Are contractions more painful after the oxytocin drip?

[Keepingbusyeating]

I’m pregnant with my second and with my first I was induced and had the oxytocin drip and an epidural with ended up failing on one side after a few hours. I am scared of experiencing that level of pain again (probably about 1 hour before the pushing stage so fairly far on).

If anyone’s experienced both, is it fair to say the contractions are more intense after the drip? Or is that how they’d feel if I wasn’t to have the drip this time?

*Which ended up failing

I had a similar experience to you with my first pregnancy. With DC2 I was induced again and had the drip, but it was actually an amazing experience. I didn't even need an epidural with him because they were much more manageable.

Oh really.. that’s really good to hear as I’m scared about another failed epidural and was induced last time due to GD which I’m likely to get again this time

That's understandable. I was really scared too. But it was such a beautiful experience.

I was induced with my 1st, contractions were horrific for hours. I think part of the problem was my body just wasn’t ready to deliver the baby, my waters broke but then nothing else happened so on day 3 they induced me and it felt like the drug was forcing my body into it. I didn’t have an epidural.
2nd baby I went into natural labour and the whole labour was a piece of cake in comparison.
Actually neither labour was the worst pain I have ever had gall stones and broken ribs were way worse and more prolonged.

Following the thread to hear other people's experiences.

I was augmented with my first (so waters broke without going into labour, labour started 12hrs later, 12hrs after that no progress so on the drip) and found it very painful. Feeling stuck on the bed with all the tubes, wires etc. didn't help either. So then had an epidural and third degree tear (which I'm blaming on the epidural!). Been offered the choice this time, and currently opting for vaginal birth but desperate not to end up with oxytocin/epidural again.

I had the drip with my first and third it was nasty but I didn't need an epidural or anything just pethidine and gas and air I think it was because it intensifies the contractions suddenly your body doesn't compensate like it does for "normal" progressive labour my middle one was easier than the ones with the drip I have to say but

Healthy baby is the goal!

I had drip - it was described to me as twice the contractions in half time. I'm not sure they're more painful per se, but it's quite an intense experience and harder to mentally adjust to the labour. Baby came out good though which was the main thing!

I would guess everyone's experience is slightly different. For me, I wouldn't say they were more painful, but they were more frequent. I had a weird 3 days of intense contractions that would only happen at night, and disappear by morning. I ended up induced on day 4 due to concerns with baby. I found the contractions from the drip exact same pain level as what I was having at home, just more frequent. The natural break between was what made them more bearable for me. The drip makes them come so steadily and less rest time so that was tougher. At home I had 1:3.5 minutes or so, not always exact. On the drip it was 1:2 continuously so I felt that difference.

I had the drip and a failed epidural the first time. Second time I had a spontaneous labour. The contractions were as different as night and day. Absolutely not manageable on the drip (hence the epidural) but with my second, I only used a TENS machine and hypnobirth breathing. I'd never have the drip again.

With my first I went into spontaneous labour, I was on the birthing unit, it hurt, but I was able to breath through it and stay fairly calm. With my second I was induced due to age and other factors, and the drip made the contractions far more intense (didn't have an epidural), didn't really get a gap in between and at one point they removed it because the baby wasn't coping with them, but whilst they were discussing what to do after removal I went from 3cm to 10cm in five minutes and delivered her without the drip. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, she was fine thankfully, 5 hours from start to finish, wouldn't want to repeat, but was able to walk out of hospital a few hours later and go home with her.

Apologies, not sure why I quoted a previous poster, must have miss pressed

Obs anaesthetist. Definitely. It's incredibly rare to be on oxytocin without requiring an epidural vs many labouring normally don't need epidurals. Epidurals have a 1in 10 chance of failure (normally one sided) unfortunately

That's such medical nonsense it's untrue. How does an epidural cause vaginally tears? There a many many many causes of tears, epidurals aren't on said list

I had an oxytocin drip for my first labour. I had already decided against an epidural because of a friends negative experience. So when The midwife explained that the oxytocin would be intense , I opted for pethidine and it was a positive experience. The pethidine lifted my mood and the oxytocin was effective so I was on a high when my baby was born.

And he's never been into drugs.

I had a reaction to the drip which meant I had a very intense (off the toca scale thing) contraction with only 10 seconds between each one for hours and hours. It wasn't the pain it was just the exhaustion. After 12 hours of contractions every 10 seconds and no dilation change I had to go to epidural. Baby was also distressed with every contraction.

Second time around I warned them of this reaction. They ignored it and the same thing happened. Hospital trust has since been investigated and suffice to say I was lucky to leave with my babies.

Hi @Destiny123,

So firstly I said I am blaming it on the epidural... not that the doctor did!

However, tears are more common with epidurals. It isn't a huge difference as far as I remember, but on average epidurals lead to a more prolonged second stage of labour, and a more prolonged labour can lead to tearing. An epidural also makes it harder to feel the natural urge to push (for many) and this can make it harder to breathe through the baby crowning and too much pushing at that point can increase the risk of tearing.

In my case, the prolonged second stage was causing problems because they were struggling to monitor the baby's heart rate. That was causing everyone quite a lot of anxiety and therefore I was definitely not being encouraged to 'pant' rather than push when she crowned. I feel the epidural contributed to the situation and in my debrief the consultant agreed this could be the case.

Not saying epidural = guaranteed bad tear, but I think in my case it was part of a whole situation that didn't go the way I wanted.

Haha, should have scrolled up and seen you were an anaesthetist! Perhaps I am wrong then, but this is how it was explained in birthing classes to me and as I said my consultant didn't disagree (but maybe they felt it was better not to).

In any case it has firmly (and perhaps non-medically) put me off both induction and epidurals.

My consultant highly recommended an epidural after the drip. Told me the contractions would be much more intense. Epidural was bliss.

I had the drip at a very late stage in labour and the contractions were no different than before. Probably not what you're after but just fyi

An epidural increases the risk of needing an assisted delivery which in turn increases the risk of tearing. I’m surprised as an anaesthetist you don’t know that!

Hi,

I had the drip induction and the contractions did hurt more than the pre-labour ones.

However, I asked for an injection of pethadine and within seconds I went from being not in active labour to being in transition. It was really very sudden.

The contractions were incredibly painful then, but the pain was stopped completely by gas an air. Each time a contraction was about to start I just sucked hard on the gas and air machine and the pain vanished entirely.

The whole delivery took only 2 hours from the start of the drip to the delivery and I only had pethidine and gas and air. I had no pain.

Neither of those can fail, as far as I know. You just have to know to suck hard on the gas and air machine to open the valve.

Good luck with it. You're braver than me. I only had one baby. You will be a proud and happy mum when you see your two playing together.

This is based on outdated research and is correlation, not causation. Epidurals do not lead to more interventions according to the latest research.

So glad pethidine worked for you. I’m sorry to say that it did nothing for the pain for me, but made me feel completely out of it in a very unpleasant way. It was all a big, very painful blur for me for a while. I also couldn’t get the gas and air to work, but I think that’s unusual - I think most people can.

Theres an association, there's not causation. Many give birth prehospital/birth centres etc and won't have an epidural and also won't have forceps/csections. For all we know baby was in a funny position...causing more pain... hence the epidural... and that lady with destined for theatre epidural or no epidural

But its the forceps that causes the tears not the epidural regardless