# No dilation, even with pitocin?



## GuavaGirl (May 6, 2008)

A friend of mine had her due date Feb. 3rd. She was getting some contractions, but only when she went for a walk. On the 8th they gave her Cervidil to try to get things moving. That didn't work. Then on the 11th she was given Pitocin. Apparently she did not dilate, so she is scheduled for a C-section this morning. (the 13th)

My question is: How does someone not go into labor, if given those 2 things? What do you think is happening? I've never heard of this before.
If the baby is ready, is there a reason that someone would just not go into labor?

She was working with CNM for her delivery.


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

That happened to me with my third. I honestly believe the baby and I just weren't ready yet (my babies always seem to cook an extra 2 weeks; they were inducing me due to high blood pressure).

Why are they so keen to get the baby out? (Not a birth professional, just curious!)


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## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

IMO, she wasn't ready to go into labor yet. Maybe she needed another week or two before going into labor spontaneously. Perhaps they had her dates off, or maybe she simply needed a longer gestation.

Unless she or the baby was having some kind of medical problem, there was no true medical need for her c/s today. Being 41 weeks, 3 days pg is not, all by itself, a medical reason for it.


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## GuavaGirl (May 6, 2008)

I'm not sure why. They were just told that if it goes over a week overdue, they'll induce. ...and then now, with the C-section, I'm not sure. I just got a text from them that said "no change in dilation, C-section scheduled for tomorrow, baby is fine, no worries..." I was like "WHAT!" So, I'm not really sure what the deal is. I do remember her saying that they told her the babies heart rate was going down a little.

Is this situation abnormal?


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

The situation is sadly, not abnormal. Wrong. Dangerous. But not abnormal









-Angela


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## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

Unfortunately, no, this is how OBs normally handle women who don't go into labor on their timetable.

If there's a medical reason to induce, and the induction doesn't work, then a c/s is appropriate. Being 41 weeks pg is NOT a medical reason to induce (although some women do have medical complications at 41 weeks.) Many OBs do think of being past 40 weeks as "post dates" and a reason to interfere with nature. Your friend obviously buys into the medical mindset and there's probably nothing you can do to change her mind at this point. She was giving you an update on the baby situation, not asking for your input, when she texted you. She's likely already at the hospital and in no position to do further research.

Many CNMs are stuck with the medical model, or they'll risk losing their OB backup. Plus, there's a huge range of personalities- there are some OBs who are more "natural minded" than some midwives- to simply look at a practitioner's credentials is no guarantee of anything. Yes, MWs are _in general_ more supportive of natural birth than OBs, but that's not true in every case.


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## mellowyellowmama (Feb 7, 2008)

They're just scheduling a c-section? It didn't work b/c your friend and her baby are not ready. She should see it as a blessing it didn't work. I had a VBA2C at 44 wks...I can't imagine if they 'took' her at 40 or 41 wks!







:


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## GuavaGirl (May 6, 2008)

Ruthla: yeah I wasn't planning on doing anything. I don't think we're close enough friends, and she was not necessarily wanting a natural birth. I think she was planning on an epidural. I was just mostly asking for my own knowledge and curiosity. This is the ONLY midwife in my town, and I was planning on going to her, since I'm TTC right now. I have heard, that she was sued for something, and since then have become more "conservative."


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## layla983 (Oct 8, 2007)

Do you know how long they did the pit? I know my SIL was induced the day after her due date because she was "overdue" & they tried pit for about 4 hours & she didn't have any change (she was like 1-2cm without it anyway). When there was no change after those few hours, they announced they didn't think she'd dilate so they did a section. DH works with a guy whose wife had something simliar happen, only with cervidil instead of pit. They did the cervidil, there wasn't much change in her cervix & they reccomended a c-section. Her mom is actually a midwife & also agreed that if she didn't dilate with the cervidil, the pit was "pointless." The hospital based midwives around here are really the same as the OB's you want to avoid, sadly.


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## mellowyellowmama (Feb 7, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *layla983* 
Do you know how long they did the pit? I know my SIL was induced the day after her due date because she was "overdue" & they tried pit for about 4 hours & she didn't have any change (she was like 1-2cm without it anyway). When there was no change after those few hours, they announced they didn't think she'd dilate so they did a section. DH works with a guy whose wife had something simliar happen, only with cervidil instead of pit. They did the cervidil, there wasn't much change in her cervix & they reccomended a c-section. Her mom is actually a midwife & also agreed that if she didn't dilate with the cervidil, the pit was "pointless." The hospital based midwives around here are really the same as the OB's you want to avoid, sadly.


Well if the pit was 'pointless' and there weren't any issues, then why did they do c-sections? Wow.


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## layla983 (Oct 8, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mellowyellowmama* 
Well if the pit was 'pointless' and there weren't any issues, then why did they do c-sections? Wow.

