In Hypnobabies we teach moms about their choices of having an IV during birth.
- Get an IV
- Get a Saline Lock
- Have neither
Honestly in the hospitals in my area it would be hard to get away with no saline lock. Though it is your right to refuse it! I think at a hospital a nice compromise is a Saline Lock. This way there is an open vein in case of emergency, but you don’t have the risks of an IV.
But wait, what kind of risks are there?
It is JUST an IV.
This is what nurses have said to my students and doula clients.
They have even said, “There are NO risks”
Well, there are risks and here are just a few:
- Your blood will get diluted and that will lower your natural oxytocin levels, which may then cause your pressure waves to space out, which could lead to needing pitocin.
- Your body may get bloated from the excess fluids.
- It is really easy for a nurse to add different medication to your IV without you noticing.
- Your BABY may have excessive weight loss after birth – which can lead to breastfeeding problems. (The staff will want you to supplement with formula)
Does this mean you should never get an IV during birth? Of course not, there are times it is good or even needed. Like if a mom is dehydrated!
But it should NOT be a Routine to every mom who comes in.
Stand up for your rights, refuse an IV unless medically indicated!
If you get a saline lock, if there is an emergency they will have an open vein. So this is a reasonable option. All the benefits without any risks!
What if I am GBS positive?
You do NOT need an IV to get anitbiotics.
You can get a Saline Lock. They will administer the antibiotics through the saline lock and then unhook you.
IV risks…
I had a very fast drip and within an hour and 1/2 had over two bags of fluid with my 4th. I was shivering, and VERY anxious. I felt my heart pounding, and told the nurse so. She then said, “oh my, I opened the drip too much.” The first bag, she put on, but the 2nd, a nurse came in and put on without her noticing. I may have even had more. I asked my nurse family members who were appalled at the fact the nurse gave me so much fluid, and said I could have ended up with heart problems. Also, I did have an IV at a later birth and the next day the bracelets were cutting into my arms. My baby was very puffy as well. Then of course, the pit is put in after baby is born “just in case” before I even got a chance to consent or not.
A hep lock can also have risks. I know I had one put in last birth and because the nurse chose to put it in my arm below the wrist, I couldn’t comfortably labor on hands and knees. My baby was OP and in a previous birth we had moved an OP baby by switching positions quickly…4 or 5 different ones. I couldn’t do this comfortably last time as the hep lock was up against my hand when I bent my wrist. It would jam the needle in farther if I leaned against the bed or tried hands and knees. So if you get a hep lock, pay attention to what they are doing with it.
I had a saline lock with my first birth and when it wasn’t hooked up to meds, it was still hard for me to get comfortable. It inhibited my movement and made it hard to put pressure on my left hand. Ugh!
I had a saline lock hooked up to me shortly before my second child was born, and by that point I didn’t really care. She was born perhaps 20 minutes after that 🙂
I had an IV with my daughter, born August 2010 and was given pitocin without knowing. Which in return caused me to want an epidural due to the amount of pain I was in. It was bad. I ended up with a c-section and still 7 months later am struggling with it.
I am so sorry that happened. It is frustrating to me moms are not given informed consent!!
Definitely depending on where the saline lock is placed, it can inhibit movement. So I have my doula clients suggest higher up on the arm, rather than hand or wrist.
Thanks for sharing your experience. You bring up a good point for moms that get IVs, ask to have it on SLOW drip.
Also the position of the heplock is an important thing to talk about. I suggest the arm instead of the hand or wrist! Allows for more movement.
There are a couple more risks too. The IV could blow, meaning blow your vein, and some of the things they may put through it are harmful to the surrounding tissues, especially something like concentrated sugar they give you if your sugar levels dip. Promethazine/Phenergan (anti-nausea) is also harmful/irritating to veins and tissue.
The swelling in you from all the fluids causes the nipples to flatten out which leads the nurses to diagnose “flat nipples” and give you nipple shields and a blow to your breastfeeding confidence. Baby has a hard time latching because you are so swollen.
I was forced to have an IV with my son because the OB was tired and didn’t want to have to wait for hours for me to give birth, so he ordered pitocin. Even though I said NO several times, and told her not to touch me, she held my hand down and forcibly inserted the IV, in fact she inserted it so far that my skin in my hand was bunched and I had to pull it back out. Its 9.5 months later and I STILL have a scar from it! I was never asked to sign any consent forms, nor was anything every explained to me, to this day i’m told that there was no reason for me to be given pitocen.
I think that forcing things that are medically unnecessary is wrong, women are all different, we are not made from the some cookie cutter prototype.
This is really good and important for people to understand. I had a hep lock with my unmedicated hospital births and of course nothing (yay!) for my home birth. The more I learn the more I rethink lots of things like this. Just yesterday someone was talking about having to come to peace with hospital policy of continuous EFM in order to have a VBAC. What makes me sad is when I think about how much even these “little” interventions can alter the path of birth, even if the impact is *only* psychological or emotional. I don’t think these things should be taken lightly.
