A labor accelerator is a medicine that promotes labor, and there are two types of medicine- and internal medicine to be drunk from mouth and an intravenous drip.
It is not unusual to feel anxiety when your doctor suggests to use a labor inducer. In fact it is quite normal to use a labor inducing drug to help with labor.
Let’s calm down and go over things one by one to eliminate anxiety points.
Basic Knowledge on Labor Inducing
Here are some important details about labor inducing that you need to be aware of. Read carefully and take note of the highlighted parts!
2 Types of Labor Inducing Drugs
As mentioned above, there are two kinds of labor inducing drugs, roughly divided into internal medicine and drip medicine. The ingredients, as well as the medication method, are different.
A labor inducer contains a component called prostaglandin and it has both an internal medicine and an infusion drug type. Labor inducing drugs containing this ingredient can expect the effect of urging labor while gradually and softly opening the cervix where the baby is coming through.
On the other hand, a labor inducing drug containing oxytocin is administered only by drip infusion. It is said that labor inducement by oxytocin often triggers labor earlier than prostaglandin.
When Do We Decide to Use a Labor inducer?
Generally, labor is the flow of childbirth that begins naturally as baby due date approaches. However, not all cases are the same.
Also, even after labor has begun, some babies will not come down into position and come out quite easily. Such cases may require the use of labor inducers.
There are other situations that may require labor inducement. For example, when one has exceeded the due date and labor does not happen; when labor pains have started but the mother’s physical strength is getting exhausted; or when it is determined by the doctor that it’s better to give birth early due to maternal effects and fatal conditions such as pregnancy hypertension and gestational diabetes.
These are just a few examples. Before childbirth, this drug will be used upon the doctor’s order when he/she has decided that labor inducement is necessary for delivery.
Is Insurance Applicable? How Much Does It Cost?
The labor inducement is not part of insurance coverage. It goes as a self-expense treatment. However, it may be applied when treatment is required in cases like emergency situations.
Insurance is not applicable under planned cases like waiting for childbirth by inducing labor, or deciding to use a labor inducing drug because the due date has already passed.
About the Flow and Pain During Labor
To know more details about the flow of labor and pain during labor, read the following information carefully.
Flow after using labor inducer
If you use a labor inducer, many believe that labor will come soon afterwards, but it is not always the case.
Of course, there are cases in which you can give birth only within several hours after applying inducer. On the other hand, there are cases when it took a whole day for it to happen. Results vary depending on the person.
In general, it is said that drip medication is more effective than internal medicine. If oral medication is not effective for inducing labor, you may switch to drip medicine, but there is a difference in efficacy depending on the person.
Is it true that labor pains get harder?
Sometimes we hear about labor pains becoming more intense when using a labor inducer. Even so, you can not avoid choosing the option of using a labor inducer if it becomes necessary for the delivery.
Many factors influence the differences in the birthing process. It is almost impossible to try to duplicate the same birth flow experience, and when using a labor inducer for delivery and without it.
As a result of sudden labor pains which should take place right after applying labor inducer, there may be women who feel that the pain they are experiencing is more painful than the labor pain without taking an inducer.
We need to be aware that labor is something very painful in both cases – whether or not we are using a labor inducer.
My Experience: 39 Year Old Mom and First Baby’s Birth
I will introduce my experience when I myself used a labor-inducing drug.
I suddenly had an increase in blood pressure two weeks before my due date, so I used a labor inducer for emergency hospitalization. As a result, it was a full self-expense since that was a planned labor process where I had used an inducing drug.
As soon as I got hospitalized, I was told to put this thing called a balloon into my cervix. The balloon is an instrument that helps open the cervix area gradually, and it is an object that will bring it close to the condition where we are ready to give birth. In my case it took about a week.
When the cervix opened to a certain extent, I was told to take a total of 6 labor-inducing drugs for internal medicine, one tablet per hour, then actual labor pains started that night.
However, at dawn my baby didn’t progress that easily, so I ended up using a laboratory inducer from an intravenous drip, and I gave birth after about 5 hours.
There were no immediate changes after taking the internal medicine, and I found out that my labor first came when I felt something like a stomachache, like when we’re having diarrhea, that night.
The infusion‘s labor inducing effect began a few hours after my labor started, but because the pain increased with every addition of drip medicine, I remember myself pleading with the doctor to please take my baby out of my belly already.
We used a labor inducer for both internal medicine and drip medicine, which the doctors and midwives firmly prescribed, so we were able to deliver with joy and confidence.
Summary
We tend to have an impression that labor will be quick and smooth with labor inducement. However, it is not always the case. Let’s face childbirth by taking into consideration the most effective and risky points, according to the doctor’s advice. So if you have uncertainties, always consult your doctor, a midwife, or a nurse.
