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Childbirth: A Case against elective inductions |
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by Kristen  (October 2006) (rank 58th) |
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This morning I got a call from a friend to say that her daughter had given birth to a brand new baby boy. There had been great drama involving the birth because her daughter was concerned that she would go into labor during heavy traffic times and that it may
take 2 to 3 hours to get to the hospital. This of course was a worse case scenario but she attempted to get her doctor to do an elective induction 3 weeks before she was due. The doctor refused but agreed to induce her 2 weeks before her due date.
What is an elective induction? An elective induction is when the doctor sends a woman into labor through drugs by the choice of the woman delivering and without any medical cause. This is not to be confused with inductions scheduled for women with potential problems regarding size or physical condition of their baby or health issues for the pregnant woman.
So what's wrong with elective induction? It would be nice to know exactly when you are going to have your baby and be able to plan in advance. However there were some downsides and complications that resulted in this situation.
- You may be in labor for much longer than you anticipated. My friend's daughter was in labor for 36 hours. The doctors spent the first 18 hours trying to get her body to go into contractions and even with chemical inducement, she had minimal contractions.
- If your baby is not ready to come out, you may reach a "stalemate" where your body refuses to cooperate. My friend's daughter finally started to have contractions but she failed to dialate past 7 cm for a very long time. The doctors became concerned because chemical intervention was not even working.
- The doctors may need to go to extreme measures that may not have been necessary if you had waited to go into labor. After having no contractions, the doctors decided to break the woman's water. This is an "encouragement" for the body to begin contractions. She did have contractions then, but not very strong ones. The doctors were forced to give her even stronger medication to induce contractions.
- Once the clock starts ticking, you may be forced into a situation that you have to get a c-section. In the United States, doctors have a rule that if a baby is not delivered within 24 hours of a woman's water breaking, the baby usually is delivered by surgery. Because the woman was not having contractions, the doctors "started the clock" and broke her water. She then had the added stress of performing in the specified period of time or being subjected to unwanted surgery.
- Your baby's lungs are still developing in the final stages of gestation. An elective induction uses chemicals to send you into labor and may place your baby in a situation that forces his birth before he is ready.
Even though Hollywood is making it popular to "plan your birth," it is important to think about the ramifications of making those choices. Some people give birth early to very healthy happy babies. Some people have elective inductions and have absolutely none of the effects mentioned above. But it certainly is something to think about and it doesn't seem to be information that doctors are quick to offer without being asked. Being informed is important.