Pit was pointless because she obviously wouldn't dilate since she didn't respond to the cervidil, & if she did it wouldn't be fast enough & she'd need a section anyway. As far as why she had to have the secion, because she was overdue, of course! And because she was almost a whole week overdue, her baby had to be HUGE, so they didn't know if it was a good idea for her to attempt a vaginal birth. Oh, & they told her it was "better for bigger girls" to have csections anyway since most end up with one. Baby was 8lbs 3ozs, so that was huge. Of course, when I had my son, everyone freaked out because "oh my god, he's so big!" so I thought I had some huge baby because everyone was really freaking out about it...nope, 7lbs 10ozs. And people kept telling me how huge he was the entire time we were at the hospital, it got old.

Out of everyone I know who went to that OB's office, at least 10 people I know well, I am the only person to NOT have a section. Of course they started offering induction at 37 weeks since I was "full term" so I guess a 7lb 10oz baby at 41 weeks is huge compared to what he could have been.

DH also has a friend who was given pit at 38 weeks because she was 4 cm & kept going to the hospital basically demanding they induce her, once she found out what she was diliated to she was set on having the baby right then & wouldn't stop trying all the natural methods, none of which worked. They finally did induce after her 5th visit to the hospital in a week, starting at like 6 or 7, but by midnight her doctor came in & accounced she wasn't fully dilated & they'd waited long enough so she needed a csection. She was 8cm at that point. Ended up with a section & a post-section infection.

I'm surrounded by these stories obviously.


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## Veritaserum (Apr 24, 2004)

I attended an induction where mom was 4cm already. After 6 hours on pit there was NO change. She chose to go home rather than stay, have her water broken, and then likely end up with a c-section.

Sometimes it just doesn't work. It's like fruit. When a fruit is _really_ ripe it just falls off the tree. If it's pretty ripe, you can easily pick it off. If it's not ripe, you can tug and pull and yank, but you might end up having to cut it off. Same goes with pregnant bellies.


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## mellowyellowmama (Feb 7, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *layla983* 
Pit was pointless because she obviously wouldn't dilate since she didn't respond to the cervidil, & if she did it wouldn't be fast enough & she'd need a section anyway. As far as why she had to have the secion, because she was overdue, of course! And because she was almost a whole week overdue, her baby had to be HUGE, so they didn't know if it was a good idea for her to attempt a vaginal birth. Oh, & they told her it was "better for bigger girls" to have csections anyway since most end up with one. Baby was 8lbs 3ozs, so that was huge. Of course, when I had my son, everyone freaked out because "oh my god, he's so big!" so I thought I had some huge baby because everyone was really freaking out about it...nope, 7lbs 10ozs. And people kept telling me how huge he was the entire time we were at the hospital, it got old.

Out of everyone I know who went to that OB's office, at least 10 people I know well, I am the only person to NOT have a section. Of course they started offering induction at 37 weeks since I was "full term" so I guess a 7lb 10oz baby at 41 weeks is huge compared to what he could have been.

DH also has a friend who was given pit at 38 weeks because she was 4 cm & kept going to the hospital basically demanding they induce her, once she found out what she was diliated to she was set on having the baby right then & wouldn't stop trying all the natural methods, none of which worked. They finally did induce after her 5th visit to the hospital in a week, starting at like 6 or 7, but by midnight her doctor came in & accounced she wasn't fully dilated & they'd waited long enough so she needed a csection. She was 8cm at that point. Ended up with a section & a post-section infection.

I'm surrounded by these stories obviously.











I had a healthy baby at 44 wks just under 6 lbs!


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## minkajane (Jun 5, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *layla983* 
Of course, when I had my son, everyone freaked out because "oh my god, he's so big!" so I thought I had some huge baby because everyone was really freaking out about it...nope, 7lbs 10ozs. And people kept telling me how huge he was the entire time we were at the hospital, it got old.

When all your convenience inductions and C-sections are scheduled for 37-38 weeks, normal-sized babies are going to look huge compared to the 6-pound early babies you're used to.







I'm sorry you had to put up with that.


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## gemasita (Jul 1, 2005)

Inductions are not 100%. People can 'try' to be induced but it may put a woman into labor and it may not. I think people forget that.


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## Jilian (Jun 16, 2003)

IMO the only real reason a cervix will not dilate at all is because mom and baby are not ready (unless this mama has suffered cervical damage in the past). Due dates are not 100% and they can be off by a week or even more. So she may not even be "overdue".

There is something called a Bishop score that should be checked before even bothering to induce. It tells how likely you are to have a favorable induction. With a completely closed cervix her chances of success were pretty low.


