went to the doc yesterday!

[angieluvsramon]

well i went to the doc yesterday and he has scheduled an induction for the 7th (my due date) he said he is worried about the size of the baby. I dont think im gonna make it to the 7th though. since yesterday I have had cramps in my tummy and today I have had a couple loose bm's . I guess you never know though! we will see!!!! hopefully within the next day or two. If not wed night I go to get some sort of gel? on my cervix. and then thurs morn they are gonna start me on pit. has anyone went through this process before???? please tell me stories.....

[umami_mommy]

i think you might want to read up on the horrors of induction before you submit to one for as flimsy an excuse as baby's size.

almost all the women i know who have agreed to inductions have said they would never agree to have another one unless baby or mom's life was in danger.

inductions are generally for the convenience of the OB's, not in the best interest of baby or mom, and they frequently lead to unwanted c-sections becuase they stress the baby so much.

i would do a search for "induction" on the birth and beyond forum or ask in the birth professionals forum or search on the ICAN site. i'd think with an 18 month old you would do whatever you could to avoid an induction as to not put you at risk for a section.

[mamavegan]

:

Have you discussed just going into labor on your own? I know when I found out I was pregnant, the first concern I had (aside from baby oriented ones) was to not have an induction! Induction scares me probably more than a cesarean, but it's really close. Your doc should even tell you that the rate they up the pitocin doesn't even attempt to replecate how your body would release oxytocin.

It sounds like you may go into labor sooner than the doc thinks. I hope you do go into labor soon! Good Luck!

[DreamsInDigital]

I just don't think I can say anything supportive at all for scheduling an induction on your due date for no medical reason. Your due date is not an expiration date. Lots of babies are born past their due dates and are not so big that they can't be born. Scheduling an induction before your body is ready will only make your labor very difficult and it's likely you'll end up with a lot of medical intervention and possibly a c section.
I really suggest you rethink this decision.

[mama~anna]

I completely agree with what all of the previous posters have said. I really have nothing to add except, how much can the baby possibly gain if s/he goes over the due date? Doctors use baby size all the time so they can schedule the induction for their convenience. I have heard of so many instances where an ultrasound predict the baby would be huge and then was off by a couple of pounds.

You know, you don't *have* to do what a doctor suggests, right? It is your body and your baby and your choice.

[FireflyFan]

You can say NO to the doctor. You are paying him...he is essentially your client, providing a service to you, and you get to pick and choose which services you want.

[Sara Ann]

I wasn't very knowledgable w/my first, so we went ahead w/an induction just because dr. said yes. I took a pill orally the night after I was due, had pit for 8 hours the following day and was sent home because I wasn't progressing. I continued to contract and didn't have him for 3 days on my own.
If the dr. had broken my water, I probably would have ended up w/a section. (I was at a 3.)

After that experience I would never do it again and I have passed that on to many others due to my horrible experience.

[RiverSky]

I'm not in your DDC but I wanted to pipe in and give my experience. With my first, I researched and researched, read every book I could get my hands on, had every magazine subscription I could find, etc. I went to tons of classes, natural childbirth, breastfeeding, baby care, pregnancy nutrition, etc. Nowhere did I ever hear that induction was bad and led to high rates of c-section. Nowhere did I hear that induced labor is much more painful than natural labor.

Nowhere did I hear that estimated baby size from ultrasound measurements are completely ridiculous and a very inaccurate science. But it's true. They say your baby is going to be large but chances are, your baby is not. Could your doctor possibly have a vacation planned soon? Could your doctor possibly have a bunch of patients due at around the same time and wants to try to space them out a bit? Is your doctor a new OBGYN? Or old school? Is your ultrasound tech a not very good one?

I loved my OBGYN when I was pregnant with my 8 year old. I totally trusted her. She was anti-circ, pro-breastfeeding, very into natural childbirth (though medical was her area), etc. Since my DH was born 12 lbs and I was born in the 7 lb range, she decided to order an ultrasound close to my estimated due date to check the size of the baby. She said the baby was large, so the next week, they did another ultrasound and estimated the baby was over 10 lbs and suggested I come in for an induction on my due date.

Of course, the thought of birthing a 10 lb baby (my first child!) was scary so I agreed and was excited to get things going. I went in, had the gel inserted to soften my cervix, then they started the pitocin.
Three days later, when things still hadn't progressed (4 cm dilated, 0 % effaced) and I wasn't even in pain, they sent me home for another week. Labor did not begin in the interim. I went back, they induced me again. After 2 days, they were finally able to break my water (sigh...another mistake), the pain was INTENSE. I accepted an epidural because I went from no pain to unbelievably HUGE pain (caused by the unnatural pitocin) and 24 hours later, I was only 7 cm dilated. By then, I was exhausted and just wanted my baby. They suggested that 24 hours after water breaking is when infection can set in, so I accepted a c-section.

