Insisting on C/S rather than induction!? What happens?

[StarlightWithAsteroid]

Has anyone done this?

It's just that my birth plan stated this and it caused a bit of a circus when I went overdue (completely ignored until then), with insisting on my seeing a consultant to 'agree' blah blah blah. I refused the consultant btw.

No idea how it would have panned out as I did go into labour spontaneously close to the 42 week mark according to scan. But am wondering about it.

I wanted the safest outcome for me and my baby. Nowt wrong with that.

Had no intention of forcing a c/s. very few circumstances I'd have agreed to that either.

'I wanted the safest outcome for me and my baby.'
Do you think that the team looking after you didn't want that?

'So you did refuse to see the consultant, unless the conversation happened on your terms, according to your timetable.'

According to the Pros and cons and subsequent risks to a safe birth.

'What probably would have happened is that at some point your baby would have been in danger and a riskier, more unpleasant, more costly operation would have had to be performed while other women were inconvenienced by your refusal to have conversations that you deemed too "stressful" for a woman at 41 weeks gestation.'

I didn't 'deem' anything. It WAS too stressful and would have delayed spontaneous labour. It's called emotional dystocia.

fireice the teams may well want that, but protocol led, routine induction rather gets in the way.

Well those involved in my first birth certainly didn't, or if they did, their systems didn't allow it.

You don't think that protocols are based on evidence around the safest approach in particular situations?

You always have the right to refuse induction. You have the right to not attend appointments with the consultant, but there is a risk in any action, as here where not attending left you uninformed and uncertain. Like you said, pros and cons.

Well I wasn't worried about it at the time. I was certain that nothing on earth would have me agree to an induction/waters breaking/ and very little would convince me of VEs so very sure and unconfused about that.

And I'm extremely informed!

fireice actually, no, the protocols are based on very shaky evidence.

Many trusts are no longer doing routine induction at 40+10, because the evidence does demonstrate a need.

If nothing could have given you more information or made you more certain about things then what is this thread about?

"It WAS too stressful and would have delayed spontaneous labour."

It would have delayed spontaneous labour?

Definitely?

Your expertise in this area is beyond modern medicine.

Why would you think you'd ever have needed help?

I do have to add to be fair that the senior midwife who 'took me on' was fantastic and supportive and made sure she was assigned to me the day I gave birth to ensure my 'particular' birth plan was stuck to. Apparat from the no pain relief bit

Well, what woukd have happened if refused a c/s. I mean I know I would have refused induction, so where on earth does that leave us?

"fireice actually, no, the protocols are based on very shaky evidence.

Many trusts are no longer doing routine induction at 40+10, because the evidence does demonstrate a need."

Are you saying that they are responsive to evidence or that they are not?

If you refused any intervention they would have had to leave you until either you went into labour or your baby died, or both.

What else could they have done?

If you had refused a CS and induction they would have wanted to make sure that you had capacity to make that choice. If you did then no-one could have forced you to have either procedure.

Modern medicine is familiar with the role of hormones in labour and childbirth, and of the impact of the emotional state of the mother. I dare say the baby wouldn't have held off indefinitely but going more overdue just adds to the pressure and delay and increases the chances of things going wrong.

No, I mean if I had refused induction and THEY refused c/s

I was induced first time round - caused me to be sick, and meant the contractions sterted very strongly, with not much of a gap (midwife commenting on the graph), but no way would I have preferred a CS. All over within 9 hours and I was well enough to walk home the next day.

Confused by the person who said they don't see induction as a VB - that's definitely where DD1 came out. No, it's not pleasant having stuff shoved up you to get things started, but no worse than having a smear, and, I'd guess, a lot better than being cut open.

:o touché fireice

It seems to me that it is the way they respond to evidence that is problematic.

Their guidelines are treated as sacrosanct, so instead of making judgements based on new evidence, experience and individual circumstance, they just replace one set of rigid dictats with another.

They would have done whatever was safest for your baby. What do you think they would do?

If they recommended induction that would be because they thought it was the safest thing for the baby. If you refused that then they need to pick the next safest thing, so either leaving things as they are, increased monitoring or CS, depending on the situation. Obviously as long as you have capacity you are at liberty to refuse any of those things.

Well I don't really know what they would do. I never found out. That's why I asked here.

But, if monitoring were an option then why suggest induction?

Well they couldn't agree a CS with you as you refused to meet a doctor to put a plan in place, so they couldn't refuse one either.

Presumably when your situation warranted an emergency section they would have performed one.

We'll never know.

Unlike how we know for certain that a 10 minute discussion with a doctor would definitely have delayed labour.

Its been explained to you repeatedly in general terms what the options are.
No-one here knows specifically for you, because we don't know the details. The consultant that you were offered the appointment with at 41 weeks would have been ideally placed to explain it to you, taking account of your own medical details. As it is no longer possible for that appointment to happen, have you considered asking a midwife to do a birth debrief and go through your notes with you and explain to you what the options were, and what would have been recommended?

Well put it this way...... As soon as the phone went down after informing the senior midwife I was unprepared to meet with anyone from the same profession that assaulted me during my first birth, and her finally agreeing to give up asking me to - I had my first contraction.