AIBU but why are so many women induced?

[labourisscary]

Everyone I know (nearly) who has given birth have been induced and so many of them have then had to have emergency c-sections. I have heard the numbers being induced are simply down to hospitals/docs etc not wanting to monitor you in the later stages of your pregnancy so they induce...I really do not want to be induced, I truly believe that it is better for the Mum and baby to let things develop naturally where possible...am I alone? AIBU??

The community midwives were very keen to book an induction as soon as I got to 40.5 weeks due to the risks. The hospital weren't bothered no increased risk until 43 weeks they said and there wasn't any room to book me in. As it happens started naturally, slow labour for 6 days, then drip after waters broke and an emcs as baby would never have managed a normal exit at just over 42 weeks. They were quite ok with monitoring if things hadn't started and saw no issues until 42 weeks.
I think sometimes labour doesn't start of doesn't progress because it won't result in the baby coming out and induction or augmented labour is just something to suffer before the cs

Evolution seemingly counts for nothing these days, we all have a blind belief that our bodies suddenly produce monster babies no woman could ever birth naturally...

The trouble is that evolution has a pretty brutal mechanism: survival of the fittest means non-survival of the not-fittest.

We know what the figures are for women and babies dying in childbirth without modern intervention: it's not some unknown, and they're not reassuring figures. 'Nature's way' isn't that great if you don't think lots of dead women and babies is a fair price to pay.

Inductions tend to be better for the mum than a c-section.

I had to put a bit of a fight up for my induction at 38 weeks. I had extra amniotic fluid, kept contracting and getting nowhere, uncomfortable and no sleep for weeks. The labour was very fast, no emergency c section here. That being said, I would do everything in my power to avoid another induction. Absolute agony compared to my first baby.

I was induced when I was 42 weeks because of the risks with being so overdue. The only people I know who’ve been induced either had very big babies or were in the same situation as me and very overdue.
I don’t know anyone who has had a section after an induction

I was induced with second as she was measuring small and stopped moving..and I was overdue.
It took more monitoring than a natural labor
She turned out a healthy Weight and obv was just being a lazy lady as was fit and well.

@LisaSimpsonsbff I haven't said that interventions aren't necessary, the fact that we are now able to offer emergency c sections, monitoring etc is of course essential, this thread is on the need for induction, and my comments more specifically relate to inductions being performed based on fetal weight predictions and going overdue.

YANBU

Horrendous experience of being induced, it went horribly wrong and ended up in EMCS. Next time I’ll insist on VBC or elective.

I was basically scared into agreeing by medical staff and after review some months later it was agreed it was the wrong decision and I received a written apology.

Because their labour failed to start naturally or they are showing signs of risk such as pre-eclampsia? Despite what the NCT et al will tell you, doctors don't induce for the hell of it or because they want the baby out so they can get back to the golf course. I begged the doctors to induce me with DS because he was 10 days late and I was going crazy with worry about stillbirth (due to a previous experience with miscarriage) but they said the earliest they would induce on NHS guidelines is 12 days. That's actually quite reasonable.

Here in the US, they induce after 7 days and some doctors will induce on your due date if you want them to.

Maybe so many women end up with emergency C-sections if they've been induced because of other risk factors e.g. pre-eclampsia, not because the doctors just love carrying out complex surgery on vulnerable women?

Doctors are mainly concerned with the welfare of mothers and babies because it is their job to keep both mother and baby safe and to minimize risk. It is not their job to give you your dream birth experience that you can then rave about to the other mamas in your natural birth circle.

I had an appointment for induction but not until 2 weeks overdue. In fact when I turned up I had gone into labour naturally. I did have an emergency section because the baby was basically too big to get out. The Dr thought her huge head would get stuck and then you end up either trying to haul the baby out with forceps and cutting or trying to shove it back up so it can be delivered by section, either which could lead to severe damage to the baby. If I had been induced at my due date I guess there's a chance the baby might have just fitted out for a natural delivery.

And yes, I don't know anyone whose induction led to a C-section, unless it was for other complications. One friend of mine had all 4 of her children's births induced but they were all VB, no C-sections.

