-
Xenforo Cloud upgraded our forum to XenForo version 2.3.4. This update has created styling issues to our current templates. We will continue to work on clearing up these issues for the next few days, but please report any other issues you may experience so we can look into. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Hormone drip/pitocin
- Thread starter MiniVoid
- Start date
Unfortunately not all hospital staff will ask/ listen to a womens oppinion when she is in labour. And pitocin is a drug that is known to be abused by some doctors.
I knew I was having it but I remember objecting to it and still they have used it as they told me 'I had no choice' telling me I was stuck at 7-8 cm when I was just progressing slowly from the start. Hormone drip can only speed it up by 2 hrs and because the contractions will become stronger it is more likely to put the baby in distress due to the lack of recovery time in between contractions. I never signed a consent form prior for them putting the drip on me.
CARNAT22
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2011
- Messages
- 27,558
- Reaction score
- 0
Do you mind saying what happened to make you want to raise a complaint?
I was given syntocinon drip, without 'consent' [I wasn't asked to sign anything] but it was explained to me why I needed the drip. Based on that info we accepted.
I had been in early labour for 36 hours at home, I was exhausted and dehydrated, I'd never in a million years have managed to do it naturally
luckily I only needed drip, G&A and a hit of diamorphine to take the edge off.
xxx
I was given syntocinon drip, without 'consent' [I wasn't asked to sign anything] but it was explained to me why I needed the drip. Based on that info we accepted.
I had been in early labour for 36 hours at home, I was exhausted and dehydrated, I'd never in a million years have managed to do it naturally
luckily I only needed drip, G&A and a hit of diamorphine to take the edge off. xxx
Emily0505
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2011
- Messages
- 11,361
- Reaction score
- 1
I was on the drip for the duration of my labour. I didn't sign a consent form. They just explained why I needed it and that was that really.
Iv you feel you have grounds for complaint then I guess first step would be to contact the hospital and go from there.
XX
Iv you feel you have grounds for complaint then I guess first step would be to contact the hospital and go from there.
XX
I understand it is difficult for doctors and nurses to find the right balance because women scream a lot of things in labour they don't really mean but they do have an obligation to respect patient wishes and can not force any treatment on you. Being 100% honest I think it is going to be difficult to get anyone to pay propper attention to you and you may find that it is not worth the effort for you but you do have every right to complain. And of course if enough women complain maybe it will help improve the care women get in the future. Like others in this thread I used to trust doctors to make medical decisions for me then I had bad experiences. On one occasion I decided not to take a doctors advice (allergy, not pregnancy related) I was later told by another doctor that I could have died if I had done what I was told. So it is great for those who have doctors and MWs whos oppinions they can trust but it doesn't always work that way, sometimes we are right to use our own judgement. Even good doctors are imperfect and they can not feel what the patient is feeling so it is important that they listen to their patients.
Last edited:
CARNAT22
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2011
- Messages
- 27,558
- Reaction score
- 0
I had a 50 hour labour so I feel your pain.
I managed to get to 6cm then stalled.
I was lucid enough at the time for the MW to explain exhaustion and dehydration was impinging on my ability to dilate as quickly as I needed to. I was advised that my risk of an emergency c-section would rise without the drip. I also needed a saline drip for my dehydration.
I am no expert but it made sense to me, thing weren't happening for me as quickly as they needed to.
I was initially in the birthing centre but I only dilated 1.5cm in 4 hours.... My birth plan was to use the pool and my lovely MW tried to keep me under her care but in the end I had to move to labour ward.
I am sorry you are unhappy with your treatment? I would have a read about augmented labour and the reasons the drip is introduced. There is plenty of evidence to support the benefits of having the drip and for me I am happy that it was the right way to go.
xxxxxx
Last edited:
There are two types of consent - informed and implied. If you allowed the drip to be given, that's implied consent. You don't always need to have physically signed a consent form in order for you to have 'consented' to the treatment/intervention etc.
