Hospital want to induce me, but I don't really want to.

[Lafoosa]

I had a scan that shows baby is measuring small for how far along I am, although they don't have any previous measurements to compare against as they wouldn't let me attend other appointment with my kids with me and wouldn't let me book it over when I have childcare.

Everything else is great, heartbeat is perfect, my placenta is doing what it should, fluid levels are good, the cord blood is good and baby's movements are very regular.
Considering they can only estimate from a scan and they're not that accurate I'm a bit hesitant to go to be induced (what will be next week) when I'm 37 weeks anyway and baby is perfectly healthy right where she is.

At the hospital they spoke to me like I don't have any choice, made me think there were issues that aren't actually there because they were just saying all of the what ifs that aren't actually the case as if they were how things are already.

The community midwife I saw after that appointment was basically just trying to scare me out of a home birth by saying that all small babies die in home births which is just a blatant lie, my last baby was absolutely tiny and at 2yo she's still tiny.

I'm thinking maybe they're just saying all of this stuff now because they don't want to have to send a midwife out to me since there's a shortage at the moment. I'm more than happy to birth with a paramedic there instead anyway, I've done this twice, both times at home, both small babies (but lovely weight, just tiny everywhere else).

Surely they shouldn't be wanting to get her out just because she's little when everything else is absolutely perfect? They won't listen to me about having small babies previously either, because they were 7lbs10 and 7lbs7 which isn't considered small weight they won't take into account that their height, head circumstances, etc were all tiny. Both wore clothes for premature babies when they were first born because they were rinky dinky little things, but health wise they were great and didn't need to go into hospital at all.

I'm not making the wrong choice by refusing the induction am I? Because the way everyone is talking to me is like I'm about to kill myself and my baby despite us both being in perfect health.

I think you're being very optimistic that a paramedic would actually get to you in time.

I was the very next person to get an ambulance (20 minutes was the estimate in the first call back they made to me) according to the operators - with symptoms of a pulmonary embolism - two weeks ago.

Four and a half hours later, a First Responder arrived.

I'm very much in favour of home births as a rule, but at present, what you would effectively be doing could more accurately be termed an Unassisted Birth, as when they're taking hours to attend high category calls, there is no guarantee that you'll see anyone in time even if you are haemorrhaging.

If you really don’t want to be induced then a compromise could be having another growth scan at 38 weeks and seeing what the growth curve between the two scans is. You say you’ve had two scans previously? What was the time difference between them and was the growth when plotted for both scans following the same curve? Are they using a customised growth chart for you?

Why would they mention an episiotomy when they break your waters? That isn't how it work so I think you are getting confused. By all means refuse the induction, it is your risk to take. Me personally, I would rather be induced. Especially with a 3rd baby, I almost died after my 3rd due to blood loss, had I have been at home, I would have died.

There is absolutely no way a medical professional would suggest an induction because it's Christmas or Easter or half term make the decision that's right for you op but an ambulance will be unlikely to arrive in time at the moment

said she would induce me 3 different ways, and if that didn't work she'd break my waters and give me an episiotomy

I have a feeling this will be a breakdown in communication - get clarification on this because it doesn't make sense

It is up to you of course, however you have to be willing to accept the risk.

I highly doubt they are pushing for an induction just because they can’t be bothered to send someone to your house.

Clearly there are concerns. I would be first in the queue for a 37 week induction, if it was the advice of the experts. My friend's baby was absolutely fine at 37 weeks and was a stillbirth at 38. I wouldn't risk my baby's life. It is perfectly capable of being born without the need for NICU etc. Why would you even consider taking the risk against medical advice?

Please take their advice.my placenta just stopped working, to be honest it ruptured and had I not already been in hospital me and my now teen wouldn't be here today.

I was told my baby would be 9-11 lbs.

He was born two weeks early under seven.

I'd report the minidress for lying and ask for a written detailed explanation for why they are trying to force an unnecessary medical procedure on you.

Ffs what is wrong with my auto correct. The midwife needs reporting. Wear what dress you want.

I'm more than happy to birth with a paramedic there instead

What makes you think a paramedic will be available in the current situation?

said she would induce me 3 different ways, and if that didn't work she'd break my waters and give me an episiotomy

Do you mean epidural (+hormone drip). Otherwise this doesn’t make sense.

I think it very unlikely that they would suggest inducing you at 37 weeks just because it’s more convenient for them. These days they want to keep babies in until 39 weeks so I doubt very much they’d suggest this unless they had a serious concern.

Both my babies had suspected intrauterine growth restriction (1 actually was growth restricted and 1 was not). Early induction is standard in these situations. It’s entirely your choice but no one here can advise you especially when we don’t have all the information about why you are being advised this way. I’d suggest asking for a second opinion from another consultant as the first one clearly did not explain things very well to you - before going write down exactly what you want to discuss with them and what factors you want them to take into account.

Two inductions here for tiny babies and high blood pressure. First baby was in serious distress during labour and would have died without ventouse and paediatric help when born. She was born 5lbs3, below first centile. Second baby more robust and needed less help, 5lbs13. Tbh I think you’d be mad to consider a home birth in your circumstances.

Nobody is suggesting induction and particularly early induction for their own benefit, school holidays, Christmas or anything else.
When you go to appointments do you have another adult with you to help asking and answering questions? You are coming away from appointments with information that is plain wrong eg episiotomy etc.
The point is that some babies are safer out than in. The ins. Team only have a certain amount of information on which to base the decision making and of course inductions will happen that may not have been needed.Better many of these than a still birth.
Another scan sounds sensible but at that point if advised to have a hospital delivery/ induction by medical professionals I really think that you should.
As for expecting a paramedic to be available for you at delivery when emergency services are stretched to breaking point I think that you really need to have a think about your attitude.

