What are the down sides of induction at 39 weeks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some studies have shown induction is associated with relatively rare but small increased risks of:

Uterine rupture
Severe hemorrhage
Cord prolapse
Amniotic fluid embolism
Cerebral palsy
abnormal contractions

I would also question the convenience of induction if it your body isn't totally ready and it ends up taking longer. In the sense that yes, you have childcare lined up but it is potentially prolonging how long you have to be in a hospital... I don't know, I'm pretty hospital averse and as a result practically ended up delivering in my living room so take it with a grain of salt.

Thanks--haven't heard this before. Do you have a citation for this?

[Anonymous]

Downside to induction is that you might not be ready to give birth. Childbirth is not something I would schedule for convenience. There are just too many things that can go wrong even when labor comes on naturally-- so why would you increase what can go wrong with an induction? It's one thing if you are inducing for a medical reason, but convenience-- I wouldn't take that chance.

[Anonymous]

I am thinking about inducing at 39 weeks. The baby is ready by then, I am 37, and the research shows that the placenta can deteriorate near the end of pregnancy (increasing stillbirth risk). My first was born at 39.5 weeks, so I hope that by inducing by 39 weeks we can plan for care for my first. My OB said the research supports lower rate of c-sections with 39-week inductions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had to be induced at 39 weeks due to gestational diabetes. I wish I had said no. DC has asthma and other health issues, and though I'm not sure if DC would've had these issues regardless of being induced at 39 weeks, I feel like if I had given it the full 40 weeks, there would've been a chance DC would not have those issues. My other DC was a week and half overdue, and this DC has no health issues.

Being born at 39 weeks versus 40 weeks does cause asthma or health issues. A baby is full-term then. Please stop with this line of thinking. There will be many things that one child has that the other child doesn’t have. Again, none of those will be because of a 39 week or 40 week delivery.

I don't know. I think all babies are different, and mine could've used an extra week to 12 days in the womb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some studies have shown induction is associated with relatively rare but small increased risks of:

Uterine rupture--> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27780708 (there are a bunch but this is the most recent by far)
Severe hemorrhage--> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25903520; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19733277
Cord prolapse--> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15971477; see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5945286/ for a discussion of how waiting until after 6cm to break the water ("AROM" ) significantly lowers prolapse risk
Amniotic fluid embolism--> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22568783; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20410762
Cerebral palsy--> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21275920
abnormal contractions-->too many to list here, but there have been a few studies and a cochrane analysis done that suggest turning the pitocin off once labor is established helps reduce this problem (https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1471-0528.13589; https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012274.pub2/full)


I would also question the convenience of induction if it your body isn't totally ready and it ends up taking longer. In the sense that yes, you have childcare lined up but it is potentially prolonging how long you have to be in a hospital... I don't know, I'm pretty hospital averse and as a result practically ended up delivering in my living room so take it with a grain of salt.

Thanks--haven't heard this before. Do you have a citation for this?

See above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm thinking of getting induced at 39 weeks for convenience reasons (planning childcare for older kids, getting to the hospital in time, not being pregnant longer than I have to, etc.). OB thinks this is fine and my reading of the literature is that there are not any increased risks (to either baby or pregnant person). I can't find any evidence of down sides.

Am I missing something?

I had a situation that really needed induction at 39w (personal, not medical).

It was fine. If that situation were not the case... I would have let baby “cook” until she came naturally. The contractions were so hard. And I’ve since just thought about pregnancy differently, that it’s good to let them come when they come. I mean, if possible.

Upside was that we experienced shoulder dystocia at the end of delivery, and baby’s being that much smaller possibly helped. She came out fine.

Healthy and smart 8yo now.

My other two were scheduled CS, so I never ever experienced “going into labor.”