said that with a contraction, it’s as if there’s no way to escape it when it’s happening — you just have to succumb — but yet when each contraction is over, the pain relief is immediate and complete. I would describe the experience as intense and painful, but manageable. It was nothing my body couldn’t handle as long as I was free to move and do what helped me cope with the pain. Now, the minute I had to be confined to a certain area or position, it was awful! For example, the car ride to the hospital was NOT fun!

Here is how nine other women describe their contractions:

Throughout my pregnancy, the Braxton Hicks contractions felt like little charlie horses over the top of my belly. When I was in labor for my first child, I remember finally deciding to get the epidural and when the medicine started to work, it only worked for half of my body. One side was bearable while the other side felt like it was being squeezed and twisted as far as it would go. I couldn’t believe the difference. I would have preferred to have all or nothing! Also, having had three kids now, I will say that the difference between contractions with and without Pitocin is night and day.

–Vanessa

I think contractions feel like a combination of nasty period cramps and horrible bowel movement cramps at the same time. I know they say they start in your back, but I felt like mine started everywhere at the same time.

–Maddy

My contractions with my second pregnancy were completely different from my first. With my first, they were the textbook example of a contraction. The pain started at my sides and worked it’s way to the middle of my stomach. They started out like pretty mild menstrual cramps and then became completely unbearable. With my second labor, I suffered from pubic symphysis dysfunction and all of my contractions started in my lower back and moved to the front of my lower abdomen and into my pubic bone. They were really severe very quickly after my water broke. And with every single one I felt the urge to push. Of course, the doctors and nurses told me not to since I was only 4 cm dilated! I labored for 36 hours! I now wonder if I should have listened to my body and pushed a little it would have went faster. Who knows. Labor is a funny thing. I just learned that every labor and pregnancy will be different!

–Bri

I agree with Vanessa, contractions with Pitocin versus without it are so so different….black and white. And with my first, it was back labor so it was also totally different. They were throbbing and long and it felt like my back was going to split open. With my home birth, the contractions felt like a deep, deep ache. Deep down inside my body, almost as if the sensation of my cervix spreading combined with my son descending were like my bottom was going to fall out…but in a good way. A productive way. Thinking back, they weren’t painful as much as a feeling that snapped me into the present.

–Pamela

With my second, I felt only a long, long awful pain across my entire abdomen. From the outside, you could feel that my whole abdomen was rock hard and it felt like a charlie horse, only a million times worse. The pain didn’t change or come and go, just remained for hours. On the monitors, it was showing that I was contracting every two minutes when I got to the hospital, but again to me the pain and hardness never stopped and started, just constant. With my first son, the pain was fairly textbook as menstrual pains that got worse, deeper, and closer in time as labor progressed.

–Alicia

With each of my four births, my contractions have been different. For number one, I was induced with Pitocin. I had been planning an unmedicated birth, but was told in my childbirth education classes that it was impossible to have Pitocin without an epidural, so each contraction was a fight for the birth I wanted. Ultimately, I had an epidural that didn’t work, and I dilated completely unmedicated. The second time I was also induced with Pitocin, but was absolutely certain that I would have an unmedicated birth, so each contraction was a validation that I was strong, and could do it. With my third (I had become a doula and childbirth educator), I had absolute trust in my body, and each contraction literally felt orgasmic. They were intense, but after the peak of each one, I felt the same rush that I do after an orgasm. It was amazing! With the fourth, I was in complete denial for most of my very rapid labor, so each contraction was almost a surprise. I had intense back labor, but if I vocalized throughout the contraction it was bearable.

–Liz

With my first, I felt no Braxton Hicks or at least I didn’t know what I was feeling. My labor started with what I could only describe as a “funny feeling” in my belly…I didn’t feel cramp-like sensations or hardening until later on. As I progressed, I definitely felt the tightening, hardening feeling with intense cramps but all in my abdomen area…nothing in my back. With this one, I have been having BH contractions for quite some time. They began early on for me and the sensation felt like the baby was doing a twirling or twisting motion. Eventually, I realized that they were BH contractions and felt the classic hardening, tightening in my abdomen.

–Becky

With my first birth, they started out similar to menstrual cramps and gradually became more intense like extreme bowel movement cramps. It was that menstrual cramp feeling in the beginning, though, that distinguished them from the Braxton Hicks cramps I’d had through the pregnancy and let me know it was “real” labor. Once I was about halfway dilated it felt like one big constant contraction, with no rest in between, even though the monitors showed a brief break between them.

