How exactly is an induction going to happen from start to finish. Let’s talk about what to expect with two experienced labor nurses.
Today’s guest is Christina Bernard Mom of four, labor and delivery nurse, better birth advocate, IBCLC, military vet and navy wife. Working on a better birth advocacy course to be released June 2021. I absolutely ADORE her on Tiktok and Instagram!
This episode was inspired by my induction series on Pregnancy Nurse.
Big thanks to our sponsor The Online Prenatal Class for Couples — I actually go from start to finish about what to expect from admission in the hospital, as well as the common reasons you might get induced.
What to Expect at Your Induction
In this episode
Talking to your doctor about your induction
What to expect at the hospital from your induction
Different options for induction
How movement in labor can help you induction (and how partners can help)
Other things that might interest you
Induction at 37 weeks (explains why you might get induced early)
10 Common Questions About Induction
Producer: Drew Erickson
Check out my other pregnancy podcasts:
Check out all my podcasts:
Transcript
[00:00:00.180] – Hilary Erickson
Hey, guys, welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast! Today on Episode 94, we’re talking about inductions and how they happen. Get on your chemistry, talk about all your C’s, H’s, O’s, N’s, just kidding. We’re not talking about, like, chemistry, but like, what are you going to expect when you have an induction? Let’s untangle it.
[00:00:27.730] – Hilary Erickson
Welcome to the Pulling Curls Podcast, I’m Hilary, your curly headed host on the podcast, where we untangle everything from pregnancy, parenting and home routines. I want you to know that there are no right answers for every family. And I find that simplifying my priorities is almost always the answer. It’s tangled, just like my hair.
[00:00:52.890] – Hilary Erickson
And now a word from our lawyer. Hilary from Pulling Curls is a nurse, but she is not your nurse. Please take the advice of your personal health care provider over any advice you listen to on this podcast. If you have any questions, please contact them as they know about you and your personal situation. As a note, no one should try to go into labor prior to 37 weeks of pregnancy.
[00:01:16.650] – Hilary Erickson
OK guys, before we get started, subscribe. I love it when I have subscribers.
[00:01:21.120] – Hilary Erickson
It really means that you can hear every single episode because you never know what I’m going to talk about and you don’t want to miss it. OK, guys, today’s guest is Ta Ta Topics on Instagram and Tik Tok. I actually found her on Tik Tok and she’s so fun and she does so much work on patient advocacy, which I absolutely love, because I think the more we learn to talk with doctors and to have doctors talk with us about what to expect, the better it’s going to be.
[00:01:47.560] – Hilary Erickson
So I want to introduce today’s guest, Christina Bernard.
[00:01:54.100] – Hilary Erickson
Do you feel prepared for your delivery? In just three short hours, you can be prepared for the competent collaborative delivery you want. You’ll know what to expect and how to talk with your health care team. And there are no boring lessons in this class. I’ll use humor, stories from my 20 years in the delivery room to engage both of you. I love how Alissa told me that she found herself laughing at things that used to sound scary. Most of all, you guys are going to be on the same page from bump to bassinette.
[00:02:18.910] – Hilary Erickson
Join the online prenatal class for couples today. You can save 15 percent with coupon code UNTANGLED. You can find the link in the show notes.
[00:02:29.860] – Hilary Erickson
Cristina, welcome to the Pulling Curls Podcast.
[00:02:32.260] – Christina Bernard
Hello, how are you?
[00:02:33.580] – Hilary Erickson
I love having a fellow nurse on with me. So nice, so fun. So comforting it.
[00:02:39.430] – Christina Bernard
It is. It’s like, yeah, we speak the same language.
[00:02:43.090] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, whenever I find one on Tik Tok, I’m like one nurse.
[00:02:45.760] – Christina Bernard
I know. I know. We have our own little world, our own little team.
[00:02:50.500] – Hilary Erickson
OK, so today we’re going to talk about kind of how an induction happens. OK, so yeah, Cristina, I’m sure, have both done this four million times.
[00:02:59.020] – Christina Bernard
Four million times and..
[00:03:00.760] – Hilary Erickson
Thankfully not personally.