Oh that hindsight. Hindsight is 20/20 and I so wish I had never accepted induction in the first place. Can you believe my baby was only 8lbs 10 oz? At that second induction, they were thinking the baby was 11 lbs or more. They scared me into all of it, whether they meant to or not, because they didn't know better or perhaps there were bad intentions (my OBGYN was going away for a vacation and didn't end up being at the birth...hmmmm....) on someone's part.

In the end, I had no complications from the c-section, I breastfed for a long time, baby easily latched immediately, baby was/is healthy etc., but I guess I was lucky in that regard.

Please don't allow them to induce you. Just wait.

Here's another story...last year my SIL was pregnant and they did an ultrasound at 34 weeks ("baby is 6 lbs now") and 36 weeks ("baby is now 7 lbs") and then for some no good reason, they suggested to her (her first baby) that they wanted to induce her. I begged her not to but she insisted the doctor said the baby was fine and that they needed to induce. She trusted her doctor, loved her doctor, believed her doctor knew what he was doing and she trusted that the sonographer knew her job well. I told my SIL, "don't believe the size estimates, they are always wrong, everyone I know who was told a size always found out the size was way off" but she trusted her doctor more than me.

Anyway, guess what? That baby was born only 4 lbs 9 oz in size and he was way too small, way too small. He needed to stay in and grow longer.

My last story: I have a friend who had her daughter with a surrogate. The surrogate (a relative) was tired of being pregnant at 37 weeks and the OBGYN said "baby's fine, we can induce". My friend said, "no no" but the OBGYN and the surrogate's wishes came first. They said the baby was large and had fully developed lungs. Well, guess what? Yup, baby was born, too small with under-developed lungs. She needed to be inside for at least 3 more weeks, inside she stayed in NICU for two or three weeks before being allowed to go home and was quite sick.

Please don't let them induce. Trust that billions and billions of mothers' bodies have gone into labor when they were ready before you. Think about how many more female mammals' bodies have gone into labor when they were ready, and not a minute before. Your body will do that, too.

Good luck! Congrats on your pregnancy!

[Mylittlevowels]

It's highly unlikely that your baby is "too big". Unless you have huge problems with your sugar, your baby will most likely be a reasonable size
I can't tell you how awful it was for my SIL when she was induced (she had her baby 5 wks ago). It didn't go well. She was stuck at 3 cm for 3 days before they decided that it wasn't going to work and she had a c-section. The spinal didn't work and she felt the whole section, then they finally knocked her out and she was too out of it to even hold her baby for almost 24 hours. Then she got an infection. And then another one. And then another. She is still struggling. Her milk didn't come in for 2 WEEKS due to the stress she was under and the drugs and the c/s. Her son ended up losing alot of weight...
Moral of the story: think long and hard before going for a medically unneccessary induction!

[timneh_mom]

I had a horrible time when I was induced with DS. *I* was the one pushing for it, because I was miserable and impatient, and my doctor agreed with me because I was "overdue" by about 5 days and my blood pressure was high and continuing to climb. I know now (hindsight again!) that we could have increased my meds, it was not something SO dangerous that it HAD to lead to an induction.

I went in on a Tuesday evening and got things started, the whole ordeal lasted 50 hours, complete with pitocin, and an epidural that DID NOT WORK. (So, I was stuck in bed because of the epidural, unable to change positions to help labor progress or help the pain.) I was VERY lucky that my doctor was patient enough to let things happen, and my son tolerated it OK, and after all of that I birthed him vaginally. It took me a very long time to recover from the birth, I did not sleep maybe 6 hours that whole 50 I was in labor (3 of those hours were due to some medicine they put in my IV). My son had trouble latching on because I was so swollen from the epi and IV. Even breaking my water very early on did not help me progress any faster. They gave me as much pit as they could give me and I still was stalling out and needed more. It stank. I would never go through it again nor would I ever wish that on anyone.

My son was 9 lb 8 oz but I am a rather big boned, nordic woman myself and it was not difficult getting him out. I will always wonder how much more pleasant my birth with him could have been if I had just been patient enough to let him come when he was ready. It's just been recently that I have stopped feeling guilty about putting us through that, especially him. I think my resolve to do all I can to avoid interventions this time around has helped me heal emotionally from this. It has taken a long time, though, and a lot of energy on my part, reinforcing it in my own mind that birth doesn't have to be this way!

I have two other friends who were induced without even having a ripe cervix and both of them had c-sections. They live in different states. Both were told their babies would not fit. I will always wonder if they labored when they were supposed to, if their babies would have gotten into a position that would have allowed them safe passage.

I would agree to an induction again ONLY, ONLY if the life of one or both of us was in danger. And I mean, my body is failing, or the baby's heart is not doing well, or something is going on where it is clear. Having lived through one, I couldn't ever recommend it. It's unlikely your body will grow a baby too big to fit, because biologically, that would mean both the death of the mother (the creator of life) and the offspring, if we did not have interventions and birthed like any other mammal.

Sorry this got long but I do hope you consider these things before agreeing to this.

