Can a Schmitt trigger be used to start up a multivibrator?
What you are talking about is a POR (Power On Reset) generator, and it's actually quite important. The general, simplest version looks like 







simulate this circuit &ndash; Schematic created using CircuitLab
This produces a logic LOW upon turnon which depends on the time constant of R1/C1. If you make this time longer than the worst-case risetime of the power supply, you can use it to initialize any circuitry whose starting state you care about. Normally this is applied to logic, but it could just as well be used for analog functions such as astables.

Doing this avoids nasties like unwanted operation of a mechanism or high-voltage output when you turn on the equipment.