Earlier today, a Mom-To-Be asked me if I have ever supported a laboring woman who had interventions (technically, she meant had I "doula'd for a woman with an epidural" and what my feelings were on it).  I knew that I had several moms who opted for an epidural during their labor, but off the top of my head, I couldn't come up with the actual number.  I also knew that the majority of those women had an epidural after an induction that failed to do much except wear them out.

After spending the next hour or so running errands and trying to count up in my head how many of these births were medicated, I went home, pulled out my files, and put together some statistical information.  Seeing these results in black and white spoke volumes to me.  I feel they're worth sharing.  The chart below represents births that I have attended from 2009 - present. 

Facility	Total # Births	Agumentation of Labor	Induction of Labor	Epidural	C-Section	Vaginal Birth
Womens & Babies	10	6	6	6	4	6
Heart of Lancaster	3	1	1	1	0	3
Ephrata	1	0	0	0	0	1
Hershey	1	1 - Pitocin, AROM	0	0	0	1
York	1	0	0	0	0	1
St Lukes	1	1 Pitocin, AROM	1	1	0	1
Wilmington DE	1	1 Pitocin	0	1	0	1
Birth Care	3	0	0	0	0	3
Home Births	11	0	?	0	0	11

Worth mentioning -

Notice the correlation between Inductions, Epidurals, and C-Sections.  Profound. 

While it's possible to labor through an induction with no pain medication (such as the birth at Heart of Lancaster), the vast majority of inductions that I have attended, resulted in Epidurals.  When the body (and baby) are not ready for birth, forcing contractions tends to wear Mothers down.  Inductions are often a multi-day process.  Its easy to see how an Epidural becomes part of that picture.

60% of the births that I have attended at Women's & Babies Hospital were inductions.  An additional birth was scheduled to be an induction, but Mom began labor on her own just hours before the induction was to occur (otherwise, this number would be 70%!). 

40% of the total number of births at Women's & Babies resulted in C-Sections.  Three of those C-Sections were due to failed inductions.  The fourth was an emergency C-Section due to fetal heart decellerations that occured within 20 minutes of Epidural administration. This is higher than the national C-Section rate of 32.8 % (recently down from last year's 32.9%).  Read more here.  The World Health Organization states that an acceptable C-Section rate should not exceed 12%. 

Heart of Lancaster had one induction which was successful and did not require pain medication or other labor augmentation (most likely because Mom expected labor was beginning earlier that same day, after several days of prodromal labor).  This was more of an augmentation than an induction. 

The birth at Ephrata Hospital was attended by the midwives from Birth Care.

The birth at York Hospital was a precipidous birth (very short/quick labor).

The birth at Wilmington, DE Hospital was an augmentation with Pitocin after Mom's water broke (SROM) at home and no contractions occured within 24 hours. 

Hershey was a highly interventive birth.  Mom arrived at the hospital at 6+ cm, in a very active labor pattern, was given a mandatory IV, was denied all other fluids (including sips of water), and was administered Pitocin after she refused to allow the OB resident to break her water (AROM).  At one point, 3 individuals (1 OB and 2 residents) had fingers in her vagina - at the same time -  during second stage pushing.

The Birth Care birth center births had no interventions.  Of these births, one occured in the tub, one occured on the toilet, and one occured on a birth ball.  None occured in the bed.  The longest labor that I attended at Birth Care lasted less than four hours.

Eleven home births, 100% pain-medication free births, requiring no stitches.  I left a "?" under inductions because I cannot confirm if any of these labors may have been homeopathically induced (such as Castor Oil).  None were augmented.

50% of all hospital births included epidurals.

It matters where you give birth. 

Books:

"Ina May's Guide To Childbirth" - Ina May Gaskin
"Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering" - Sarah Buckley
"Birthing From Within" - Pam England
"Lamaze Guide"

DVDs:

"Orgasmic Birth"
"Organic Birth"
"Birth With Gloria Lemay"

A wonderfully written article in response to inaccurate information shared on a popular TV show (and in every hospital across the country).  http://www.scienceandsensibility.org/?p=2379

Visit our recommended reading list for the best sources of accurate and empowering childbirth education. 

To view a recorded version of this class, click the link below.  Sign up is easy.

http://www.wiziq.com/online-class/508536-free-comfort-support-measures-for-labor-birth 

Future classes include:
Happiest Baby on the Block & Newborn Care
Lamaze Childbirth Class
Fertility Awareness Method