[00:03:02.680] – Christina Bernard
Yes, no, exactly.
[00:03:04.390] – Christina Bernard
Only two personally actually.
[00:03:07.180] – Hilary Erickson
Did you get induced with both of yours?
[00:03:08.540] – Christina Bernard
My older two, I did. And then the younger two, I was adamant on going into labor naturally and not allowing anyone to use the dose unless needed. And it wasn’t needed. So it was nice.
[00:03:20.200] – Hilary Erickson
I got induced on my last one. I was 12 days over and my prior baby was nine pounds and I had had a fourth degree on my first. So they said, come on, Hilary, you know, but I was like, so adamant.
[00:03:33.460] – Christina Bernard
Sounds familiar.
[00:03:34.330] – Christina Bernard
So my first was a third degree, nine pounds, six ounces. And then so we were doing cereal ultrasound measurements for my second baby. And she was really low fluid aligo at like thirty seven and four. So they were like, you’re being induced. That’s crazy. Yeah.
[00:03:52.720] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah. So and then you didn’t get induced on others because I think a lot of people are like, well you got induced, you have to get induced on all of them.
[00:03:58.630] – Christina Bernard
Absolutely not. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no, no. It was great. I like I think I just did a lot of research on how to go into labor a little bit more naturally. And it worked for me was great.
[00:04:09.670] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, I did all the research, I did all the things. My uterus was just like, nope, nope, not going to work. OK, so the first step with an induction is making the decision with your doctor, right?
[00:04:20.500] – Christina Bernard
Yes. Yeah.
[00:04:21.730] – Hilary Erickson
For me, they sat me down and they were like, Hilary, could you take your nurse hat off for just a minute? And we’ll just discuss the… You know, but they should talk about the reasons that they think you would be good for an induction.
[00:04:34.820] – Christina Bernard
Absolutely.
[00:04:35.470] – Hilary Erickson
And some people say I want to be induced. And that’s fine, too.
[00:04:38.590] – Christina Bernard
Sure. Absolutely.
[00:04:39.580] – Hilary Erickson
I’m not saying that’s wrong. If you’re I… If your husband’s going out of town.
[00:04:43.300] – Christina Bernard
Thirty nine weeks. That was my first baby. I was my husband was going on a six month deployment and I was a day overdue and he was leaving and he was supposed to have already left. And so they made an exception. Yeah.
[00:04:53.860] – Hilary Erickson
So, I mean, that really makes sense. Yeah. And you’re just going to have to make that decision with your doctor. Like Christina said, we only start elective, which means you’ve decided that you want to get induced… Inductions after thirty nine weeks. Most hospitals just straight across the board have that policy, every single one. So if you’re getting induced before thirty nine weeks, you have to have a good reason. All right. So once you decide you get an induction, your doctor will call the hospital and they’ll schedule you an appointment.
[00:05:21.190] – Hilary Erickson
And that appointment is a very flexible time frame you need to be aware of. Right.
[00:05:25.750] – Christina Bernard
So we’re flexible. So here’s the thing. With an induction, if it’s a not if it’s an elective induction, you’re kind of at the mercy of the hospital schedule. So if there’s a million other medical inductions, medical reasons to induce, a scheduled C-section, things like that, you might get bumped. And so that’s one thing that to keep in mind, if you’re having elective induction, everything’s perfect with your pregnancy.
[00:05:45.280] – Christina Bernard
Then after thirty nine weeks, then, you know, you might get bumped if you’re perfectly healthy and fine. And so you’ve got to get flexibility with that.
[00:05:53.080] – Hilary Erickson
And even if it’s medically indicated but not like crazy medically indicated, you might get bumped. Yeah.
[00:05:59.730] – Christina Bernard
Yeah. So very true.
[00:06:01.720] – Hilary Erickson
A lot of times people think that’s like the reservation at a restaurant and it’s just going to happen and it’s not that way. Just so you know, and we definitely don’t mind you calling a couple hours in advance and just being like, hey, just checking in, how are things looking?
[00:06:16.570] – Hilary Erickson
So you get some… Because we understand that you have to a lot of time to plan for day care and life. And so there’s no problem just checking in and seeing what things look like. Absolutely. And being very kind on the phone.
