Misoprostol for induction of labour - opinions, experiences please !

[VoodooLULUmama]

Found out today that it is going to be used by the maternity unit to induce labour in multips instead of prostin, i had heard and read some not terribly favourable things about it, and wondered what others experiences of it is. and if a misoprostol induction differs in any way from a prostin induction.. is it only given orally ?

TIA x

well i had a induction with prostin and labour started with very strong very painful contractions after 1 hour. it lasted 26 hours and i ended up with a emergency c-section as i wasnt dilating fast enough and my babys heartrate dipped dangerously low. it may have been because of the baby was stressed. but the cord was thin too. she was fine untill i was induced tho. and i had a perfectly healthy baby girl. midwives say she was just stressed and it doesnt mean my body doesnt carry propperly. i was worried the thin cord might have been a problem that will happen in every pregnancy i had

thanks for that

any experience of misoprostol anyone?

they tried to use prosting to induce me with ds1, turned out i was allergic to it but i do know people that have had prostin and its worked fine.

i dont know anyone with any experience of the misoprostal, which is taken orally i think, but i did see it used on a birth prog on the living channel, they use it at the portland hospital in london and it seemed to be effective, however that was just a tv prog.

but i will be asking my midwife about it as i always go overdue and i am a 'difficult and unusual case' as they cant use prostin...

thanks very much

anyone experienced induction using this? or knows anything about it?

some links hth

commonly used as NSAID,not recommended when pg as can cause contraction, misoprostol mimicks the labour-inducing effects of prostaglandin E1.so yeah might work as induction agent
"BMJthis ink"

"Look at this link"

"Look at this page"

Oher countries use it , friends in israel have had it with no side effects

thank you very much , will have a read of those

i had read that it was not developed as an induction drug, and that it was associated with more complications than prostin.

thank you bambi

cannmot access teh BMJ one as you need to subscribe!

www.aims.org.uk/Journal/Vol13No3/misoprostolletters.htm

www.homebirth.org.uk/misoprostol.htm

www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/misoprostol.asp

www.homebirth.org.uk/vbacinduction.htm

But I'm sure you're aware of these....

I believe my maternity hospital uses Propess. I am intriqued that this method is retrievable and would like to know how much of a difference that makes.

but no-one is putting any of that stuff in me even if I had an unscarred uterus!!!!!

thanks darling.. also found out about something interestin re cord prolapse.. using a foley catheter to introduce about 400 ml of fluid into the bladder to push baby;s head out of the pelvis in cases of cord prolapse to relieve compression. have you heard about it?

that's interesting Lulu, would a mw keep a Foley Catheter in her labour bag for home births to buy them time to get to hospital then?

my Hopsital had a few Cook's balloons to try but I have not been able to get to last 2 Labour Ward Forums so have not found out any more about their success or not....

don;t know about that, she;d also need saline or something to introduce to the bladder...? anyhoo, cord prolapse is obstetric emergency, so would be knee to chest, and blue lighted in without delay ?

am off to bed, night night x

lulu the link i tried to send you -"Try this BMJ link"

thank, i can open that one, very kind of you !

good!no journals for me its Friday - its Corrie

Sorry, I know this is late but there has just been a court action regarding this in Australia:

www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2007/11/20/1195321782543.html

There was a new article in the SMH about it most days last week - if you go to the "past eight days" archive you should be able to track the story.

sorry, didn't put the link in the proper format:

www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2007/11/20/1195321782543.html

thanks very much !

lulumama, with my new name!