Do you know someone that has given birth in the last five years and has not been induced?

Well I gave birth 6 years ago, but I don’t think my doc has changed much. I was not induced and gave birth on the due date.

I think there are many more contributing factors to induction: Birth mom age, baby size, complications, and more.

This better not be common these days, because I just bet, on another thread, that @ItalianPrincess1217’s baby would be two weeks late and if she’s induced, I’m screwed.

My daughter gave birth 6 and 3 years ago and was no induced either time. Of course in Canada, things are not always done for the doctors convenience.

In The Netherlands births are rarely induced. Only when nature doesn’t take its own course.

Maybe I should have specified: within the US.

I don’t think either of my step-grandkids (1 and 3 years old) were induced births. One was a c-section, but it wasn’t a planned one.

My sister in law. She has a 1 year old and a 3 year old. Her first was induced for medical reasons. Her second was a straight forward birth.

If any woman has a doctor that insists on inducing…she should head for the hills, no questions asked. Period. That’s insanity.

I sometimes think women spend more time shopping for a moisturizer than finding a doctor that allows a woman to just give birth as naturally (and as nature) intended. Find a good, sympathetic (woman, possibly) doctor who really listens to your concerns and doesn’t think a round of golf with the internists takes precedence over the health and well-being of your baby.
grrrrrrr

Out of a bunch of friends’ granchildren and younger women I know, I haven’t heard of any inductions, I few women I’ve heard over 35 have been. Maybe it’s an age thing some places. (I was induces 22 years sgo, but it was a high risk pregger and, well, 22 years ago!)

My daughter was born 4 years ago, and the water broke on a Tuesday night, and as of Wednesday night (24 hours later) no contractions. So, yes, they induced it. 24 hours after that she was born. 48 hours after the water broke! No caesarian, but a very tired mommy!

Daughter-in law not induced. I think your data might be skewed.

None of my 6 grand children were induced, but I think I scared my daughters from potocin with horror stories about when my second daughter was born and induced. That was very painful.

@janbb it’s not exactly data, but that’s why I’m asking the question. It did strike me as odd that everyone I know was induced, everyone’s delivery seemed to be scheduled. Then I was told that it’s becoming more common to do exactly that. Pretty scary to consider, so that’s why I was hoping to find that it was less common than it seems in my immediate experience. :)

I was not induced either time but that was because I was knowledgeable about the way doctors medicalize labor to an extreme degree here and I was VERY clear in my birth plan on what they could and couldn’t do, with me. Period.

For the women that I know that have had children in recent years, I’d say that it’s been about 50/50. With that being said, everyone that I know that has been induced has done so because of complications. I just had a baby a little over two months ago and I was induced (at 36 weeks), but it was because of complications. I think a lot of the increase is because of increased monitoring.

If a woman feels like she is being pressured to induce without a medical reason, she really needs to speak up. That being said, I know many women that have tried to get their doctor to induce at a certain time because they wanted to have that control over when their baby would come. So, with increased inductions, it’s hard to say if it doctor driven or patient driven.

@ANef_is_Enuf Are you also counting c-sections as being scheduled births/inductions? I’m just curious since you mentioned how it seems everyone’s birth was scheduled. I know repeat c-sections are often scheduled quite a ways in advance because doctor’s usually have specific days they get the operating room at the hospital for scheduled procedures.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir can you tell me more of what you know or have heard about “the way doctors medicalize labor here?”
@Seaofclouds yes, I am counting c-sections, as well. I don’t know any women my age that have had a child by naturally going into labor and delivering without being induced or without a scheduled cesarean. None.

@ANef_is_Enuf With the c-sections, once the decision has been made that they are going to do that, they often have to schedule it because of access to the OR. The hospital I use to work at had set days that the different OBGYN groups could use the ER for scheduled procedures. My old OBGYN’s office had Wednesdays, my cousins had Mondays, so they had to schedule procedures accordingly.

They also schedule it because if the c-section is being done for medical reasons where it would be unsafe for mom and baby to go into labor naturally, they want to do the c-section before she goes into labor on her own, so they usually schedule those for 38 or 39 weeks, instead of waiting for her to get to 40 weeks.