I do sympathise with you though and understand why you'd want to complain. After my section I wasn't allowed anything to eat or drink due to the mag sulf I was being given. I was then told I should mobilize, so had to get out of my bed and on to a chair. Unsurprisingly after no food or drink and a few different types of meds, I felt nauseous. I happened to mention it to the midwife, who proceeded to put cyclizine through one of my lines. It was all over so quickly and I was so mad that I'd been given the drug without any warning or asking if I was happy to have it (I wasn't - it was bloody obvious what was causing the nausea and nothing a few minutes sitting in the chair wouldn't have solved). I never made a complaint. To be honest, there was SO much about my experience of that hospital that I could have complained about, but I just didn't want to relive the nightmare by complaining.
Anyhow, back to your original question. If you look on your hospital's website, it should give you an address and contact for complaints. The hospital are required to respond to any complaint. Or you could go through PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service).
I do sympathise with you though and understand why you'd want to complain. After my section I wasn't allowed anything to eat or drink due to the mag sulf I was being given. I was then told I should mobilize, so had to get out of my bed and on to a chair. Unsurprisingly after no food or drink and a few different types of meds, I felt nauseous. I happened to mention it to the midwife, who proceeded to put cyclizine through one of my lines. It was all over so quickly and I was so mad that I'd been given the drug without any warning or asking if I was happy to have it (I wasn't - it was bloody obvious what was causing the nausea and nothing a few minutes sitting in the chair wouldn't have solved). I never made a complaint. To be honest, there was SO much about my experience of that hospital that I could have complained about, but I just didn't want to relive the nightmare by complaining.
Anyhow, back to your original question. If you look on your hospital's website, it should give you an address and contact for complaints. The hospital are required to respond to any complaint. Or you could go through PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service).
I have requested to look into and receive a copy of my notes under the information of freedom act I will go through those and make my complaint following where I feel they have make unnecessary choices. I am friends with a midwife whom is fully trained (dutch midwife) stopped practicing when she moved to the UK because MW's weren't allowed to make certain decisions without a doctor and apparently she found it shocking how little some midwife's know about serious conditions. She told me that it's very common to be 'stuck' on 7-8 cm and that it is normal to progress slower with a back 2 back baby I think without the hormone drip it would've been more likely that I would've had to push for longer but if that would've saved me from having a defeated battlefield down my legs and kept him from getting into distress I would've found it a big big mistake from the hospital to make.
I had a long labour, 38hrs total 27active. I stalled at 6/7cm for several hours. Infact dilation acctually went backwards, didn't know that was possible lol. I did consent to breaking the waters at that point which did seem to speed things up.When LO was born the MW commented on how squashed her head was. She was 9lb 5oz with a big head for her size. She was not born back to back but the MW did comment that she was not at quite the right angle during the labour and had quite a bit of turning to do. The baby's hearbeat was very stable thoughout the labour and I found the contractions very managable. I pushed for an hr and had a small tear with 4 stitches. I was fortunate enough to have a HB with a very experience Dutch trained MW, I agree the Dutch have great MW's. If I was in hospital I am sure I would have been under huge pressure to have the labour augmented. I do not believe that would have been the right choice for us and may well have ended in more intervention. I know it would certainly have made the labour more stressful for both me and the baby. Of course it can be usefull under some circumstances but I don't quite get the logic of trying to speed things up when the baby is having trouble fitting!
At one point the MW was concerned about my progress and there was talk of transfer to hospital. I said to my husband that if we did have to go I still didn't want pitocin because I felt things were going so well for me and the baby. I was very tired but still had strength and had managed to eat and drink throughout the labour and the baby clearly wasn't suffering. I gave OH strict instructions not to let the pit near me, so I do get where you are coming from.
At one point the MW was concerned about my progress and there was talk of transfer to hospital. I said to my husband that if we did have to go I still didn't want pitocin because I felt things were going so well for me and the baby. I was very tired but still had strength and had managed to eat and drink throughout the labour and the baby clearly wasn't suffering. I gave OH strict instructions not to let the pit near me, so I do get where you are coming from.
Last edited:
