Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would ask if it would be OK to go to 39.5 or some such and just explain that you really want to feel like you went the distance. I will warn you, though, that you may have to go to get checkups daily if she is really concerned.

If it's OK??? You tell that doctor what YOU want instead of trying to schedule your birth around their vacation. Or go elsewhere--there are plenty of OBs in this area. Preposterous, trying to rush things.

Anonymous wrote:I would ask if it would be OK to go to 39.5 or some such and just explain that you really want to feel like you went the distance. I will warn you, though, that you may have to go to get checkups daily if she is really concerned.

Anonymous wrote:My Dr wants to do a gentle induction at 39 weeks because she says there's no real reason to wait until 40 weeks and there's a risk of still born after 41 weeks. I am high risk but everything has been controlled with medication so far and I have had no complications. I did not want pitocin or epidural and was trying to avoid csection unless it was an emergency. I feel like membrane sweeping is just going to lead to pitocin which will just lead to csection. I tried to express concern about not wanting to push anything until my body was ready and was told "this is what was best and recommended."

I feel like I've lost complete control over my labor and delivery and am surprised because the entire pregnancy, my ob was on board with my wishes. It's too late to get another dr at this point and I know if she is not in agreement of my birth wishes, there's no way the hospital will be. Has anyone dealt with this before? If it were emergency, I would do anything for the baby. But why suggest the early induction if nothing is wrong? Did membrane sweeping work for you? Or is this just a csection waiting to happen?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You need a labor support doula to help be a voice for you, especially in situations like yours. Inducing at 39 weeks is not ok.

No reputable doula would challenge an OB or any other medical staff in an L&D ward. If they did, they would not be invited to come back and provide their services. I used an excellent doula, and she makes very clear up front that she is not a medical care provider and she will not speak directly to hospital staff on my behalf. When, after a long labor, the topic of induction came up, we did talk to her privately about our options. Based on that conversation, we spoke directly to the L&D staff and decided to wait a little bit longer before starting pitocin...and ended up delivering without it. Our doula was helpful in sorting out information, but she would never have intervened on our behalf.

well it is good she didn't interfere directly. But a doula who counseled the mother not to trust her doctor especially in a true high risk situation would still be interfering. in retrospect I am very glad my overly crunchy doula was not there when the decision was made to induce.

Doulas are not supposed to intervene, but they are helpful with coming up with questions for their clients to ask, just as OP is doing now with this thread.

But if you get a doula with an agenda then those questions will be biased and based on an agenda. Is there a reason a patient should be having a non-medical professional come up with questions about their care anyway? My friend is just finishing up a kidney transplant, for example, and it would be a kind of bizarre concept to hire a lay person to help ask medical questions about kidneys ...

A doula is not a lay person when it comes to birth, FFS.

Of course they are. Anyone can legally call themselves a doula. Anyone can acquire the same level of *medical* knowledge about birth as a doula by watching some youtube videos and reading some books. Doulas are support people, not medical people.

Uh, that would not be a certified doula then.
You obviously have no idea what you're talking about.
I wouldn't hire someone who wasn't certified. You can look this up, you know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You need a labor support doula to help be a voice for you, especially in situations like yours. Inducing at 39 weeks is not ok.

No reputable doula would challenge an OB or any other medical staff in an L&D ward. If they did, they would not be invited to come back and provide their services. I used an excellent doula, and she makes very clear up front that she is not a medical care provider and she will not speak directly to hospital staff on my behalf. When, after a long labor, the topic of induction came up, we did talk to her privately about our options. Based on that conversation, we spoke directly to the L&D staff and decided to wait a little bit longer before starting pitocin...and ended up delivering without it. Our doula was helpful in sorting out information, but she would never have intervened on our behalf.

well it is good she didn't interfere directly. But a doula who counseled the mother not to trust her doctor especially in a true high risk situation would still be interfering. in retrospect I am very glad my overly crunchy doula was not there when the decision was made to induce.

Doulas are not supposed to intervene, but they are helpful with coming up with questions for their clients to ask, just as OP is doing now with this thread.

But if you get a doula with an agenda then those questions will be biased and based on an agenda. Is there a reason a patient should be having a non-medical professional come up with questions about their care anyway? My friend is just finishing up a kidney transplant, for example, and it would be a kind of bizarre concept to hire a lay person to help ask medical questions about kidneys ...

A doula is not a lay person when it comes to birth, FFS.

Of course they are. Anyone can legally call themselves a doula. Anyone can acquire the same level of *medical* knowledge about birth as a doula by watching some youtube videos and reading some books. Doulas are support people, not medical people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You need a labor support doula to help be a voice for you, especially in situations like yours. Inducing at 39 weeks is not ok.

No reputable doula would challenge an OB or any other medical staff in an L&D ward. If they did, they would not be invited to come back and provide their services. I used an excellent doula, and she makes very clear up front that she is not a medical care provider and she will not speak directly to hospital staff on my behalf. When, after a long labor, the topic of induction came up, we did talk to her privately about our options. Based on that conversation, we spoke directly to the L&D staff and decided to wait a little bit longer before starting pitocin...and ended up delivering without it. Our doula was helpful in sorting out information, but she would never have intervened on our behalf.

well it is good she didn't interfere directly. But a doula who counseled the mother not to trust her doctor especially in a true high risk situation would still be interfering. in retrospect I am very glad my overly crunchy doula was not there when the decision was made to induce.