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## Romana (Mar 3, 2006)

Sounds like she just wasn't ready to give birth yet. Unfortunately, women who experience this are often told they "don't dilate" or "can't dilate" and get a c-section and go on to have all c-sections. My MIL is one of these. She started with lots of prodromal labor at 41 weeks and kept going to the hospital insisting she was in labor and needed to be admitted; they kept sending her home because they was no cervical change and she wasn't 4 cm. Eventually she convinced them to admit her. They started pit, it didn't work. She got an epidural. At some point they did a c/s. That was my husband's birth. Classical incision, too. To this day she insists that her body just doesn't dilate and she could never have given birth.


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## catemom (Jan 9, 2007)

I was a victim of this. I wasn't going into labor, was nearly 3 wks "late"--gasp--and my blood pressure was rising. So, even though the baby had not come down and my cervix was nowhere near ripe, they hammered us with pit. After 8 hours of pit, and having contrax one on top of the other toward the end, they turned off the pit and told me I needed a c-section







. I found out later how that particular hospital and doc were pretty surgery happy, and they could have done things differently.

I really hate hearing these stories over and over again. I think women should start suing for unnecessary c-sections because it makes it hard to bond to your baby, the docs will more than likely try to scare you into subsequent c/s, you have a higher risk of complications in subsequent births, you have a higher risk of organ damage, and if you have a lot of scarring, you may end up with a hysterectomy. I think the docs/hospitals need to be held accountable for the consequences of their actions.


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## kohlby (Dec 5, 2005)

With DS, the pitocin did help me dilate - but only to a point. Cervidil did nothing. The pitocin got me to 5cm but that's where I stayed. I did have hard labor with super strong contractions. However, I didn't get a failure to progress but DS was too big. His head was molding even at only 5cm. They could feel his head and the molding and notice that he wasn't moving anymore either and that he was stuck due to my pelvis not being big enough. However, I was at 5cm for 6 full hours before the c-section! He was declared stuck but vitals were good so my OB had no problems with me making sure he really was stuck! He's 5 years old and his head is bigger than mine now!

With DD, I went into labor on my own and was able to attempt a VBAC. Due to it being a VBAC, I did not feel comfortable taking pitocin but did allow the dr to break my bag of waters to try to speed labor up. I was 41 weeks and never got past 3cm after 12+ hours of hard labor, despite hard laboring again. But in that case, DD did not move down and we later realized she was a case of undiagnosed, untreated GD. It was her huge chest pudge that got her stuck. So, though my body went into labor on its own, she wasn't able to come down enough to help out. (And it's a good thing, since she would have been a certain case of shoulder dystocia).

I give you my examples so you can see how sometimes there really is a medical reason other than the body simply not being ready. But it's still good to exhaust all options. DS was a 42 weeker and the placenta was starting to deteriorate by 37 weeks - so 42 weeks was as far as I could go due to the placenta at that point. He did have signs of post-maturity at birth. DD was an attempted VBAC of an enormous baby, so 41 weeks was as far as the dr and I felt comfortable going. (DS was 10lb 8oz, DD was 11lb 4oz - but DS is big boned and just a big kid. DD is small boned and there's no way she should have been over 9 lbs even, not to mention that 6 months clothes were too tight in the chest at the start and her low blood sugar at birth).

If there's no medical reasons, then I'd strongly suggest your friend waits until a minimum of 42 weeks.


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## MegBoz (Jul 8, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *catemom* 
I really hate hearing these stories over and over again. I think women should start suing for unnecessary c-sections because

In the book "Born in the USA" there is a story of a woman who did sue after complications & won! They even won a settlement for her DH since she couldn't have sex. I agree, this would be instrumental in reducing the CS rate - it would obliterate the belief that "If you section them, they can't sue you." And "If you section them, you did everything you possibly could due to save the baby, so you can't be sued."

Actually though, I think more women also need to sue for docs failure to obtain informed consent - doing things like AROM & episiotomy without even TELLING the woman, let alone waiting for her consent after properly informing her of risks & options.

It's the law that it is medical battery - a crime- to do things to someone without consent (presuming they're not unconscious). So I have no idea why docs do it all the time with impunity.


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## saharasky (Dec 20, 2002)

I can't remember where I heard this ... but I was told that the muscle fibers of the uterus don't fully connect until everything is ready to go ...and that if the fibers are not fully connected the cervix can't dilate no matter what you do to it. I would love someone to verify this information.


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## TzippityDoulah (Jun 29, 2005)

in plain speak... it just doesn't do a darn thing if your body isn't ready. period. you can't force labour.

I had a client once a couple of years ago. Her oh so wonderful OB said she the baby was "getting way too big" and the needed to induce "by the 6th at the latest!" well she went in a got cervidyl and pit... and it did nothing. so they sent her home. guess it wasn't so big an emergency? b/c the next available time to schedule her "emergency induction" was nearly 7 days later.

that poor woman was induced TWICE!!! it was just ridiculous. a complete waste of time and undue stress on both the parents and the baby.


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