Bruce's at 38 weeks because my DD was very small and skinny and probably starving as my placenta got lazy and if left any longer my placenta probably would have shut down and DD would have been stillborn.

There's always legitimate reasons to induce.

It's partly because we have more monitoring and scans these days so problems and potential problems are more likely to be picked up. Partly because there are more high risk women getting pregnant eg women having their first babies aged 35+, women with high bmi etc. Partly because women with conditions like asthma, diabetes, epilepsy and other things are now living long enough to grow up and get pregnant when previously they would have died in childhood. Partly because with better nutrition bigger babies are now more common.

I have 5 dc. I was induced with 1. 3 came naturally on the day of my planned inductions. 1 was an elective c-section.

without reading that particular study in detail I’m going to hazard a guess that, yes, you’re right Namechangemum100 . It didn’t show that every single placenta starts to fail at 42 weeks (because that would be a highly surprising finding), but that that is the point where there is a statiscally significant increase in risk to the baby, and induction reduces that risk to a statiscally significant level.

Induced not Bruce

I was induced and recently had a meeting to discuss what happened at the birth as it was horrendous. The senior midwife conducting the meeting had no idea why I was induced. There really was no reason.

I was induced at 12 days past the due date. Baby was born by emergency C-section at 13 days past the due date. The placenta was starting to die off - the midwife showed us the patches where it was failing. I am really glad I was induced.

Same here Morgan12 it’s not always to do with complications as my pregnancy was risk free.

I have wondered the same. DIL was induced because she was supposedly carrying a big baby and was some days overdue. He wasn't big, he was quite tiny and would a few more days inside have been better for him?

So for all of you who think that inducing at 2 weeks past the due date is too soon and too much intervention, how long would you let a pregnancy continue beyond 40 weeks, ideally? 3 more weeks? A month? Two months? I think 2 weeks post due-date is a reasonable policy, a good compromise between the data we have on placental function and not rushing the mother into labour.

I was induced because my dd's heart rate kept dropping. It ended up with a c section but the induction was working it was my dd that was poorly. If I had waited for mother nature my baby could have died. Inductions are necessary at times and I for one would take an induction over a stillbirth any day.

I don’t think yabu, yes there are a lot of good reasons why induction is necessary, but equally it’s becomming increasingly common now and we need to question whether that is the right outcome. Induction isn’t a risk free procedure, it increases the likelihood of intervention and emergency c-sec.

Now I’m not saying don’t induce, of course there are lots of cases where induction is absolutely the correct decision. I do think it’s worrying though that it seems to be a go to method for delivering babies especially in cases where there appears to be nothing wrong at all, just that the baby is predicted to be big or the pregnancy is going longer than 41 weeks. These cases often the risks are small and evidence base that induction actually helps is very weak.

OP if you are interested, the book inducing labour is a good read. It’s evidence based and very current. I found it a useful tool for making decisions regarding whether to go in for induction or not. It dispels common myths like the placenta failing at 42 weeks - there is no evidence that this is the case.

I was booked for an induction a week before my due date initially because my water volume was very low to the point they decided baby was safer out than in. I actually ended up being induced a day before I was booked to due to my waters going and contractions not starting after 24 hours so it became an infection risk. I did only need a pessary though and the whole thing was done and dusted in 5.5 hours.

I was quite worried about being induced with my first pregnancy. So much so that I avoided going to an appointment on my due date and went in two days later instead. Fortunately dd turned out fine, but missing appointment was not my best move, it could've been a lot worse. I thought I knew best. It's scary, but sometimes necessary.

@elliejjtiny ...thank you for your post, that definitely makes sense for why inductions have become commonplace now...I am really not madly against having an induction, I just want to understand why they are so so common these days (and certainly most women on this thread have had one), what is the medical reasoning? Most inductions I know of did not happen at 2 weeks overdue but earlier. One friend got told her baby seems big so they induced and baby was born smaller than average...one friend was brought in for an induction, given the pessary, nothing happened so was given another, nothing happened again and so she was sent home for a week?! I know that every Mum does what is best for their child and I will do the same...I just want to understand a bit more so I can make the right choice for my child and me...