Induction

[MiamiMami]

Can someone point me towards some good info regarding the risks of induction. I have a friend who is about 37 weeks with her first and her doc offered to induce. He told her babe is low and engaged therefore ready to come out

I would also like to show her some info on the hormonal chain of events that natural labor brings about.

[BethSLP]

I'd tell her that failed induction is the #1 reason for a C-section. Also that inductions FREAKING SUCK. I had one out of medical necessity (pre-eclampsia) and it was just horrific. Every contraction is intense and painful and you get no rest between them. Its relentless. I know people who have had normal labor and pitocin. They say the induction is excrutiating compared to normal labor. Seriously, I think you'd have to be insane to willingly CHOOSE induction if not medically indicated.

Lastly, its the baby who initiates labor when they are ready. They send out hormones to start the labor. Please encourage her to let her baby come when its ready.

XOXO
B

[MiamiMami]

Thanks Beth. And I feel you: I know Pit and I know natural labor. Definitely not one and the same. I told her as much, but I wanted some links for her, references. I recommended The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth.

I just want to spare her the pain, the recovery, yk?

[PTmorgan]

I know I've been reading some good articles about the risks of inductions, but I can't seem to find them quickly. I know they were links from prior threads - maybe try a search for inductions?

Here are two links I know about - both are from the Mothering website:

About inductions: http://www.mothering.com/articles/pr.../inducing.html

About the hormonal cascade: http://www.mothering.com/articles/pr.../ecstatic.html

I hope this helps! I'll watch for those other articles to pop up again.

[Devaskyla]

http://pregnancy.about.com/od/induct...sinduction.htm
http://www.pregnancylounge.com/laborinductionrisks.php
http://parenting.ivillage.com/pregna...e_4888,00.html

[Morgana]

The book Pushed by Jennifer Block was really helpful to me in learning about induction and other interventions.

[RosieL]

Old thread, same topic. 

I have a friend who is one day past her due date, and is going to ask her doctor today for an induction. One reason is she has overseas family coming and wants to give them a chance to meet her DS. Another reason is that she has creeping fears about her son. Her best friend just lost her baby at about 20 weeks (second miscarriage after lots of difficulty TTC). She is all for epidural and I don't think has done any research about interventions, risks of induction, etc. She's just trusting her doctor. 

I want to wait until I hear what the doc says. Hopefully he says "Nope, I only do inductions when there's a medical need" but I'm worried that won't be the case. I don't feel like I can lecture her on risks and natural hormone cascades, etc., we don't have that kind of relationship. (The things we disagree on, which aren't many, we kind of just leave at the side.) I've never been pregnant, I'm not a doc, and I've expressed my "crazy idea" to want a home birth someday, so my credibility is low.

If this was your friend, what would you do? Send her some links? Leave her be because it's wrong to mess with a 40wk first-time-pregnant woman's head? Send her husband some links or this thread and let him talk to her?

[tzs]

Originally Posted by BethSLP 

Also that inductions FREAKING SUCK. I had one out of medical necessity (pre-eclampsia) and it was just horrific. Every contraction is intense and painful and you get no rest between them. Its relentless.

this! that's all i can say is that they suck!!! 

listen...i think at 37 weeks i was ready to walkover to my ob's house and ask for some pitocin to end it all but after ending up actually having to get it (ROM with no labor and meconium) i am going to avoid it at all costs this time. 

in addition to the pain of the crazy contractions that just felt "all wrong", even to a first-timer, with each contraction dd went into some pretty concerning decels. luckily i have an OB who avoids c-sections at all costs but even my doula said she was surprised i didn't end up with one.

if she does go ahead with it the big piece of advice i can give is to be strong about a gradual increase in the dose with more space in between to let the stuff work. they were turning mine up every 30 minutes even though labor  started right away with the first dose. i went from 1-9 in one hour and they were still turning it up every hour until the nurses changed shifts and i got an old-timer who was willing to put her foot down and turn it off.

[lillymonster]

So I have had 2 labors, one natural, one induced. Both ended in c-section, and both were freaking painful (induced with epidural for #1, #2 no drugs until about 9 centimeters when I was going to pass out from the pain - I have no idea why #2 was more painful than being induced, but it was)

I will say that my induction was 21 hours, I couldn't pee without taking an iv in the bathroom with me, I spent those 21 hours laying in a bed, I couldn't sleep and wasn't allowed to eat. My natural birth was 3 hours, so, I'd rather go through 3 hours than 21 hours of not being able to eat or sleep again.

[SGVaughn]

Im gonna be the opposite here and say this

my first I was stuck at 5 centimeters all natural for 3 freakin days...contractions every 3-4 minutes for three days, she was by far my worst delivery I had zero bonding with her initially because I was passing out between contractions...I pushed for literally hours

second and third was induced because of PPROM and PROM and nothing happened for either one, one for well over 24 hrs and she was too early so this frightened me (no one used scare tactics, I knew enough on my own to be worried) and then the next for not quite 24 hrs but I kinda got the feel it wasn't going to happen w/o pit and asked them to just cut to the chase already.

know what?? it was way easier to cope with both of those labors than the first..they fit a textbook pattern that helped me mentally a LOT and I wouldn't say the contractions were more intense either.

I think it depends on how they administer the pit to be honest. For both of those labors it was very slowly turned up then shut off when things were well underway (like 7-8 cm)

yeah the iv is a pita but whatever...I walked around with an iv pole..I was way more interested in contractions than a tiny plastic catheter

I think inducing at 37 weeks w/o true medical need is absurd though and I'd probably avoid it..sounds like someone has a golf game

[GolfAddict]

There is a Bradley teacher near me with a blog. It's called "banned from baby showers". Awhile back, maybe even year ago, I read an entry where she referenced a new study regarding the brain development of a 38wk baby versus full term baby. The idea was that they all think a baby is developed and "full term" at 38wks but in reality there is still major development going on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[carepear]

I really enjoyed the videos from the enjoybirth blog.  http://www.enjoybirth.com/kno-induction.html

I was totally anti-induction but watching these videos cemented the risks into my brain so that when induction was brought up I could easily explain to naysayers why I didn't want to.

[amaayeh]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/21/us-induced-labor-c-section-idUSTRE65K6DW20100621

Inductions could double the risk of c-sections...not that you couldn't see that by the replies.

[MegBoz]

I've always liked this site for succinct, factual info for mainstreamers:

http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10650

A little warning though - I would only briefly & secondarily mention that induction increases the risk of CS. IME, mainstream women who aren't even interested in considering the possibility of foregoing an epidural are also not scared of a c-section. An unnecessary CS isn't even really a "risk" in their mind. (On the contrary, it is vaginal birth that is the scary thing.)

I'd focus on the stress to the baby as a result of pit & AROM, and the risk that the baby isn't actually ready to be born.

I'm convinced that my son wouldn't have fared so well even at 40W!!!!!! Sure, 37-42 weeks is "full term" but that doesn't mean EVERY baby is A-OK at 37, or even 40W! My son came at 41W4D and was very strong, able to build up my milk supply. I can't for a second believe that those extra 11 days past the original "stupid-due-date**" were totally worthless, irrelevant, and unnecessary. That seems an illogical statement to me - that he would be guaranteed to have done equally as well 11 days earlier!

**I call 40W the "stupid due date" - especially for first-timers, because it's not evidence based. It's "Nagel's Rule" (from the 1800s!) Whereas Mittendorf's meta-analysis from the 1990s reveals that first-timers, on average, go to 41W1D, so that's where "estimated due dates" SHOULD be set for first-timers!