Obs team not ins!

My first was small, 6lb at full term, he was 2nd-9th percentile (he’s followed this throughout his years and is a slim child now). My 2nd I had growth scans throughout as 1st was small (SGA- small gestational age). My daughter was 0.04 centile, placenta was fine, cord fine however I was offered a planned induction at 37+6 as the consultant deemed her to safer in than out. Yes my first was small, this was taken into consideration, I have small babies clearly. But all pregnancies are different, for me the risk were too great so I agreed for the planned induction. I had a sweep 2 days before and that sent me into labour and she was born the next day.

For me I will always follow the guidance of consultants in pregnancy, my prenatal care was fantastic.

@nocoolnamesleft

Hospitals don't promote inductions because of staffing. They promote inductions because they fucking hate stillbirths, and will happily induce quite a number of women to prevent one stillbirth. Each women, however, gets to choose her own attitude to risk.

^ That, 100 times

It is much much cheaper to let you have the baby at home with minimal supervision and zero medical equipment to help keeping baby alive if things go wrong, why would they suggest an early induction if they could your child is at risk?

If the midwife really said that about small babies dying during homebirths, I would formally complain, assume you can’t prove it but at least it’ll be logged.

When I was pregnant, waters broke early and attended a maternity assessment unit, I was sat in the waiting area with my legs crossed and told by a passing midwife, apropos of nothing, that ‘if you cross your legs like that you’ll get a blood clot and die’. Unhelpful to say the least at a difficult time. Regret not complaining about that.

In your posts there are a lot of ‘they’ and it’s unclear who ‘they’ are: it sounds like it’s different health professionals at the hospital and community midwifery service.

Would ignore experiences of your friends, sister etc and what ‘they’ said / did to them.

It’s clear that the most senior person you saw, the consultant, strongly recommended induction: ‘were booking me for an induction within the week……listed things that could happen if certain things stop working’. So would either do as recommend or seek to discuss this further with them or a doctor in their team, eg since you don’t consider they addressed your concerns.

I was induced because they said the baby looked small. I felt the induction was completely unnecessary because the baby was small because I am small. Previous DC was small, and all babies in my family have been 6lb something. Baby was just not ready yet. The induction with the prostaglandin failed 4 times, and it was a horribly tiring and painful 3.5 days of false-starts of labour each time, before getting the drip and DC was eventually born - perfectly healthy, and small, as expected, just like other DC.

I don't understand the episiotomy point.

I was induced for baby being small for gestational age. It was my first baby during lockdown so husband not there for meeting with consultant and I felt a bit pushed into a corner. Thankfully it was all very straight forward but if it was to happen again, I would have requested more monitoring over an induction. On the induction ward I heard various consultants and midwives querying why I was induced as she wasn’t particularly small (estimated 6lb 8oz, born 6lb 6oz) which also meant I kept being pushed to the bottom of the list to be taken to delivery suite so was obviously unnecessary.
I’m not one to ignore risks so would seriously listen to the consultant but they do push for inductions so if it’s not necessary I’d rather take extra monitoring

What is their reason for induction exactly? DD always measured very small. They induced me at 42 weeks in the end because it was very late. They wouldnt induce me before that because baby was measuring small and they wanted her to grow more first.
DD measured 3kg on the last scan on the day i was induced. She was 2.6kg when she was born 2h later. Scans can be quite inaccurate.

My baby is SGA. I'm off to the hospital this morning for my twice weekly CTG monitoring and I'm having weekly scans, all since they dropped below the 10th centile. I'm 35 weeks tomorrow. My consultant will not induce a SGA or IUGR and told me I am to refuse it if offered as smaller babies tend to cope less well with induction. I would refuse anyway for the same reason, but I was also already down for an ELCS. I don't blame you for not wanting an induction, but that isn't your only option. In my view, your only option is doing nothing. I believe CTG monitoring is standard for all babies predicted below the 10th centile so either your baby isn't below the 10th or someone is being a bit hasty in jumping to induction. Speak to a consultant, but don't do nothing. Placental health can be very hard to determine from a scan.

I’m not sure how to report posts but I think this should be reported. The amount of misinformation is staggering, and it’s sadly that OP either hasn’t understood what’s been said or it hasn’t been explained clearly.

Inductions are never brought forward/delayed due to public holidays. I’ve known it in some cases where women have requested that and it makes no difference to her clinical risk.

An episiotomy is a cut to the perineum and would be performed either for fetal distress or because it looks like perineum is going to tear very badly. It aids quicker delivery of the head at the very last stage of labour. It’s not part of an induction.

Scans are ideally performed at least two weeks apart. Any closer than that and conclusions about trends in growth are inaccurate.

Scans can be quite inaccurate. It depends on the operators and the equipment. I work at a hospital specialising in fetal medicine and in the last couple of years I’ve noticed impressive scan accuracy with the birth weights. Things change all the time and don’t listen to people’s anecdotes to inform your decisions about your baby’s health.

Paramedics are not trained midwives or obstetricians. They are fantastic when things are straightforward and you need transferring into hospital. They’re not too thrilled when a newborn needs resuscitation at birth, you bleed heavily or the shoulders don’t deliver and the baby gets stuck. They also won’t deliver your baby, do your notes and leave you at home. They’ll be taking you into hospital following your ‘homebirth’ without midwives in attendance.

You sound like you have little to no trust in the people caring for you and your baby, OP. After your next scan you’ll hopefully be speaking to a doctor. If not - please ask to do that. Take a list of questions, take someone else with you to hear the information you’re given. Put away the notions that they’re offering things to ensure themselves a fun Easter weekend. Listen to the actual reasons they’re recommending induction and then make your risk assessment and make your decision.