When my water breaks, why is pitocin used to start labor? How long can I wait to go to the hospital? скачать в хорошем качестве

When my water breaks, why is pitocin used to start labor? How long can I wait to go to the hospital?

You had 2 questions. First of all, you want to know why pitocin is used to induce labor after a woman's water breaks, and how long you can stay at home after your water breaks before you get checked in the hospital. And let's start with a little bit of anatomy and physiology. The amniotic sac is a barrier between the inside and outside world, and it's a big defense system. You've probably heard that there's bacteria all over our skin, and in the gut, and in the vagina that helps to keep bad bacteria away. And so there are good bacteria that exist in certain parts of our body that are one of our body's defense systems. It keeps bad colonies of bacteria from growing, but they're only good in the appropriate place. So when a woman's water breaks, there's a breach in that barrier, and bacteria can go up inside the uterus and cause infection. And this can make the baby and the mother very sick, and it can become very serious. So if at any point in pregnancy you feel like your water broke, you need to go to the hospital and get checked out. If your water is indeed broken, depending on your gestational age and circumstances, the doctor will determine what interventions are most appropriate at that point. If you're past 34 weeks, your doctor will recommend induction to reduce the chance of infection. The more time that passes after your water breaks, the higher the chance is of infection. So getting labor started is important. Pitocin is used because it starts contractions, which will ultimately lead to cervical dilation and change from hour to hour, which is the true definition of labor. If a woman goes into labor spontaneously or starts to have contractions spontaneously, her brain has released oxytocin. And oxytocin acts on the cells of the uterus and makes it contract. So we're just mimicking that by putting oxytocin, also known as pitocin - they're the same thing, they act on the uterus and make it contract - and so we're essentially getting contractions going, which cause the baby's head to put pressure on the cervix, and it begins to thin out and open up so the baby can come through and be born. And of course, again, we want this to happen, because the more time that passes from the time your water breaks till the time of delivery, the higher the risk is for infection. Now a lot of women want to know, what is it going to feel like when my water breaks. And it's not always obvious. In fact, most of the time when women experience their water breaking, they're like [gasp], and they just had an uncontrollable little leakage of fluid and they probably wonder if they peed their pants. And you wouldn't be the first or last pregnant lady to pee your pants, so if that happens, that's okay. But if there's any question about what it was, then go to the bathroom, empty your bladder, and then put on a pad or a pantyliner, and if you continue to leak fluid, don't wait long at all. Go to the hospital and be evaluated. And there's tests that the staff there can do on the fluid to determine if it is indeed amniotic fluid or not. And of course if it is, then your water is broken and your doctor will decide what interventions are most appropriate at that point. It's usually just a trickle of fluid, because that baby's head is acting like a good cork and preventing a lot of fluid from coming out at once. If the baby's head isn't acting like a good cork, then that's when you see huge gushes of fluid like on the movies where it's like, "Clean-up on Isle 10!". And one of the risks associated with this is that there could be a loop of umbilical cord that beats the baby's head to the cervix, and so it can slip out. And then when the baby's head drops down, it applies pressure or compression on the umbilical cord. This is called a prolapsed cord, and it is an obstetrical emergency. And when this happens, the woman needs to have an emergent C-section. Again, this is just another reason to go into the hospital if you feel like your water has broken - the risk of infection, and also, it allows the staff to monitor for other complications associated with it (like prolapsed cord) - to monitor your baby, make sure that they're doing well, and to also make sure that the mother is doing well. If you have more questions about it, ask your OB provider, and they can always give you tailored information and advice. And if you have more questions for me in the future, feel free to ask them on our Facebook page at   / intermountainmoms  , and recommend us to your friends and family too.