[00:06:30.490] – Christina Bernard
I was not that with my first child, but that’s a story for another day.
[00:06:35.830] – Hilary Erickson
Sometimes we get people who are so rude, like I have this reservation and this restaurant’s going to accept me. And you’re kind of like, girl.
[00:06:41.950] – Christina Bernard
It’s not a reservation.
[00:06:43.480] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, you don’t know what’s going on here. Yeah. So just a little tip from the other side of the nurses station.
[00:06:50.890] – Christina Bernard
You have to understand, we’re on your team we want to help you. Ninety nine percent of us do it because we love it. There’s a few in there that are not nice people, but that’s the rest of us. They’re awesome.
[00:07:01.240] – Hilary Erickson
I think they would switch to another unit, maybe postpartum. So I laughed way too hard at that.
[00:07:08.950] – Christina Bernard
I started in postpartum. I couldn’t get out of there soon enough. Yeah, never again.
[00:07:13.720] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, because labor is a rough unit. There’s tons of certifications your nurse needs, and so they really want to be there. It’s not like it’s just an easy job compared to a lot of places in the hospital. So. Absolutely.
[00:07:25.540] – Hilary Erickson
All right. Then you come in, you’re admitted. For your induction, remember, there’s five million questions, only invite everyone you want to know everything about you your whole life history.
[00:07:34.110] – Christina Bernard
Really good point.
[00:07:34.550] – Hilary Erickson
For the induction and then you are given your induction agent. So that’s kind of a lot of what I wanted to talk about. There’s like five things I came up with, five things that they used to induce.
[00:07:47.120] – Christina Bernard
So we.. Most hospital- so you’re talking about medical versus mechanical, too, right?
[00:07:53.680] – Christina Bernard
What are your five things?
[00:07:54.500] – Hilary Erickson
Mechanical was one of them so mechanical would be where they physically do something to you. So the two things that I can think of there are rupturing your membranes. Sometimes doctors just tell you to come in and they’ll break your water.
[00:08:05.720] – Christina Bernard
Yeah, depending on how far dilated and the baby flow, yep. All those good things.
[00:08:10.470] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, and especially if you’ve already had other kids, sometimes that’s all it takes. I’ve had a lot of friends who just went in.
[00:08:15.190] – Christina Bernard
And it’s kind of awesome like that. Within a couple hours.
[00:08:19.190] – Christina Bernard
It’s like a baby.
[00:08:20.060] – Hilary Erickson
And then something that I’ve seen a lot more popular, like I’d say the last five years, is a fully bulb induction.
[00:08:25.880] – Christina Bernard
Oh my gosh. Those are like everywhere. Like where we’re working, especially our midwifes love using a fully bulb. And it’s yeah, it’s crazy. I mean, every shift, there’s a fully bulb on the floor. Yeah. Every shift.
[00:08:36.710] – Hilary Erickson
And I like how easily backed out they are. If it doesn’t do anything you’re just like, OK, we gave it a whirl, let’s give it a few more days. Right. So the fully bulb of induction is where they basically take a little balloon and they blow it up inside your cervix. It’s more medical than that, but that’s how you can picture it.
[00:08:54.170] – Christina Bernard
Yeah, exactly. It’s a lot. Yeah.
[00:08:56.180] – Hilary Erickson
And just picture it. It’s just getting in there to open it up.
[00:09:00.440] – Hilary Erickson
That’s it’s doing.
[00:09:01.930] – Christina Bernard
Yep. Putting pressure on the inside and the outside. And it’s just like we secure it to the inside of your leg and it gets more pressure and hopefully just helps your cervix gently. It can be uncomfortable, but it helps it gently open.’
[00:09:13.250] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah. A lot of people I think, find it very uncomfortable initially and then it gets better. Some doctors put it in in the office and just let people hang out with it.
[00:09:21.650] – Christina Bernard
Oh, wow.
