Help! Friend with gestational diabetes told she must be induced.

It sounds like that Doc is going to give her a c-section no matter what -- I would definitely have her read what Henci Goer has to say on the subject.

I would also suggst she get another care provider.

Interventions beget interventions - there is rarely a way around that when you are dealing with a doc like this.

With gestational diabetes there is a chance that a baby could be bigger. The only reason the doc wants to induce is that he/she does not believe your friend (or probably any woman) can handle vaginally birthing a baby much over 7-8 pounds. This is total crap as we all know.

Adding even more cynicism to my post I believe when docs see a blood sugar level that may indicate gestational diabetes dollar signs appear in their eyes. They now have a "diagnosis" that will allow them to scare a mother into multiple uneccessary monitoring, tests, ultrasounds and birth interventions.

Sorry your friend has such an intervention happy doc.

Carla

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Why didn't I think of that during my first pregnancy? Bought into it all, and look where it got me.
I believe it was in the MCA booklet on induction, that it said induction for gestational diabetes does not improve outcomes. You can't get to their publications without registering anymore, so I can't check.

GD is not an indication for induction.

They didn't care to elaborate? Just said that? Anybody ever heard of INFORMED CONSENT?

Don't get me started.... :

Well, I've sent her a long email with some ideas on how to proceed, including another meeting with the OB armed with more knowledge. I forwarded her what I found googling Henci Goer, and ordered her Goer's book on amazon to read for herself.

What is frustrating is that she is in the UK, with the national health service, so nobody is making money out of this. I think it's just a certain mindset within the medical profession. I agree that the doctor has decided already she's having a csection. I'm not sure that she can change doctors at this stage - I'm really unsure how the system works there. I"ll suggest that she looks into it though.

I did make some other suggestions, like insisting that she won't be continuously monitored if she does give into the induction, and trying to at least negotiate another week before induction, to give herself more chance of going into labour. I gave her an earful about the myth about big babies too (easy for me to do as mine were over 10lbs ) I'm just not sure that her personality will be strong enough to stand up to them.

I wish I had enough money to hire her a good doula to advocate for her. I feel that books and articles are not going to be enough.

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I'm not sure if this is directed at me, but I'll answer anyways. : My first two hours of pushing was on my back. The next half hour I was laying sideways. I wish I would've read more about positions to push.
The ultrasounds said she was large since 36 weeks. At 36 weeks she was close to 8 pounds. At 37.5 weeks I was dilated to 4 and effaced alot. (can't remember exact percentage) I think I should've been a good candidate for an induction. Unfortunately he refused to give me one and I ended up with a c-section. The same OB, on the other hand, induced my SIL twice just because she asked. No necessary reasons.

the thing about GD is the *they think* tend to have bigger babies. but measuring size of baby is often wrong. my u/s at 20wks and my fundal height (smack on until the end when i measured small) made my dr sure that my son would be average *maybe a lil small* and he was nearly 10lbs. luckily this time they are telling me 6.5-7lbs so they aren't pressuring me to be induced or have a c-sect.

the bad thing is that since he was so large the nurses in the hospital were certain i had gd and were lecturing me on the irresponsibility of allowing my son to grow so large...didn't i know it was bad for him to be so gigantic??

I just wanted to add my $.02 -----GD is not an induction indicator----My 1st preg I was with an OB/GYN group and almost on the day they told me I failed the glucose test at the standard 28wks--your date of induction will be......They were predicting via ultrasound & hands on---oh this baby is HUGE! at least 9-10lbs----she was 7lbs120z induced a little more than a week early----
I am VERY cynical of a GD diagnosis---have your friend research henci goer & the plus size preg website----
This time I am being closely monitored due to our loss last year & my prev history w/ GD and again they (not the midwives ) are freaking out about the 'estimated' size apparently he is already 6lbs 14 oz (I'm almost 35 wks)----but now I am with a midwifery practice and they are awesome--no mention of induction when we dicuss the birth.
Also, please keep in mind the size of babies in the family ie: my mom birthed in this order an 8lb,9lb,10lb babies and my MIL birthed 9lb & 10lb babies and she is petite and like 125lbs at the time--I also believe your body will not grow a baby that is too large to birth--
Sometimes it is hard but become informed and empowered!

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Okay, so that OB is an idiot, but we could infer that from the job title (no offense to fabulous OBs who might be reading this board). The reason I ask about position, is if you read through birth stories, the women who were able to birth larger babies generally were in a upright position, squatting, sitting on a birth chair, what have you. Also, mama-body led pushing rather than directed pushing usually allows things to flow better. What I'm seeing, and of course there's no real way to go back and check this, is that where the OB really failed you was not by not inducing early, but rather by completely neglecting to help you optimize your ability to give birth to a larger infant.

I asked about the U/S verses your own opinion, but usually your own opinion is more accurate. So I thought maybe you thought the baby was larger and the U/S had miss-read as smaller and that's why the OB refused to induce. By the sound of it you actually had an accurate U/S weight measurement and the OB dropped the ball of caring by not providing any options but inducing early and then refusing to do that.

I wonder how your outcome would have changed if the OB had made a positive statement about your ability to birth a large baby.

Anyway, this is all speculation and if hindsight is 20/20 it's even easier to sit back after the fact and analyze someone else's experience. I daresay if it were possible to go back to that birth and play it through a few ways, inducing at various times, waiting but using other labor techniques, going back earlier and attempting to control the GD, then we could leisurely evaluate each for the best outcome for you and your baby and probably find that your original desire for induction was the best choice.