Originally Posted by FrumDoula Cytotec scares the cr*p out of me. It's much less manageable, it seems, than some of the other cervical ripening agents, and therefore less safe. I've heard that women are often not told about its possible side effects, and the fact that it's being used off label.
On another board that I frequent, someone said their homebirth midwife (CNM) wanted to use to help induce labor on a postdates woman. I was absolutely SHOCKED. I thought that with Cytotec, there was specific monitoring protocol, like with Pit or any other chemical intervention, to make sure you're not hyperstiming a woman or causing a rupture. And ruptures have happened frequently enough with Cytotec that I would be wary to use it without some serious monitoring.
Can the L&D RN's here tell me what their monitoring protocol is for Cytotec?
Alison
The woman being ripened with cytotec is admitted to the hospital. A 20-30 minute strip is run to ensure reassuring heart tones. Then after placement, the mom remains on the monitor for 1-2 hours afterward as a minimum to ensure all is ok. Usually, if contracting at all afterward, the mom is kept on the monitor to see how the fetus is tolerating this. This medication is very unpredictible. It either works or not. It will either work very well ( or too well) or just do nothing. I dont' like the unpredictibility of this drug, either. I have seen women go into full-blown labor after use, others it did not make one bit of difference. I keep Brethine (terbutaline) in my pocket and handy in case the contractions hit too fast and hard and need to be slowed down.
One must respect any drug or herb used for labor induction or cervical ripening-----all can be unpredictible and need intervention at some point or another.
I have noticed the same results whether the drug is administered orally or vaginally.
It makes a great postpartum hemorrhage treatment----I have seen it stop hemorrhages COLD when used rectally. Like pitocin, it's almost a "different drug" when used postpartum!
Are they still using Cytotec?
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Yeah, what she said.
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