Help! Need to stop a friend from inducing for being "7 days late"!!

[True Blue]

I need some good web links to info why not to induce. I KNOW why in my head, and have books, but nothing I can get to her asap online (she is going to induce tomorrow and lives out of town). I would sooo like to stop her, first time mama who is one week "late". THANKS!!!

[sapphire_chan]

Unfortunately, what's convinced me that induction is often the instrument of evil is reading so many experiences of people who had horrible inductions, or where they'd misjudged the dates and the baby was premature, or where the induction just didn't work at all, but they'd broken the water so there had to be a c-section after 24 hours.

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

http://www.childbirth.org/articles/labor/induction.html (Might feel more unbiased to her)

http://www.fensende.com/Users/swnymph/refs/due.html

[JanetF]

www.hencigoer.com and there are some great threads on MDC too so a quick search would provide a lot of links. Yes, I agree, it's an instrument of evil.

[Maggi315]

Unfortunately you can't "save" someone from having chosen the wrong provider. It'll just make you crazy. You can present the facts (which your friend can easily get off the internet or at the library) then sit back and be supportive. Don't let this make you crazy or stressed, it's not yours, it's hers.

Easier said than done, believe me I know that! but I've also learned from my own mistakes and that of others.

good luck to you and your friend.

[katheek77]

Ask her why the doc wants it done. I'd demand a VERY good, concrete, personally relevant reason.

Make sure HER dates are right, regardless of what the docs say. I had an original due date of July 4 (which matched with when I thought I'd conceived), and then they revised it to June 23 after the 20 week ultrasound. No way I was doing ANY induction before July 4 (and they wanted to induce me at 37 weeks b/c I was 3cm dilated and "might not make it in time" to the hospital!).

I did tell them I'd do a BPP after July 4 if I hadn't given birth by then. As it was, I gave birth July 1, so, not an issue.

[majormajor]

actually, it's not a bad decision. :

i was totally against it until i read a few studies showing that the baby does better and the c-section rate is lower when you induce at 41 weeks (versus waiting it out until 42 weeks).

i'm not sure how to reconcile this with my previous (and still current) belief that induction is harder on moms and babies and a bad thing unless really necessary. i have a lot of faith in the natural process, so this kind of information doesn't fit well into my view... anyone have any thoughts?

[umsami]

If she's a first time Mom, she's at a much greater risk of a c-section. I was induced for my first.. not because I was late, but due to gestational diabetes and baby size. (DS1 was 8 lbs. 1 oz.... DS2 who came naturally (gestational diabetes too) was 9 lbs. 14 oz. ) The biggest issue is that you're on their clock. Usually they'll want to artificially rupture the membranes.... and then the clock is ticking. Near the end, the OB was pushing for a C-section or at least a vacuum extraction, and both me and my husband were bargaining for time. We won... but it got tiring having to basically beg for another hour's time.

Here's an article from the Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/inducing-labor/PR00117 They say to wait until you're at least two weeks overdue, if that is the only issue.

See if she'll try acupuncture. I actually had it a few days before my induction in hopes of helping things along. Before acupuncture, my cervix was totally hard... no dilation nothing. Two days later I went into the hospital 2 cms dilated. It definitely made a difference for me, and possibly saved me from the C-section.

[SublimeBirthGirl]

Induction does NOT decrease the cesarean rate; it doubles it in a first time mom. go to motherfriendly.org.

[majormajor]

i'm looking for the studies i found before. i just found one that says induction at 41 weeks is bad.
i'll keep looking for those other ones though. maybe they didn't study first-time moms...

[attachedmamaof3]

Originally Posted by majormajor

actually, it's not a bad decision. :

i was totally against it until i read a few studies showing that the baby does better and the c-section rate is lower when you induce at 41 weeks (versus waiting it out until 42 weeks).

Interesting. Couple of questions...studies done by whom? And did any of your research focus on outcomes of inductions vs. births allowed to go post-date and begin naturally? I'm guessing no...because then everyone would choose not to induce!

Of course, I'm asking this as someone who's had 3 births outside of a hospital which were all 'c-section' candidates.

DS#1- 9 days "late", presented transverse, had to do external-then internal version to turn during labor (coming shoulder first), ended up birthing posterior, completely natural no episiotomy
DS#2-11 days "late", fast labor (midwife didn't make it in time), born posterior, completely natural no episiotomy
DD- 17 days "late", fast labor,completely natural no episiotomy

Maybe it's just me, but in my own reading it appears to me to be a slippery slope of interventions headed down the c-section road which can be (hopefully) prevented by refusing intervention in the first place. What happened to trusting our bodies over an estimated due date?

