Should I be induced?

Question

My doctor scheduled me to be induced on the 21st and I'm due on the 19th. Last time I went into the doctors on Monday, I was dilated to a 2 and she said I was about 60%, I have no clue what 60% means? She said I'd be induced with pictocin. I wont be seeing her until the 21st unless I end up having the baby on my own before then. I'm having second thoughts because aren't you supposed to wait at least a week after your due date? She never told me a reason as to why I'd need to be induced. I'm thinking it might be just for her own convenience but I don't know. From your experience, does it sound like I'm ready to be induced?

Answer 1

Let me start by saying that I don't know your situation. I don't know if you've had an easy pregnancy or a complicated one. You could have issues with high blood pressure or something else that could be spurring your doctor to want to induce you.

If, however, you've had a healthy pregnancy and there is no discernible reason why your doctor should be inducing you, then why let her do it? It sounds like you're already dilating and your cervix is already getting prepped for labor (that's the 60%). It sounds like there is absolutely no medical reason why you should be induced.

So why is your doctor pushing it? My opinion? Her convenience. If she can schedule you for induction, that means she doesn't have to get up in the middle of the night to come deliver your baby. It means she can schedule your delivery around the rest of her week.

I'm sorry. Too many doctors these days think they are gods. I had a doctor who knew absolutely nothing about me except for the birthweights of my older children and wanted to induce me two weeks early! He hadn't asked me any questions about my then-current pregnancy, he hadn't asked me any questions about py previous pregnancies, he hadn't examined me at all! The talk of me being induced for no reason whatsoever stopped cold when my husband suggested to another doctor that the induce-happy doctor has a ski trip that he had to get to and wanted to induce me so he wouldn't miss it!

Unless there is an absolute MEDICAL reason for an induction, I wouldn't do it. She may have the med school diploma, but this is your pregnancy, your body and your delivery. This woman is trying to schedule your delivery for convenience's sake and not for the sake of your child. What if your child is simply supposed to be two weeks late? (My oldest child was two weeks late... in fact, most of the babies in my family have been two weeks late.) What if your baby needs that one or two more weeks inside?

Yes, the baby is, and should always be, the star of the whole show. If there is something going on where the baby needs to come out right away via induction, so be it. Unless there is a medical reason, though, no way.

We believe that, unless there is something that medically necessitates an induction, God will be the one to decide when our child should be born not some doctor with somewhere else to be.

Good luck!

Answer 2

If you are only due on the 19th and they want to induce already on the 21st I were you I would talk to your physician. Ask many questions as to why. This is your body that you are putting into their hands. Find out what ever you want to know. If there have been any complications that may be a reason they want to induce. Also if you are tiny and your baby is getting really large that may be a concern. If being induced is indeed necessary do not worry about that procedure. I had to have 2 of mine induced and everything turned out fine. For one of them if I wasn't induced that child may not have made it. I will not lie to you induced labor contractions are more painful than natural. However, when induced there is usually more time for some sort of pain medication.

Answer 3

From my own experience I have 6 children and have been induced 3 out of the 6 times and put on pictocin the other 3 times during labor. My mom is also a RN in L&D,alot of doctors now days really do like to induce woman 2 to 7 days after their due date beause of complicatons that might occur if the baby stays to long in the uterus.The most comon complication's are baby getting to big,baby poops in the uterus,etc.The 60% is the percentage that your cervix has thinned out,you deliver at 100% and dialated to 10 cm.Being that you are very thinned out I think you will deliver before ypur next appt.But if not you should be induced.I think it is really the easyier way to go I was always buggung my doctor to induce me once I was 38 weeks.

Answer 4

This does sound weird...not sure if she did not tell you why she was inducing that you should be...I would have to say also if you are 60 % effaced then you may end up going in to labor soon, however probably not before the 21st.
I would speak with her on your concerns, unless theres a problem with you or the baby there is NO reason for induction.
As a postcanidate of inducing labor, I would not suggest it to anyone unless absolutely necessary...thank goodness for epidurals though!

Answer 5

"As with dating the pregnancy, the evidence for inducing labor after a certain time past the due date isn't nearly as clear-cut as you might think, but that's another subject.) If induction were harmless, it wouldn't matter, but it's not. Among other adverse effects, inducing labor increases the odds of fetal distress during labor and cesarean section in first-time mothers, and mistiming the induction can result in a premature baby.

...pregnancy in first-time mothers averaged eight days longer than this, or forty-one weeks plus one day (2). The average was three days longer than forty weeks in women with prior births."

http://parenting.ivillage.com/pregnancy/0,,jb56,00.html

"The Food and Drug Administration and the Physician’s Desk Reference, the bible of information on drugs, recommend against elective inductions.31,35 The FDA “disallows” it; the PDR says, “Since the available data are inadequate to evaluate the benefits-to-risks considerations, Pitocin [the trade name for oxytocin] is not indicated for elective induction of labor.” "

http://www.hencigoer.com/articles/elective_induction/

Etc, etc.

It sure sounds like it's for her convenience. Say no. You don't have to be polite about it, either.

Answer 6

60% means the how much of the cervix covering you have. Just wait and let nature take its course, unless ofcourse you or the baby are in trouble or the baby is a very large baby. Good luck.

Answer 7

Well in my experience the doctor know when the babe will get born, this means that looking the eeg, the amniotic liquic and another standarts, She had decided induced to You to have the babe before the time...maybe because the life of the baby was exposed to danger.

I almost have the same because my babe don´t put his head where must do it!!! Until three days before the date that my Doctor had said he did it!!!!And i don´t had any problem.

Answer 8

I'm being induced in the morning, original due date was the 28th, but the baby is giving me so much back pain its unbelievable! We really cant say if you are ready to be induced.

Answer 9

You need to talk to the doctor - they have their reasons for saying things like this. Don't be afraid to ask questions of the docs, or mid wives. Your doctor know your medical history, we don't.

Answer 10

my last one was 2.5 weeks late and is sooooo cute, labor no problem, no complications and a home birth
in some countries babies arent even due till week 41 so i would wait