[00:09:22.250] – Christina Bernard
We don’t do that. So every state.. So I’ve worked in Virginia, California, Rhode Island and then now Maryland. And no. None of the states I’ve worked in have done that. But I’ve heard a lot of different states do… Sort of like either like you could do a cytotec at home, like some they do certain some things I don’t know. They don’t do that by you?
[00:09:41.450] – Hilary Erickson
Ours 100% depends on the doctor. We had one doctor that would do a fully bulb and send people home and tell them to come in after twelve hours because honestly, nothing’s really going on with you.
[00:09:51.620] – Christina Bernard
I feel like we need some more early labor suites at hospitals once covid’s done. I think that would be so cool, just like an early labor room where people hang out for intermittent monitoring and hang out and yeah, right.
[00:10:01.910] – Christina Bernard
Wouldn’t that be beautiful?
[00:10:03.290] – Hilary Erickson
Or to stay at home where you can enjoy your own brownies…
[00:10:07.820] – Christina Bernard
I like exactly what you want. I like it.
[00:10:10.340] – Hilary Erickson
But that’s interesting. OK, so Christina mentioned Cytotec, which is the cheapest of all induction methods. If you’re looking for the budget friendly method. Cytotec is cheap, right.
[00:10:19.340] – Christina Bernard
Exactly.
[00:10:19.940] – Hilary Erickson
But it’s definitely had a bad name over the years. We used to have to sign a special consent. Do you still have to sign a special consent still or ever?
[00:10:27.350] – Christina Bernard
No, I honestly… No, but I personally I don’t know. This is hard because as a nurse, you got to kind of stay a little bit politically correct with that.
[00:10:37.220] – Christina Bernard
I think we should. I think more education needs to be put on it. I don’t know, like I mentioned, maybe they give it to people and go home. I don’t know. We don’t do it by anybody.
[00:10:46.070] – Hilary Erickson
But no, no, I think they used to do that. Yeah. Like, way back when I started, maybe 2002. They were doing that. Yeah. But I think, you know, bad things happen so they stop doing that probably.
[00:10:58.100] – Christina Bernard
Right. So Cytotec I think yes. It’s inexpensive, it’s, it works pretty well. The only thing and you agree with this like it’s not there’s no rapid removal. So like once it’s in it’s in. And so that’s kind of hard to LoDo Cytotec. I think I’ve seen a lot more. I feel a lot more comfortable as a nurse working with the like twenty five mikes of Cytotec, you know, and then the is always there and that patient needs to be monitored for at least two hours.
[00:11:24.170] – Christina Bernard
We keep them on the monitor where I work, but some places do some like I think the first two hours after the dose and then take it away. We haven’t had any adverse that I can think of, but I definitely think everyone should have to sign something because that’s something that can’t be removed. So I think they should be fully informed as to what that’s going to do. And just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s better. I love Cervodil.
[00:11:44.420] – Christina Bernard
I wish it was a little bit more cost effective because I think it’s one of the best prostaglandins out there.
[00:11:51.200] – Hilary Erickson
But so side effects, this tiny pill, we can put it in your vagina, we can put it in your mouth, we can put it between your gums. There’s a lot of ways you can have it, but it’s just a little pill. It’s normally for GI stuff, right? Heartburn?
[00:12:02.960] – Christina Bernard
GI and it’s a it was a cardiac drug.
[00:12:05.570] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, but it is not. So the consent that we used to have to sign was because it’s not FDA approved for an induction of labor.
[00:12:11.390] – Christina Bernard
It isn’t. That… I don’t think it’s I still don’t think it is.
[00:12:14.250] – Hilary Erickson
No, no.
[00:12:15.320] – Christina Bernard
Yeah, it’s crazy that way.
[00:12:17.450] – Hilary Erickson
But I’ve been using it since I started in two thousand one.
[00:12:20.630] – Christina Bernard
Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I’ve been you. I mean, I started in 2011 as a postpartum nurse but. Yeah. So. As I started, we’ve been using it, but we used a lot more Cervadil at some of the hospitals and then I love Cervadil. I think it’s great.
[00:12:34.200] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, I think it really what you need to know is it’s really your doctor’s preference. And kind of the doctor said that it’s based on what’s at the hospital. Yeah, I think my hospital really purged… To those doctors because of the low cost and also we keep it on the unit. We do not keep Cervadil on our unit.