[cheeseRjedi]

I've heard that an induced labor is way stronger and more painful that an uninduced labor would be.

[umsami]

Originally Posted by attachedmamaof3

Maybe it's just me, but in my own reading it appears to me to be a slippery slope of interventions headed down the c-section road which can be (hopefully) prevented by refusing intervention in the first place. What happened to trusting our bodies over an estimated due date?

I agree with this so much... yet at least for me, it was harder to trust myself and my body during my first pregnancy. I think once you've gone through it... and learned that you do have mothering instincts and the whole lot... that experts are not necessarily right.. it becomes easier and easier to trust your body and yourself.

I'm sure your friend's OB is insisting on twice weekly monitoring at this point... so why not try and get her to wait it out unless something shows up abnormal?

[umsami]

Oh.. if your friend is in NYC too.... Staten Island University Hospital just won a big award for maternal and perinatal care... and has one of the LOWEST c-section rates I've found in the NY-area... 21%. Most of the other hospitals I've checked out were at 30%+. So if I was going to induce.... i'd go there.

[DoomaYula]

If she's set on inducing, forget it. She'll do what she wants anyway, and you'll just end up frustrated. I send you hugs. It's incredibly frustrating. I had a mama choose a scheduled c-s at 38w, it was traumatizing for ME.

[pamamidwife]

you want my honest opinion? nothing you can do or say will change her mind. UNLESS SHE ASKS YOU FOR HELP WITH RESEARCH / EVIDENCE, you will just be throwing things at her that she may not want.

really, you cannot stop her from being induced. she can only stand up for herself with regards to what SHE desires.

it is hard, but just support her and trust her to make the right choices for her and her baby right now.

[MyBoysBlue]

I had a friend who was 9 days past due with her first child and was induced and had 9 hours of labour. With her second she was 2 days past due and was induced again because she was tired of being pregnant and the induction wasn't so bad the first time, maybe her body didn't go into labour on it's own. She ended up with one day of induced contractions that did nothing so they sent her home and she went back the next day to start again. Then over 24 hours after the second try at induction the baby was born. I had lunch with her the day before she went for induction and told her that if she tries to force an induction too early her body will not take to the induction as well as she did the first time. I also told her about the intervention landslide. Boy was I right she ended up taking morphine. She was in a small hospital and they don't have someone on call all the time to do an epi so that was what they gave her as an option. She even told me that I was right and that for her next baby she won't go for an induction unless she is really late. I felt like kicking her doctor, for giving her such bad advice and doing this to her.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by majormajor

actually, it's not a bad decision. :

i was totally against it until i read a few studies showing that the baby does better and the c-section rate is lower when you induce at 41 weeks (versus waiting it out until 42 weeks).

i'm not sure how to reconcile this with my previous (and still current) belief that induction is harder on moms and babies and a bad thing unless really necessary. i have a lot of faith in the natural process, so this kind of information doesn't fit well into my view... anyone have any thoughts?

My first thought is "did the inductions done in the study follow the same protocols?" Let's say, for instance, that the inductions done at 41 weeks were only done on women who met the criteria for being "ready" for an induction and they decided to wait on the women who were weren't "ready". But for the 42 week group (because another study had lumped placentas at 42-45 weeks all in together) they felt that induction was absolutely imperative and went ahead with the inductions even for those women where the evidence indicated that an induction was likely to fail.

[wwisdomskr]

I used to get really worked up about helping my friends to make the "right" choices and have natural births. Most of them ended up having c-sections... It was awful, and they all had the same stereotypical birth stories that we all can recite by heart.

So, all the books and articles and personal stories that I shared with them didn't seem to make a dent. All it did was raise my bp!

We have deep-seated beliefs and fears about birth, here in the U.S.

Another sweet friend of mine suggested that perhaps my influence would come into play with my friends' 2nd babies. Maybe they didn't really believe that the stereotypical stuff could happen to them, and, because of me, they truly know that birth can be different. Maybe they'll make different choices and trust birth next time.

I don't know... I just try to live my life the best that I can and answer questions when people directly ask me for my input. If they don't want it...I don't have the time or energy to give it... Besides, it seems to only make a real impact if it's actively solicited.

I hope that your friend has a safe, positive birth. She's lucky to have a concerned friend like you!

[majormajor]

i can't find the studies i was looking at before (i've got to start bookmarking these things!). BUT, i did find a criticism of a study that found inducing at 41 weeks lowered the section rate. the crit is by henci goer, and here's a link:
http://www.lamaze.org/Research/WhenR...4/Default.aspx

it's a really good criticism.