Thank you for posting this! I was just thinking about this very thing yesterday, when I was talking to my very first doula client! 🙂
I love Henci Goer’s info on IVs in Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth. It seems like an IV isn’t a big deal, but it can really affect a lot!
There are psychological reasons for avoiding IVs, as well. Not only do we associate them with being sick, the tether will reduce movement. Fortunately, 2 out of 3 hospitals in my area are becoming increasingly comfortable with no vein access for low risk mothers. As one of my doula clients stated when told that she would need a saline lock in case of emergency, if the hospital personnel are not capable of starting an IV in an emergency situation, then perhaps it is not a safer place to give birth.
I did have an iv and didn’t realize that I had the right to refuse. Plus my Ob was not there and I needed a substitute doctor preform my c-section. I was not happy about that.
3 babies, 0 IV’s!!! I’m also an RN! If you are healthy and low risk, are drinking and taking nourishment during labor, an IV is overkill!
But what about an emergency……. !
I have yet to meet a trauma victim who came with an iV!!!
Nurse side, of course it’s easier start a line when your patient isn’t crashing !!
Worried? Get a saline lock!
I am so sorry you were treated like this. Did you report the doctor for this treatment? Write a letter? If you haven’t you may want to. If moms speak out about this treatment, hopefully it will change!
I see a huge difference in perenial recovery between a mom with a fluid IV and one without. The additional edema really can increase the risk of, and severity of a tear and prolong healing time!
It also seems with a saline lock the nurses seem to think that even if mom refused fluids or pit during labor, that suddenly after the birth, interventions are suddenly accepted without further need for discussion and fluids and pit are snuck in during all the distraction of baby!
Your right, this isn’t ok, it has a name, it is called battery.
Just one other thing…here’s an interesting study surrounding this issue…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21401545
A couple of things about this…the woman already had an iv in when she started hemorrhaging, yet it wasn’t working properly. I have seen this happen sometimes if the iv is not placed in a good spot. Thus, having the iv does not always mean that you are then covered. Second, they used a type of needle called an intraosseous. This is a large needle placed in the femur bone that then allows fluids to be administered. In this case it gave the medical personnel time to then place another iv. I just thought this was an interesting case surrounding the idea of iv placement.
Yes, I saw this at my last birth. OB orders pit. Mom didn’t have saline lock or IV. So nurse asked if IM was OK. He said, Well lets hold off and see how it goes. I was of course going to ask for this if he didn’t.
I wrote a rant about this, but it seems to be lost:) so just one other consideration is infection with iv’s.
We don’t routinely cannulate all women in labour at the hospital that I work in, only recommending it for some who are considered at higher risk. If a woman needs a cannula in an emergency situation then the staff are well trained to site one very quickly. Unnecessary cannulas can cause women to be distracted by it’s presence and can affect her mobility. I have also read something about certain pressure points in the back of the hand affected by the placement of a cannula that can impact breast milk supply.
That is interesting about the placement on the hand and breast milk supply.
Do you have any information on IV “swelling?” I did NOT want an IV when I had my son but they seemed to think it was necessary. I am a larger plus-size woman but I did not have any issues during my pregnancy at all. (I was also sadly, induced = FTP = C-section.)
I had the *not-so-nice* nurse put it in my arm because I did not want it in my hand. 4/5 times I’ve had IVs before my hand or arm had swollen up.
Is this common or something that just “happens?” Can I avoid them in the future should I have any more children? I’m trying to avoid hospital births from here on out if I can.
It can cause swelling. So definitely that can be an issue.
It is possible to avoid, either with a saline lock or just say no! You may have to sign an AMA form.
I may have had a hep-lock. But…. as soon as the nurse hooked me up she put a bag of saline on. I thought it was weird when she did it too because I could physically hear the saline going into my vein on my shoulder. That freaked me out!
I just want to try and avoid them from here on out if I can. I don’t know if it’s me bending my arms or what that causes this swelling or fluid retention. It just gets annoying to have to have it taken out and replaced over and over. =( I find it quite unnecessary.
It sounds like your veins may be “blowing” which means the iv has gone through your veins and into the surrounding tissue. This may be from a nurse that is not as experienced or your veins may just blow easily. If this happens, you should request that they take it out. It’s not even doing you any good as the fluids are not even going into the vein. But you can refuse one. Most of the time you have to sign a refusal form and put up with some flack, but it’s your choice.
Also, the extra fluid they put in you causes lots of fluid retention along with the pitocin. So you may find you are very swollen throughout your body afterwards. Again, it is your right to refuse, and I haven’t found too much of a compelling reason to have an iv.
Oh I did bend my arm once or twice and then my arm was so swollen it was skin tight. So I’m not sure if I did that by bending my arm or what happened. Could I have more frail veins or something?
You could have more frail veins. It seems like some people do.