[00:12:53.780] – Christina Bernard
Right. They’re going to have to be sent up from the pharmacy and a lot of places because it’s refrigerated.
[00:12:58.420] – Christina Bernard
I don’t mind it. I’ve seen a lot better success with where I’m working currently. And just like the lower doses, which is awesome. So I kinda.. With a pregnant the first baby. I love it. I kind of get a little like, do we need this, what do we do? And it’s like, yeah, but it’s, it’s always a discussion. And like obviously I’m just a nurse but it’s always just kind of poking around, figuring out what we should do, what what the circumstances, what the cervix is doing, why are we inducing, all of those sorts of awesome things.
[00:13:28.900] – Hilary Erickson
So all these ones that we’re mentioning initially. So there’s Cytotec, which is a little pill. There’s Cervadil, which is kind of like a tampon/tbag.
[00:13:36.920] – Christina Bernard
Yeah, it’s teeny tiny one, though. Don’t get me.
[00:13:41.450] – Hilary Erickson
It’s a very… It would be a very weak cup of tea and then prostate gel. Yeah. So those are the three main ones. I’ve only done prostate gel like twice and it was. Yeah I thought early on. Early on.
[00:13:52.200] – Christina Bernard
Yeah. I’ve never used it anywhere I’ve worked. Anywhere. Which is crazy like I never.
[00:13:56.540] – Hilary Erickson
So it, it’s basically just like a Monistat applicator that you up and you just shove it in. But again, just like Mizo you can’t get it back. I guess you could do a douche.
[00:14:07.250] – Christina Bernard
Well that’s the same thing they’re saying with it. Yeah. With the Cytotec is that we could take a sailing flush and kind of flush it out. But it’s not going to I mean, other than like a utero.
[00:14:15.830] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah. You’d have to give like a tributaline to relax the uterus. I mean, there are ways that we can counteract these. It’s not just like, well, you’re just going to contract forever. So sorry.
[00:14:26.630] – Christina Bernard
And babies tolerate the contractions fairly well, too, which is good. Yeah.
[00:14:30.410] – Hilary Erickson
So so these first three are meant to give gradual contractions, really soften the cervix. They’re only given until you’re about three centimeters. If you were past three centimeters, then we move on to our good friend Pitocin.
[00:14:41.120] – Christina Bernard
Yeah, our dear friend.
[00:14:42.530] – Hilary Erickson
Which is which is the synthetic of oxytocin, which is what you the love hormone is making right now.
[00:14:51.030] – Christina Bernard
Exactly. Yeah, my love hormone.
[00:14:54.140] – Hilary Erickson
And so Pitocin goes in your I.V., it’s regulated just by the IV pump. The nurse increases it every half hour. Whatever the policy is, every hospital has very, very strict, very strict policy.
[00:15:05.240] – Christina Bernard
And we yeah, it depends on the hospital. It’s the nurse has complete autonomy to operate it on her own or has to follow that policy and call the doctor every 30 minutes. If they’re not, there’s I’ve worked in some interesting places with some interesting I’ll say I prefer when we’re allowed to titrate it on our own.
[00:15:23.720] – Hilary Erickson
I have never had to. I’ve never worked at a place where I could have an update on my own. That’s interesting. You did you have residents?
[00:15:29.870] – Christina Bernard
No, we have to we have to up it at the thirty. Have to. And if we don’t, we have to call the provider with why we’re not. And they audit our chart.
[00:15:40.190] – Hilary Erickson
Oh, I’m sure a lot of ours would love that, but we don’t.
[00:15:43.850] – Christina Bernard
But it’s not logical.
[00:15:45.710] – Hilary Erickson
It’s our license.
[00:15:47.120] – Christina Bernard
Exactly. It’s our license. And I’m sorry I’ve worked. I know how much they’re going to need. And I can I can manage labor! Like that’s why you pay me to..
[00:15:56.550] – Hilary Erickson
It would be just like insulin, right? If the contractions aren’t two to three minutes apart, then you increase.
[00:16:01.550] – Christina Bernard
Exactly.
