Many of us had an oxytocin moment contemplating the despair and joy experienced by Mike Hermanstorfer, the Colorado Springs man whose wife and baby died in childbirth, but were revived.
Jasmine Jafferali points out that the focus on this ultimate happy outcome overshadows the fact that the bad part of the story is an all-too-common scenario:
Knowing the side effects of both pitocin and the epidural, Hermanstorfer's history of having unmedicated births, she probably experienced a dropped heartrate from the pitocin which may have caused her cardiac arrest upon administering the epidural. We all like the story of hearing "miracles" and they do happen, however, we have to know a little more about modern medicine and the side effects and dangers of modern drugs.
She details the known side effects of epidural drugs and Pitocin (the artificial oxytocin used to speed labor) on mother and baby. Her tacit conclusion is that while it's a miracle this mom and baby survived, it's a tragedy that so many are injured in hospital births.
Maybe this miracle never needed to happen.