[Viola]

I had my first baby in 1999. I was on a due date club on AOL and there was a variety of birth experiences there. My OB scheduled my induction when I was only 28 weeks along. I came out to make my appointment for the next month or whatever, and the nurse remarked she had just scheduled my induction. I thought she was mistaken, but later I realized she was serious. At my 38 or 39 week appt, my midwife said that she had scheduled my induction because she knew my baby would be big. I was opposed to induction for this reason because I worried it might lead to an unneccessary c-section. I brought up this concern with my OB and she said that it was true (true that I might be more likely to have a c-section if I were induced than if I went into labor on my own) but that she thought I was going to have a big baby, maybe 10 lbs, and I might end up with a c-section anyway. She even said that there would be no "heroics" no pushing for more than 2 hours, no vacuum extractor. If anything looked like it might be an issue, she would do a c-section.

Now you think I might have run screaming in horror, but I was actually considering the induction. I didn't feel like I was seriously considering it, but I was at least thinking about it. I was annoyed with my OB, but I had this weird feeling that I could handle it all, even an induction, and it would all turn out OK. Part of it was that my sister had had some inductions and they were fine. She was induced with her 4th baby at 19 days past the due date and it all went well, 10-5 ounce baby and no tearing. The thing I couldn't get over was the fact that my OB seemed to want to do a c-section and that she had scheduled the induction so early on. That made me think I just wasn't going to do it. So I brought it up on my expecting board, but I wasn't very committal, I guess, because one mom who was a Bradley birth person just went on about all the dangers of induction. Contractions producing hypoxia in the baby and so on and so forth to the point that I was kind of getting pissed off at her with trying to scare me. At the same time, her strong advocacy for natural birth put my mind back in the right place, a solid no to the induction.

My doula didn't think the induction was a very good idea, but she was going to support me either way. She had actually been induced herself, more or less. Anyway, the day before the scheduled induction I called my OB and told her I wasn't coming. Then I was out taking my daily walk when she called me back because she reached me on my cell phone. And she basically said, "No, there's no medical reason for the induction, I just thought you were going to have a big baby. But if you don't want to do it, that's fine, not a problem." Wow! I mean really, she admitted there was no medical reason for it. She just asked me to come in to be checked again the next day.

I ended up going into labor 4 days after my due date and I got another doctor in the practice I had never met before, but he was so laid back. He didn't have the same restrictions on how long I could push, he didn't do an episiotomy even though at the point in time I was pushing I completely forgot to tell him not to. I think it all worked out how it should have. Although I did push for fewer than 2 hours, there was a point where they told me my daughter was getting tired from the contractions and her heart rate wasn't coming back up. They just offered me oxygen to try and help the heart rate and that worked. They never mentioned a c-section, but I wonder if my own doctor would have.

[Meems]

That REALLY irks me when docs do this. I have never heard of a doc being accurate w/ this large baby thing. My friend had a 10lb baby the first time and they induced her this time @ 38 wks and he was only 6.5 lbs!!!!!! From what I've heard, US is not an accurate way to get the weight.

I'd wait it out, mama. My friends that have had the pit say it is agony, a whole lot worse than natural labor... and you're also setting yourself up for all of those other interventions that often follow an induction.

[aisraeltax]

read, read, read.

as a mom whose had 2 c/s's, believe me...you want to do all you can to avoid one (both for you and the baby).

medical interventions, esp. inductions, are the first step toward a c/s.

good luck!

rach

[MoonWillow]

You've gotten a lot of feedback here so I don't want to add too much but I had to chime in and agree with all of it. The "big baby" excuse is very common. I'm looking down the barrel of an induction myself for low fluid and I am refusing it because the measuring of fluid is just about as sketchy as measuring for size (actually I think its worse but you get the idea). Ultrasounds for size are notoriously inaccurate and that info IS out there. I think I last read to expect a 20% discrepancy. That could mean a big difference! Size is a horrible reason to induce.
Don't be afraid to stand up for yourself with confidence!

[lanielayne]

Someone on here posted this link recently. Sorry prego brain : Anyway I wish I had seen this before my induction!

http://mother-care.ca/bishop.htm

[ibusymomto5]

I have to chime in and echo what others have said. My ob scared me into induction with my 2nd at 39wks, because he just knew she was so big. Ha! Not only was he way off, but the induction failed after 20hrs of hard labor(pit is awful) and resulted in a c/sec. Then to top it all off he told me that he doubted I could have more than a 5lbs baby, because everything felt so tight in there. That baby who he just knew was over 9lbs ended being 7-5, and I've gone on to have 5 VBACs after that each one of those being over 8lbs and the most recent over 9lbs. Never any tearing and I usually push 10min or so with no trouble. So, that all goes to show that obs can't predict the outcome based on how much they "think" baby weighs. It's hogwash, pure and simple. Chances are very much in your favor that if you can grow a certain size baby that you can also birth that baby with no problems. And don't forget how pitocin sets you up for a myriad of other interventions which often times leads to complications some of which can be life threatening to you and/or the baby.

[ekblad9]

Just say NO to the dr! I agree that induction is a horrible experience for mom and baby. I allowed it twice and still have regrets. It was awful. I would never do it again unless I truly believed the baby or I was in a life or death situation.