[00:16:02.420] – Hilary Erickson
If they’re that close, then you just chill out. Anyway. Well, that’s interesting. I think you guys are seeing a little peek behind the nurses station that every hospital is very different.
[00:16:12.350] – Hilary Erickson
So just because your friend in another state with a different doctor had X, Y, Z for an induction does not mean that your induction would be the same way.
[00:16:20.030] – Christina Bernard
Exactly. They’re all different. And and take this all with a grain of salt. When we’re talking about providers, we definitely have ultimate respect. But there’s always going to be little quirks that, you know, just like they have pork stuff in there. So it’s not a negative thing at all.
[00:16:35.000] – Christina Bernard
We’re just making we’re making films and chatting a bit. We’re fine.
[00:16:39.920] – Hilary Erickson
Still in some breast milk. That’s right.
[00:16:43.550] – Hilary Erickson
So after you get your it’s everything’s kind of like, hurry up, we’ll admit you, put in your IV, we’ll put the thing in and then it’s just like dead silent in a room. Nothing’s going to go on for quite a while. That’s where the waiting begins. So that’s why I always recommend people who have an induction bring some entertainment sources.
[00:16:59.540] – Christina Bernard
Absolutely. Entertainment or distraction, distraction or plan to sleep like come in, especially a lot of our inductions we start em at night.
[00:17:07.850] – Christina Bernard
So if they offer you something to sleep, take it best. Enjoy yourself. You’re not going to be getting much of that very soon.
[00:17:17.450] – Hilary Erickson
Or ask for it, because a lot of doctors- Our doctors don’t order an Ambien and you’re kind of like, let’s give her one good night’s rest before it’s over.
[00:17:25.340] – Christina Bernard
Now, can we. Can we. Yeah, exactly. We discussed something for sleep, especially, yeah, I mean, if they’re coming in and they’re an induction and you know that their first baby and they’re 40+ weeks and haven’t dilated, you’re like, we’re going to get some rest.
[00:17:41.030] – Hilary Erickson
And I think sleeping pills, maybe pregnant women are going to be concerned. I don’t know, obviously. But if you’re 40 weeks and you take one, you’re fine.
[00:17:49.310] – Christina Bernard
You’re fine. Exactly. At this point. Trust me, you’re good. And the doctor’s not going to recommend anything that’s going to harm your baby. Like nothing comes without risk. But that goes from like Tylenol to like Cheetos. Like everything has a warning, you know, like every single thing, even your perfectly organic, all natural stuff.
[00:18:07.440] – Christina Bernard
So if the doctor’s going to prescribe it to you, just trust in that process and get some sleep. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:18:14.300] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, that’s a great one. And then as we go on, then every so… Every so many hours, your nurse is just going to assess, like, how is this working? Did the last Cytotec work? Should we keep that? Should we? And sometimes you switch to Cervadil, sometimes your cervix is enough that you switch to Pitocin.
[00:18:31.370] – Hilary Erickson
Sometimes you just chill out and see what the heck your body’s going to do. Exactly. It’s basically just a big science experiment.
[00:18:37.430] – Christina Bernard
Exactly. Because we don’t know. We have no idea to this day what actually starts labor. There’s a lot of theories, but nothing is perfect. And I think that’s what’s hard, especially if you have your type a patient comes in every single detail and be in control. I think that’s the one that you’re going to take some time.
[00:18:55.490] – Christina Bernard
And every time I walk in, I’m not doing anything. I’m not doing tricks. I’m just saying hi. I’m just checking out. That’s the hardest thing. When you come in there, like waiting for you to do something, like I’m just making sure you’re OK. Just checking on you. Yeah, I’m not. I mean, it’s like the baby’s not going to come any sooner based on me just checking on you. So and especially with like Cytotec, it’s the hurry up and wait game.
[00:19:15.800] – Christina Bernard
Yeah. And that’s OK.
[00:19:16.970] – Hilary Erickson
And the good thing I love with Cytotec and Cervadil is that you can get up and walk a lot of times and definitely take advantage of that. A lot of people are like, no, I just want to stay in the bed. But that bed gets so annoying by the end, so.
