If labor does not begin in any way, and the baby should already be born, doctors are forced to resort to their artificial stimulation using various methods. However, each of these methods has its own indications and contraindications, therefore, it is categorically not recommended to ask a doctor to speed up labor for some reason.
Types of stimulation
Prolonged pregnancy is characterized by oligohydramnios, a decrease in the thickness of the placenta, thickening of the baby's cranial bones, and so on. The absence of labor in due time is fraught with deterioration in the functioning of the placenta, which leads to a significant deterioration in the condition of the fetus. In such cases, labor stimulation is prescribed, for which artificial rupture of the fetal bladder or amniotomy is often used, during which the bladder is pierced with a hook-like instrument. This procedure is practically painless (there are no nerve endings in the fetal bladder) and allows you to start the process of delivery due to the discharge of amniotic fluid.
After the performed amniotomy, labor begins in about a few hours.
Also, labor is accelerated with the help of a special "prostaglandin" gel, which the obstetrician injects into the cervix of a woman lying on a gynecological chair. This procedure allows labor to begin nine to ten hours after drug administration. If labor has begun, but labor is too weak, and the cervix does not open well, doctors resort to stimulation with droppers with oxytocin or prostaglandins. Oxytocin is a hormone produced by the brain that stimulates smooth muscle and increases the contractile activity of the uterus. Prostaglandins (hormone-like substances) have similar properties. Four to six hours after the stimulation of labor by one of the above methods, doctors assess the benefits of them - if there is no effect, the woman is given a cesarean section.
Features of stimulation
Contraindications to the acceleration of labor is its hyperactivity, hypertension, the presence of chronic fetal hypoxia or a scar on the uterus, as well as cardiovascular or other dangerous diseases of the woman in labor. Ideally, a woman should give birth on her own, since childbirth is a natural process, which should be accompanied by correct breathing during attempts and contractions. Doctors say that women who are trying to control the birth of a child with their head most often need stimulation, while full and instinctive surrender to the process allows the body to do everything right.
Expectant mothers are advised to undergo special training at a school for pregnant women - then acceleration of childbirth is unlikely to be required.
Natural childbirth is also desirable because a baby born without stimulation experiences less stress during the passage of the birth canal. In addition, non-intervention in labor prevents a lack of oxygen in the baby. The use of drugs for stimulation is also not useful - for example, oxytocin most often gives the skin of newborns a yellowish tint to the skin, since this hormone increases the level of bilirubin in the blood and enters into a chemical reaction with it. Jaundice resolves on its own within a few weeks.
