38.5 weeks no progress, should people be bringing up induction?

[Anonymous]

Hi - I haven't read all responses so I'm sorry if I say anything redundant.

YOU have a RIGHT to DECLINE all procedures. This includes induction. Please, please, please start doing some research on childbirth. Is your baby in danger? Are you having medical problems? It is much better for a baby to come on its own when the baby is ready, and not when the doctor is ready. If you are induced when your body is not ready you are much more likely to end up with a c-section.

If you've scheduled an induction, you don't have to show up. No one can make you. Just call and say you can't come, or you are feeling like you are coming down with something. Or be honest and say as long as your okay and the baby is okay, you'll wait for the baby to come on its own. My second didn't come until I was 41w6d. If I had gone to 42 weeks I would have still refused an induction. I would however probably have NST's and a Bio physical profile to ensure everything was fine.

There's a great quote from the movie "The Business of Being Born". Women do more research when purchasing a new tv then they do with childbirth. (something like that).

[Anonymous]

yep, i stayed with the same provider. i imagine they weren't happy about it, but they really had no justification for their position other than "that's the way we do it" and i think they realized that, so they didn't fight it. i don't think many women had challenged the policy in the past. i do think i would have waited past 42 weeks assuming that all of the non stress tests and kick counts were showing a healthy baby. especially since i was unsure of my due date and felt my real due date might have been a bit later than what was on my chart. i have had friends have babies past 42 weeks and all went well, so maybe that influenced my decision. i know that some relative risks do increase, but the absolute risks still felt to me very very small, and didn't seem more compelling to me than the risks of inducing. i just didn't feel any reason to be induced, other than the provider pressuring me, and that didn't seem like a good enough reason. i didn't want to end up with a difficult birth and then feel regretful that i hadn't stood up for what i felt was right.

Anonymous wrote:PP, did your original provider still deliver the baby? Also, would you have waited past 42 weeks (if the baby seemed fine, of course)?

Just gathering info.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, 19:30. I have this fear of refusing an induction and then, essentially, being kicked out of my practice and having to go to the emergency room or some such to deliver.

[Anonymous]

Not trying to bash you, but how much faith do you have in these doctors? They know how far along you are, and your progress thus far. No one will forget about you. They haven't brought up induction b/c it's too early. No one wants to wait their full time anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dilation and effacement in advance of labor have absolutely NO bearing on when you'll go into labor.

Due dates are notoriously unreliable. First time moms deliver on average 10 days past their due date. A healthy full-term pregnancy is anywhere from 38 to 42 weeks (not 41!), and 95% of babies born between 42 and 44 weeks are still healthy. The best measure of true postmaturity is low amniotic fluid.

A natural start to labor has great benefits to the baby. Rushing the process could mean the baby misses out on days or weeks of needed time in the womb for lung development, among other things. In addition, if your body isn't ready for an induction, you havbe a greater chance if ending up with a c-section due to lack of progress.

Labor should be induced only when medically necessary.

Well put. I don't understand why some practices even check dilation and effacement before labor. All it does is get moms all worked-up, counting days and fretting. My doctor never checked because it's not indicative of pending labor. A woman can be dilated a couple centimeters for several weeks. It means nothing.

OP, I went into labor at 38 weeks with absolutely no signs until my water broke. I know it's difficult, but try, try to focus on the things you can control. Keep preparing for that baby, prepare and freeze meals, get a pedi.

[Anonymous]

checking does help figure out if you are ripe for an induction though...

[Anonymous]

Thanks, 19:30. I have this fear of refusing an induction and then, essentially, being kicked out of my practice and having to go to the emergency room or some such to deliver.

Your doctor can't fire you this close to your expected delivery date -- refusing to provide further care within 30(?) days of your EDD is an ethics violation called patient abandonment. They're stuck with you, no matter how ornery or uncooperative you get. And as others pointed out, the pregnancy police are not going to come to your house to forcibly drag you to the hospital.

There are many things you and your OB can do to keep tabs on your baby as you wait. Nonstress tests, biophysical profiles and the low-tech but highly effective kick count can give you a clue as to your baby's wellbeing.

[Anonymous]

RHJ patient here. I was a patient of Reiter's for ten plus years and I actually like him so I scheduled an induction for 42 weeks with him. I only saw him, McKanders and Jackson during my pregnancy. I HATED McKanders. A lot. I scheduled the induction at 30 weeks or so, just to be sure I would get Reiter. In reality, my baby stopped moving at 40 weeks exactly and who was on call? McKanders! To my utter surprise and delight, she was fantastic: professional, sympathetic, reassuring. I was flipping out because my extremely active baby had stopped moving entirely--I had not felt a thing in more than 24 hours. I was induced (after an extensive ultrasound to dterminecthat baby was ok but we decided to deliver as she was not moving at all) by McKanders and ultimately delivered by Loveland. Reiter came to check on me the next day. All three doctors were wonderful, professional and I have zero complaints about my care. Other than the induction, no interventions were suggested or mandated by my doctors. My DD is perfectly healthy. Maybe this will allay your fears somewhat...HTH, OP. Best of luck to you!

[Anonymous]

I had my baby 13.5 years ago and first mention of induction was on due date, I was sent for a sonogram to make sure I had enough amniotic fluid and when she saw how big the baby was I was scheduled for a C-section. (11 pounds) so OP I don't know what your sister is talking about!

[Anonymous]

OP here, 22:10 thanks for sharing your experience. I was really worried about the whole induction thing, but its really great to hear that you and others had a good experience with McKanders (especially since you didn't like her beforehand).
I was/still am really worried I would end up with a C-section since my bishop score is pretty crappy (I'm no dilated at all, 75% effaced, baby is still pretty high, cervix is really high), but I'm going to just trust the fact that other than pushing it off for a week, there's nothing I can do about anything and hopefully the cervadil will do its job. I keep on getting paranoid that the baby is going to die (she's definitely slowed down a lot, hopefully that's nothing though), so I'd rather have a C-section and have a healthy baby than have something really bad happen to her because I wanted to give myself another week in the off chance that that I would naturally go into labor before that.

[Anonymous]

14:20, thank you, I didn't know that. When I asked my midwife about going past 42 wks if baby seemed fine, she replied that, outside of a home birth, no one in the area would allow that, and that one woman she knew had been dropped by her doctor for not agreeing to an induction at 41.5 wks. Obviously if I go AMA the consequences are on my head; I just wish I knew all the options from the outset instead of being (basically) stonewalled when I try to inquire.

[Anonymous]

Hey OP, 22:10 here. I don't remember precisely but I know that at my appointment three days before my due date I was barely dilated (maybe half a cm) and not effaced at all. So I was really reticent to even call the doctor on a Saturday morning...but I just felt like something was off when the baby's movement totally and abruptly stopped. Dr. McKanders was very sympathetic and did not treat me at all as if I was overreacting. The cervadil went in at 8 pm, pitocin at 8 am, baby born at 7:50 pm. My labor was tough IMO--I have nothing to compare it to. Although I really, really struggled with three hours of pushing, Loveland NEVER even suggested a c section. She was AWESOME. I was ready to give up around 7 pm and she pushed me through it. I had an epi, totally my choice, but that was it. So a c section is not always the end result of an induction. I hope your experience is as good as mine.