Many women are confronted with the difficult decision, if they should wait for labor
to start spontaneously or if they should get medically induced. And so, women often ask us:
when I am in labor, will it make a difference if it is a medically induced labor rather
than labor that started naturally? Right. So in this video, we are going to tell you what the
difference is between a medically induced labor and labor that starts on its own.
And then at the end of his video, we are also going to tell you if a naturally induced labor
is the same as a medically induced labor. Yes. Nathalie here is a pregnancy and birth consultant
and TCM therapist and Mathias is a researcher and science geek and on this channel we help
expecting mommies naturally and science-based.
Thanks so much for watching this! Let’s get started!
Okay, so, first of all: yes, there IS a difference between labor that has been medically induced
and labor that started spontaneously on its own. And the main difference is
that when you are being medically induced, your hormones are going to work in a different way
than when your labor starts naturally. So, what does this mean? Well, when you go into labor
spontaneously, it’s - among others - because your body releases oxytocin. And that oxytocin
is being absorbed by little receptors that sit on the uterus. And what these receptors do is,
when they receive oxytocin, they will tell the uterus to start contracting. Yes. Of course,
such receptors also already exist during your pregnancy, right? However, there are not enough of
them to make labor start. Yes. Exactly. But, then at the end of your pregnancy, the number of those uterine
receptors considerably increases. And if then your body starts to release enough Oxytocin,
there will be enough of those receptors to pass that message on the uterus. And again
that message is: “you can now start to contract”. Yes. And the effect of that message is obviously
that your uterus gradually starts to contract. But it’s normally not that you go from 0 to 100 miles per
hour. First, you are in pre-labor, then early labor starts, then active labor, and then transitional
labor. And so, the uterus gradually builds up those contractions, in terms of intensity, the
length and frequency, right? And so, this gives your body the time to gradually adjust to more intense
contractions. Exactly. Now, a medically induced labor is different in that sense, right? Because
it is normally done at a point in time, when your body is not ready for labor. As a result,
there are not many receptors on your uterus which could pass on that message to your uterus.
And so, a lot of synthetic oxytocin is required in order to bring on contractions.
Yes. That is a fundamentally different way of getting that baby out, right? Because both, your baby
and body are like: What the? Is it time already? So, your body literally goes from 0 to 100 mph. Right.
So, that is the main difference between a natural and an induced labor. And this main difference
subsequently leads to other factors that make an induced labor different from a natural labor.
So, the next difference is the intensity of the contractions. Yes. As already mentioned if you go into
labor spontaneously, your contractions gradually build up in terms of their intensity. And this
gives the body the time to request assistance in order to cope with the pain. Yes. So,
what’s gonna happen is that the pain receptors of your body are going to send a signal to the brain
which contains a message. You know, something like: “Look buddy. This really hurts. I need some
pain relief down here”, right? As a result, your brain is going to release endorphins which are the body’s
natural pain killers. And they are really strong, right? They are gonna help you cope with the pain.
And obviously: the stronger your contractions get, the more endorphins your body is going to release.
Exactly. When your labor is induced on the other hand, the synthetic oxytocin does not
cross your blood-brain barrier. And so, your brain doesn’t get the message to release endorphins.
As a result, your body is less able to support you with the pain which is why lots of women request
an epidural when they are being medically induced. And this leads us to the next main difference
between a natural and an induced labor. You will have fewer ways to deal with the pain naturally
and to your support baby’s descent. Yes. So, what we mean by that is that if you are being induced,
it is recommended that you are being continuously monitored for reasons that we are going to tell
you in just a minute, right? And by the way: it does not matter if you have an epidural or not. The fact
that you are being medically induced itself means that you are most likely require continuous fetal
monitoring. And unless they use like a wireless fetal monitoring device, this means that your
ability to move around will be restricted, right? Yes. As a result, you have fewer tools at your disposal to
deal with your pain and, most importantly, to support baby’s descent. Because if you are not
restricted in your movements, you will naturally adopt a position that provides you with the most
pain relief, right? If you are restricted in your movements, you can no longer do that. Yes. But
it’s not only that: you will also not be able to make use of certain tools for pain relief, you know,
such as hydrotherapy which involves water. On top of that, your birth partner also has fewer ways to
support you.
So, the question is: if you have so many disadvantages from being restricted in your
movements, why do they still recommend monitoring the baby? Well, this has to do with the next major
difference between a natural and an induced labor. And that’s the fact that in an induced labor,
your body will produce longer and stronger contractions. And this will have an effect on
the baby. So, as you can imagine, labor is a very stressful situation for a baby, for many reasons.
But mostly because during a contraction, your baby receives less oxygen. Under normal circumstances
though, that’s not gonna be a problem because the body produces a hormone which protects your baby’s
brain from damages due to oxygen deprivation. Yes. But if your contractions last longer,
your baby’s oxygen supply will also be reduced for a longer period of time. In addition,
synthetic oxytocin interferes with the production of your own hormones. And so, your baby will be
less protected from oxygen deprivation. And that’s exactly why it is being recommended to
monitor your baby. Yes. They want to make sure that the baby is not showing any signs of distress,
right? If there are signs of distress, they might have to help you get that baby out faster,
for example, by using forceps. Exactly. Now, a question that we often receive is:
but what about natural induction? In other words: if I am being induced naturally,
for example, with the help of nipple stimulation or castor oil. Will that qualify as an “induced
labor” and thus come with the same “disadvantages” of an induced labor compared to a natural labor?
Or would a naturally induced labor be the same as if you go into labor spontaneously on your own.
And the answer is: it’s the same. Exactly. Because let’s say you try to bring on contractions
with the help of nipple stimulation. Well, what nipple stimulation does is, it naturally increases
the level of natural oxytocin in your body, right? And because of that, it will not be as if you go
from 0 to 100 mph. Your contractions will start slowly and then hopefully gradually build up,
if you continue stimulating your breasts. Yes. But, and this is really the key that women often miss:
you cannot naturally induce labor, if your body is not ready for it. Because remember,
you are going to need those little receptors that we talked about and which will tell the uterus
to start contracting. And that’s the very reason why naturally inducing labor often will not work
if tried too early, like week 37 or so, right? It could work, don't get me wrong. But it is
more likely to work at a later stage. Yes. Your body needs to be ready for it. And this is why
we keep telling you to prepare your body for labor during these final weeks of your pregnancy.
Because this can help you get faster to a point when your body is ready for labor. And when you
do that, natural labor induction is more likely to work. Yes. So, if you want to know, how to prepare for
labor and how to naturally induce labor, watch the video that pops up now! And if you want to
know what are the 5 fastest ways to induce labor, watch the video that hopefully pops up know. You
can also find these videos below THIS video! Right. If you have found this video helpful,
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