Scheduled for an Induction? Here's What You Should Know with L&D Nurse, Mackenzie DeClark
Show Notes:
[2:22] Our Reviewer of the Week, ereese307, says, "Game Changer for a first birth! This podcast was my best pregnancy resource during pregnancy! I just had my first baby and before the birth, I listened to every episode of this podcast! My birth preferences went out the door when my baby was diagnosed with fetal growth restriction, and I was scheduled to be induced early. This podcast gave me the strength and knowledge to stay positive and continue forward to have the most amazing, natural-ish hospital birth. Now, I have a beautiful baby girl who is as healthy as can be at one week old."
[3:08] Mackenzie is a Labor and Delivery and Postpartum nurse. She's been working night shift for 7 years caring for new and experienced parents. During that time, she also became a mom to two little boys. After giving birth & navigating postpartum herself, she saw a need for more accessible, non judgmental, non-biased birth and postpartum education. She created her TikTok and Instagram accounts "Mackenzie on Motherhood" where she makes relatable & unfiltered videos about all things birth and postpartum.
[8:12] Mackenzie shares some comfort techniques in the hospital:
- You do not have to stay in your bed
- You can stand, lean over the bed, sit on a birth ball
- Peanut balls help open your pelvis so baby can work his way down
- You can ask for intermittent monitoring if you have a low-risk pregnancy
- You can get in the shower or tub (if available)
- Practicing your breathing
- Holding or squeezing a comb
- Warm compress for your perineum to allow the tissue to stretch
- Ice compress for your forehead or neck
[14:38] Aromatherapy can be a huge help to some mamas during labor. Scents like lavender, rose, ginger, eucalyptus, and peppermint can be calming.
[16:04] Make your space feel safe and secure. Dim the lights. Limit the noise and visitors. Wear your own clothes.
[18:15] Mackenzie shares what it's like being a nurse and raising babies at the same time since she works the night shift.
[21:35] What exactly is going to happen to my body during an induction?
First, to start off the induction would be a cervical exam. The nurse or doctor would check your cervix and they're looking for: how open you are, how dilated, how thin or thick your cervix is, where your cervix is in your pelvis, and where baby is in the pelvis. If your cervix is not ready for labor yet, there's different medications that they can put by your cervix called Cytotec or Mesoprostol.
If you don't want to go the medicine route, they will use a foley catheter or balloon to help open your cervix up, but you have to be at least one centimeter dilated.
[28:38] Once your cervix is ripe and ready (soft, dilated a little, thinned out), the majority of the time, you would be put on Pitocin, which is the lab made version of the hormone oxytocin, which causes the uterus to contract. Once your body kicks into labor, the nurse can turn the Pitocin off, down, or up.
[32:07] Next step would be the doctor breaking your water, which can help speed up labor. A good time to get your water broken is when you want the head to be well engaged in your pelvis.
[33:23] Mackenzie talks about her two births and how different induction methods were used for both.
[36:30] If a mother is on Pitocin, she will be monitored the entire time so they can keep track of the contractions and how baby is handling the contractions. When you have Pitocin, you will be hooked up to an IV the whole time, however, you don't need to be stuck in bed with Pitocin. You can still labor on the toilet, sit on the birth ball, walk the halls, etc. as long as they have wireless monitoring.
[38:58] Stephanie asks how often inductions end up turning into a cesarean birth versus being able to continue on for a vaginal birth. Even if you're not having an induction, doing preparation work like spinning babies, prenatal kind of movements, doing the stretches, prenatal yoga, sitting on the birth ball, and getting your body stretched and ready for labor makes a huge difference.
[45:34] If you are going into birth, and you are absolutely planning on going unmedicated and now induction is a curveball thrown at you, you can still have an unmedicated birth without any pain meds.
[46:30] Are there some things that you notice about those women (who successfully give birth unmedicated), about their preparation or things that they're doing during labor that you can pass on to other women listening? They have done a lot of prep work, they come in believing in their body and knowing that they can do this. Relaxing and breathing through the contractions. They're good at listening to their body and just intuitively moving how their body is telling them to move. Preparation is key!
[49:54] Whatever birth you have, an induction, a C-section, getting an epidural, etc. there's no hierarchy of birth. Birth is birth. It's how you bring your baby into the world. There's no hierarchy. One is not better than the other.
[50:49] Where to find Mackenzie
To Leave a Review ⭐️
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ALL the best,
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