The contractions felt different with my second birth, though, and I wasn’t sure I was really in labor. They didn’t feel the same way they did the first time around, and my BH contractions had been so intense and uncomfortable (painful, not just the tightening feeling) the last month or two of my pregnancy, that I constantly felt like I was in early labor. My baby was “sunny side up” that time too, so more of the pain was in my back. My mother and mother-in-law had told me they never knew when they were having contractions, just felt the pressure of pushing at the end. That astonished me. My mom literally never knew when she was having contractions, just knew that she “felt funny.”

–Brittany

I am an old woman, and my kids are 14 1/2 and almost 11, so it is hard to remember the details of the sensation of contractions. I had a c-section after pushing non medicated for 5 hours with my fat, 9lb 37 week direct OP baby (occiput posterior — baby who is facing up instead of back), and a non-medicated VBAC with my second, so feel like I really got a sense of what things felt like. They started as menstrual cramps, and an ache in my lower back, moving around and increasing in intensity deep in my pelvis. I did not have back labor with either, even the OP babe. I have to say that I did not think they were that bad, I mean, intense, yes, requiring deep focus and coping, yes, but the worst pain I ever felt? No! It was very freeing to surrender to the contractions, doing whatever felt good, no matter how crazy or silly it seemed. From my two datapoints, I seem to take forever to labor/dilate to 3 cm, and then go from 3-10 really fast! Labors last about 36 hours each, in both labors, I immersed myself in the tub, completely, except for my nose, when I had the intense contractions, removing all the sensory stimulation, ears underwater, eyes closed, remaining really loose. Alternately, I did a lot of deep vocalization. As I said, hard, yes, intense, yes, all encompassing, yes, body wracking, yes, but incredibly painful — no. If I could, I would labor and birth once a year! No pregnancy, no baby to keep, just a big ole labor and birth! It was the hardest, most intense, but doable work I have ever done!

–Sharon

 

 

Filed Under All Recent Articles, Birth, Birth stories, Coping with pain Tagged With Braxton Hicks, contractions, Coping with pain, Pitocin

Postpartum Care: Belly Binding

September 9, 2011 By Cara Terreri 4 Comments

The Belly Bandit binder.

I first came across the subject of “belly binding” (or abdominal binding/compression) when I came across a product called the Belly Bandit. At first glance, I thought this was some new Hollywood-inspired fad that allowed women to look as if they had never been pregnant just days after birth. When I looked into it, however, I found that women outside of the United States have been practicing abdominal binding after birth as a way to shrink, tone and strengthen abdominal muscles and skin. The practice involves wearing a compression wrap around the mid-section, sometimes extending down over the top of the hips, beginning in the first day or two after birth and up to six to 12 weeks postpartum.

With my most recent pregnancy, the concept of belly binding intrigued me not only because the idea of shrinking my postpartum belly faster sounded appealing, but because I remember just how weak my abdominal muscles felt after the birth of my last two children. There are a variety of options and costs for abdominal compression wraps, ranging from as low as $15 for a no-frills, medical-looking device (like this one) up to $80 for the more haute couture options. Prior to birth and based on the advice of this article on belly binding options, I purchased a simple one-piece girdle for about $15. In addition, I also requested from my midwife while in the hospital a simple, medical-grade abdominal binder (which is usually given to moms after a c-section to aid in healing). After the birth of my third baby, my abdominal muscles felt weaker than I remember feeling for any of my prior births. When I stood up, it felt as if my gut would just plop out of my body! When the nurse brought me the abdominal binder, I put it on immediately — the relief was instant! I felt amazing! Like magic, I had strength and support and could easily get in and out of bed, maneuvering my body with more assurance than just a few minutes before.

Upon coming home, I continued to wear the abdominal binder throughout the daytime hours (they are recommended to be worn at night too for maximum effectiveness, but I took a break). The biggest complaint I have about the binder I received from the hospital is the itchiness of the material. I have found that wearing a thin tank top underneath makes it much more comfortable. And this, I imagine, is where it would make sense to invest more money in some of the other binding options, as they are made with higher quality material that can be worn more comfortably against the skin.

As for results, I am two weeks into the process and have noticed a considerable difference in how quickly my postpartum belly has shrunken down, not to mention the speed with which my abdominal muscles seem to have recovered. I am a believer in belly binding! In fact, I’ve been saying that this is my newest piece of must-know advice for expectant moms. Whether it’s your first or your fifth, you can benefit and feel better from abdominal binding after birth.

Filed Under All Recent Articles, Postpartum Tagged With abdominal binding, postpartum body, postpartum care
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