Pit to Distress…Does it Really Happen?

The blog-o-sphere is buzzing right now about a practice called “Pit to Distress.”  Apparently Keyboard Revolutionary started it all with her post, which was quickly followed by Unnecesarean the same day.  Now both of these blogs are written by “lay women”–that is, “JUST” moms, not medical professionals.  So I was quite happy to see one of my favorite L&D nurse blogs jump into the fray–Nursing Birth.  The Nursing Birth piece should be required reading for ANY woman who is planning a hospital birth, so that she doesn’t let this happen to her.

Pitocin seems to be almost synonomous with hospital labors anymore. I wonder how many women who labor actually manage to get through without using it at some point. One client I had switched OB practices because she had been informed that when she arrived at the hospital in active labor she would be put on Pitocin. No waiting to see how labor was progressing and if it was really needed…it was just the policy of this practice to use Pitocin on all laboring women. Medical staff will often explain away any concerns with the use of Pitocin by saying that it is just a synthetic form of the same hormone that your body produces. Which is true. But that doesn’t mean that putting it into an IV is the same as letting your body produce it!

I’ve seen some “interesting” things happen with Pitocin in my doula experience.