[00:19:29.870] – Christina Bernard
Get out of that bed, get that baby in a good position, find a good midwife or provider or a nurse who could do some sideline releases like help get your baby in a nice, good position, like there’s options to do things and move and everything like that.
[00:19:45.680] – Christina Bernard
The peanut ball, you can raise the bed and you can do all sorts of things. Keep your hips moving. And then we want to have a baby to have a baby in a good position. So move, move, move.
[00:19:54.890] – Hilary Erickson
If your hospital, you can call and ask. But if your hospital is not allowing birthing balls or doesn’t have a birthing ball, who the heck knows after covid? Because apparently we couldn’t sterilize birthing balls, which is not good news for all the chlamydia that’s probably been on them for this year, but.
[00:20:09.170] – Christina Bernard
Oh, wow, thanks for shining light on that. You can sterilize and argue that argument is just like, so insane to me. You can’t sterilize chairs like. Come on, folks. Come on, folks. That’s ridiculous.
[00:20:22.460] – Hilary Erickson
So call your hospital, though. If they don’t allow if they don’t have a yoga ball that you can use or even if they do, feel free to bring your own. I love it when patients bring a big yoga ball because of the hospital is not very tall, which can be really hard to get off of when you’re not feeling so great and large. Exactly.
[00:20:40.670] – Christina Bernard
You’re right. A nice, good sized one. Yeah. Like I have a few and I’ve been considering grabbing some more peanut balls just to do some more like instructional type things for them with moms because it’s like yeah you’re right, because I think even nurses don’t even know how to teach people how to use those necessarily. We’re just like bounce on the ball. And it’s like something that really lets move or hit right.
[00:21:00.840] – Christina Bernard
Bouncing her fingers and it’s not really doing anything.
[00:21:04.820] – Hilary Erickson
So sexy hip circles and also stretch out your hips because when you are in the bed, your hips get real tight because the bed, it’s not a posturepedic memory foam mattress. I actually love to use the doctor stool like the rolly doctor stool. So if you have a Rolly one, because some of my hospitals, they have been like static duster stools. Yeah, but I feel like moms feel really stable on the doctor stool and I really stretch out their legs and their hips similar to a yoga ball, but with more stability and you can raise it to the height that they like.
[00:21:33.410] – Christina Bernard
So keep their backs and then much more straight position. That’s nice. I like that idea. Yeah.
[00:21:39.500] – Hilary Erickson
And if you’re looking around the room, ask if you can use something. Can we bring the bed up and I can lean on it. Of course we can. But the nurses are going to give you every single option that you could have in the room. We kind of need to know what you’re looking for and then we can one hundred percent jerry rig something. I have sewn straps together with a suture kit. Like we love to McGyver.
[00:21:59.540] – Christina Bernard
I used to tape my own like fake peanut balls with pillows and I use the bed like before my husband, California, like we actually were the ones who my friend and I pushed for peanut balls because we need these! In our… it’s a Long story, but we like bedside table for a leg over.
[00:22:14.360] – Christina Bernard
There’s so many options. It’s really cool. Yeah.
[00:22:17.390] – Hilary Erickson
And there are a lot of supplies in the labor room for delivery. We have… I’ve used the stepstool for like a shoulder to social before. So tell your nurse what you’re looking for and she can 100% Mcgyver it for you, nurses love to be like the problem solvers.
[00:22:31.250] – Christina Bernard
Oh, yeah, like like with the preeclampsia patients in the blankets over the side rails with the underwear. With the underwear.
[00:22:38.120] – Hilary Erickson
Oh, no, I’ve just used foam tape. It’s so funny to me.
[00:22:40.920] – Christina Bernard
Yeah. I don’t know who taught me that, but that’s when you work at like a small community hospital and you get creative. Somebody taught me that that’s like the best trick ever for me. That’s so smart. I know.
[00:22:50.390] – Hilary Erickson
Anyway, so deduction is going to be a lot of hurry up and wait and a lot of science experiment. So we have a hypothesis of what we think might work and then we’re just testing it out because everybody’s body’s different, everybody’s labor’s different, everybody’s babies different. The things you can do is to chill out, not be nervous about every step of the way, be educated and also to move like we just were talking about. Yeah, I dig it.