Doulas are not supposed to intervene, but they are helpful with coming up with questions for their clients to ask, just as OP is doing now with this thread.

But if you get a doula with an agenda then those questions will be biased and based on an agenda. Is there a reason a patient should be having a non-medical professional come up with questions about their care anyway? My friend is just finishing up a kidney transplant, for example, and it would be a kind of bizarre concept to hire a lay person to help ask medical questions about kidneys ...

A doula is not a lay person when it comes to birth, FFS.

Of course they are. Anyone can legally call themselves a doula. Anyone can acquire the same level of *medical* knowledge about birth as a doula by watching some youtube videos and reading some books. Doulas are support people, not medical people.

What's your point?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You need a labor support doula to help be a voice for you, especially in situations like yours. Inducing at 39 weeks is not ok.

No reputable doula would challenge an OB or any other medical staff in an L&D ward. If they did, they would not be invited to come back and provide their services. I used an excellent doula, and she makes very clear up front that she is not a medical care provider and she will not speak directly to hospital staff on my behalf. When, after a long labor, the topic of induction came up, we did talk to her privately about our options. Based on that conversation, we spoke directly to the L&D staff and decided to wait a little bit longer before starting pitocin...and ended up delivering without it. Our doula was helpful in sorting out information, but she would never have intervened on our behalf.

well it is good she didn't interfere directly. But a doula who counseled the mother not to trust her doctor especially in a true high risk situation would still be interfering. in retrospect I am very glad my overly crunchy doula was not there when the decision was made to induce.

Doulas are not supposed to intervene, but they are helpful with coming up with questions for their clients to ask, just as OP is doing now with this thread.

But if you get a doula with an agenda then those questions will be biased and based on an agenda. Is there a reason a patient should be having a non-medical professional come up with questions about their care anyway? My friend is just finishing up a kidney transplant, for example, and it would be a kind of bizarre concept to hire a lay person to help ask medical questions about kidneys ...

A doula is not a lay person when it comes to birth, FFS.

Of course they are. Anyone can legally call themselves a doula. Anyone can acquire the same level of *medical* knowledge about birth as a doula by watching some youtube videos and reading some books. Doulas are support people, not medical people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You need a labor support doula to help be a voice for you, especially in situations like yours. Inducing at 39 weeks is not ok.

No reputable doula would challenge an OB or any other medical staff in an L&D ward. If they did, they would not be invited to come back and provide their services. I used an excellent doula, and she makes very clear up front that she is not a medical care provider and she will not speak directly to hospital staff on my behalf. When, after a long labor, the topic of induction came up, we did talk to her privately about our options. Based on that conversation, we spoke directly to the L&D staff and decided to wait a little bit longer before starting pitocin...and ended up delivering without it. Our doula was helpful in sorting out information, but she would never have intervened on our behalf.

well it is good she didn't interfere directly. But a doula who counseled the mother not to trust her doctor especially in a true high risk situation would still be interfering. in retrospect I am very glad my overly crunchy doula was not there when the decision was made to induce.

Doulas are not supposed to intervene, but they are helpful with coming up with questions for their clients to ask, just as OP is doing now with this thread.

But if you get a doula with an agenda then those questions will be biased and based on an agenda. Is there a reason a patient should be having a non-medical professional come up with questions about their care anyway? My friend is just finishing up a kidney transplant, for example, and it would be a kind of bizarre concept to hire a lay person to help ask medical questions about kidneys ...

A doula is not a lay person when it comes to birth, FFS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think others have covered both sides of the induce/wait it out argument. I just wanted to contribute some personal experience that I hope helps as you weigh your options.

With my first, I was induced at 39 weeks due to gestational hypertension. I didn't have a prior history as you do, and I wasn't on medication. My BP was quite high, and I was on bed rest for about a week prior to the induction. I was given Cervadil, sent home for the night, and then admitted and started on Pitocin the next morning. The induction failed and I ended up having a c-section, which I repeated for my second child, and will repeat again in a few months for my third.

I was really unhappy about the induction. I regretted my passive approach to it when the doctor scheduled it, and thought my discomfort in late pregnancy made me more likely to go along with the plan instead of to question it. I found a new OB for my second pregnancy who I felt would be supportive of a VBAC (I ultimately decided against it, but it was entirely my decision).

In short, I've been where you are now, more or less. I had the same concerns, and those concerns materialized into reality. I was unhappy about it for a while, but looking back now, I just don't care anymore. It wasn't important. Maybe I could have waited longer before being induced and possibly avoided the c-section, but I came away from it with a wonderful, healthy baby. It took a little while for me to make peace with the fact that the delivery didn't go the way I wanted it to go, but the result was exactly what I wanted.

As a counterpoint I was induced at 39 weeks for gestational hypertension and it went great.

But it is important to point out that OP is at much higher risk than mild gestational hypertension so our stories are not relevant. She has chronic hypertension and a heart problem. In her position I would have gladly induced at 39 weeks.