The PDA, a highly potent pain reliever, is injected into a space next to the spinal nerves ... or a catheter is placed to ensure continued delivery of the drug.

A serious consequence of artificial contractions is that the woman's own hormone system is permanently disrupted in its interaction with the baby. A labor storm can also occur, which is very debilitating for the woman.

The woman's lower body is partially or completely anesthetized during the PDA. She now also needs a urinary catheter. The woman lies down from now on. She gets a continuous CTG (monitoring). It becomes difficult to help the baby on its birth journey now. Most of the time she no longer feels the baby at all.
An upright posture, standing, sitting, squatting, to use gravity, or a tub birth are then no longer possible. Often women are not informed about this.

The CTG is used to monitor whether the baby is tolerating the medications and its situation. The heart tones indicate the condition of the baby and are closely monitored. It is not always possible to reliably tell from the outside how the baby is doing. What is certain, however, is that midwives and doctors are now in a ready attention position.

Poor heart sounds of the baby "force" the staff to act and it is obvious that then a surgical delivery follows (with the vacuum extractor, cesarean section, forceps delivery).
In order not to get into this chain of events, which begins with the latency phase, women/ the parents should be informed about the "if ... then". This is the reason why knowledge about the beginning of birth with the latency phase is so important.

Your attitude to the birth, to your child and to your body is decisive for a good outcome, right from the start. This has little to do with precaution in the usual sense. Trust yourself when your personal latency phase begins.
Source: Birth, current guideline 2020-2025. Advice for parents going to the clinic for birth.
Ed. GreenBirth e.V. Printed in German available.
Foto: Pixabay free