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  • why would one opt not to have an iv during childbirth? I am preg with #1 and just learning. tia

    8 replies [ Reply | Watch | Options ]
    08.03.08, 10:47 AM [ Flag ]

    • iv is for hydration - no i.v. = no epidural

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      08.03.08, 11:22 AM [ Flag | link to this post ]

      • I learned this the hard way btw

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        08.03.08, 11:39 AM [ Flag | link to this post ]

      • You can stay hydrated during labor without the IV. They require you to get IV fluids before the epidural b/c the meds can cause a drop in blood pressure and pre-administering IV fluids helps prevent that.

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        08.03.08, 12:31 PM [ Flag | link to this post ]

    • Well, because mainly they want you to have an IV to make it easier to give you drugs of various kinds, so if you're trying to avoid interventions, not having an iv is one way to slow that down. On the other hand, they need to be able to give you drugs quickly in case of emergency, so even though I got away with no IV I had to have a hep lock. And it was incredibly annoying and irritating and at one point I accidentally pulled it out and then freaked because I thought I was going to start gushing blood or something. (Of course, I didn't.)

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      08.03.08, 11:24 AM [ Flag | link to this post ]

    • Because once you have IV in you are pretty much stuck to the bed lying down until you deliver. Also, besides the fluids (which you may or may not need at all) they can push all kinds of drugs through the IV.

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      08.03.08, 11:26 AM [ Flag | link to this post ]

      • That wasn't my experience. I was up and about with the IV. I was able to take a shower, walk around, stretch, etc. I wasn't in bed until I had the epidural and the internal monitor.

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        08.03.08, 11:55 AM [ Flag | link to this post ]

    • I think its part of the philosophy that pregnancy is not a sickness and does not require intervention. The automatic iv is simply the first in a series of interventions that some view as completely unnecessary.

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      08.03.08, 01:43 PM [ Flag | link to this post ]
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