[00:23:13.160] – Hilary Erickson
And if you’re a partner, I you to know what you can do is just kind of set your watch for every half an hour unless they’re asleep. Yeah. If we’ve given you Ambien, stay asleep. But if you’re up and going, if you’re a partner every half an hour, I’d be like, hey, bud. Let’s find a new position. Like, what can we do?
[00:23:28.100] – Christina Bernard
Yeah, I dig it. Yeah. Because, I mean, like luckily like as a nurse, especially where I’m working right now, often I have one patient, so I do that on my own, especially if I’m orienting someone.
[00:23:37.640] – Christina Bernard
It’s like, OK, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, move. And that is such a good thing to say because partners should be advocating for that because you might not have a nurse who does that or is is proactive every nurse a bit differently, just like every labor and consequently so are different. So having a partner is such a good piece of advice.
[00:23:57.530] – Hilary Erickson
Well, especially with Cytotec induction, something to be in mind is that a lot of times that nurse will have more than one patient.
[00:24:03.440] – Christina Bernard
Absolutely. Because it’s not usually..
[00:24:06.020] – Hilary Erickson
Because we’re not monitoring you as frequently as we would on Pitocin or if you had an epidural or something like that. So. Right. The point. Yeah, I take it. All right, guys, if you’re having an induction, it can still be great. I really like the baby that came out with an induction.
[00:24:18.770] – Hilary Erickson
I haven’t cast her off yet. And yes, life goes on. I was so upset about my induction, but it was needless tears.
[00:24:26.960] – Christina Bernard
Yeah, exactly. And it’s funny like that. Yeah, I, I’ve got two inductions. I’m the same as the last two, so I’m good.
[00:24:34.520] – Christina Bernard
I’m not going to turn any of them back.
[00:24:36.140] – Hilary Erickson
None of them clean my bathroom very well.
[00:24:38.540] – Hilary Erickson
Exactly. And I’m still in a fight with my daughter about her bedroom right now. She’s the induction one. Maybe that’s the reason she won’t clean a room. Who knows. But no, I don’t know.
[00:24:46.070] – Hilary Erickson
The one who had absolutely no pitocin won’t text me back this week. So who knows?
[00:24:50.780] – Christina Bernard
Oh, you’ve got ones that text. Oh, my gosh. I’m going to need advice in a couple of years.
[00:24:55.350] – Hilary Erickson
Oh, he’s moved out.
[00:24:57.170] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, I know. I’m old. All right.
[00:25:02.480] – Hilary Erickson
So induction or not, if you want an induction, talk to your doctor about it. If you don’t want an induction, talk to your doctor about it. Just so you can know what’s going to go up. Thanks for coming on, Christina. This was really fun.
[00:25:13.370] – Christina Bernard
All right. Thank you. Bye bye.
[00:25:16.100] – Hilary Erickson
OK, I love that episode. Hopefully you guys got some good information about the ways you could get induced, kind of what to expect and kind of how to talk with your provider about it. I think it’s really important that before you go in for an induction, you #1, understand why you are getting news. Now, that reason could be that I want to that reason could be low fluid. And we can talk about all the other reasons in another podcast episode.
[00:25:36.380] – Hilary Erickson
But you should understand why you’re getting induced and you should kind of understand how they’re planning on doing it, because a lot of times doctors just say we will induce you. But when they say that, say, oh, which method are you planning? So you have an idea, am I going to have a pill or a tbag or or the Monistat? How am I going to be induced? Just so you’re coming in informed, you have a basic idea of what to expect.
[00:25:57.140] – Hilary Erickson
That’s why I have a prenatal class. It’s just so nice to have a little blueprint of what’s going to happen that day. I think you’re going to be so much happier anyway. Hopefully this podcast helped you guys understand inductions a little better.
[00:26:06.680] – Hilary Erickson
Thanks so much for joining us today. I hope we help smooth out a few of the snarls in your life. We drop an episode every Monday and we always appreciate it when you guys share and review. Until next time, we hope you have a tangle free day.
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