@Seaofclouds thanks, I understand that. :) I appreciate you explaining, though. I just think that it is interesting that all of the young mothers I know have had scheduled deliveries. I do recognize that c-sections are scheduled for a reason, it just feels strange to me that I don’t know anyone that hasn’t just… “surprise!” had a baby.
Keeping in mind that I’m in my late 20’s, so that’s just about all of my female friends and cousins in my age group. It’s just weird. Then, hearing that it’s becoming common for births to be scheduled so that doctors are able to keep a schedule only makes it seem more unusual. Because what I have been told and what I have seen personally very clearly match up. But, it’s incredibly scary to me that this might really be a growing trend.
I definitely see what you’re saying, though. Thanks again for explaining further.

@ANef_is_Enuf You really don’t want me to go there, lol…it’s one of those topics I’m passionate about. The first time I learned about this new movement was in my history of public health class the first time I was in graduate school. We read quite sinister accounts of male doctors taking over labor and making it into ‘the field of obstetrics’ by very deliberate usurpation of midwives’ services throughout a couple of decades. This accomplished butting women out, making men butt in and making labor into a process that needed to be controlled rather than let unfold. Obstetricians didn’t have much to do so they had to make up things to do to a woman (like induction) so that they can feel like they function. At this point though, I already gave birth to my first child and thankfully I took a class with a progressive child birth educator who let us know about all the ways we can stand up for ourselves and say no to unnecessary interventions. Nonetheless, I was scared into starting pitocin for ‘stronger contractions’ that eventually led to my having no contractions which led to my O.B.‘s inevitable ‘oh you need a c-section’. I said he can go to hell with that notion and to turn off all chemicals coming into my system and that I will deliver this baby only one way and that will be vaginally. They all thought I was crazy but I did it, delivered him without contractions and vaginally. The next time around , after I read many books on the subject, I stayed away from the hospital as much as I could and only came there when it was almost time to give birth. At some point, a new O.B. of mine said the baby’s heartbeat and my heartbeat were too high and he was considering a c-section and, again, I told him he was being ridiculous and that, frankly, I needed him to leave so that I can get some rest which would calm everything down. After trying a few more threats with me (I’m telling you, they learn intimidation techniques as part of their training), he left and I calmed down and so did the baby and I delivered him later vaginally with no problem. Finally, when you compare rates of medical intervention here in the U.S. which includes our ridiculous rate of c-sections (that the mother can now choose to have vs. in an emergency), the numbers are staggering. My mother still doesn’t get it because when she was giving birth, a c-section was literally something so rare, the baby’s head would have to have another attached to it before it would happen. Now, I’ve had many debates with obstetricians on this topic and, of course, there are times when medical intervention is necessary and many lives have been saved of both moms and babies but nobody educates women on what all the interventions are and when they get to the hospital, the towering of nurses and doctors is overwhelming and they just go along with it and think their induction—>c-section is just their situation but, in fact, they are part of a larger pattern. Read here.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Don’t you think part of the reason doctors medically intervene, and harshly try to pursuade women they need the medicine or the procedure, is their fear of lawsuits? CYA. If something goes wrong and the baby suffers, or even the mother for that matter, the mother can turn around and say, well your the doctor, you should have convinced me. I would think they can just chart the mothers refusal? But, I think at least a percentage of all this medical interventage stems from that. I have a friend, her DIL and son were told they have a 5% risk of some sort of thing going wrong, don’t remember what, and they opted for labor and vaginal birth. It went wrong and her child is severly disabled because of the birth process. Wheelchair, feeding tube, very low mental capacity. I gather she would have been a normal bably otherwise. They did not try to sue, but I bet thatdoctor will never again deliver that risk vaginally again. But, having a specific risk like that is different than what you describe.

Also, as you say the doctor needs to be doing something, which I competely agree is part of it, but I also think a lotof patients have an expectation for the doctor to do something. They want the dcotor to help them. And, then there is the group of doctors who just want to control everything, births, when they play golf, when they make rounds, you must fit their schedule.

@JLeslie Of course liability laws and policies have a lot to do with this. Moving this entire process out of the home and into an institution has a lot to do with who has bio-power in society and the biggest holders of such power are medical institutions. As such, institutions are also about business and best business practices.

I was induced 2 and a half years ago. It sucked. My cousin was just induced a few weeks ago. 3 of my friends were induced… Hey. That is weird.

When my baby was born, I had no birth plan. I had no “definitely” or “definitely nots.” My reasoning is that the doctor has been doing this many years, he will go with the flow as to the circumstances that arise. I did not want any risks taken, and I would go with whatever he wanted to do. As in @JLeslie‘s example, the outcome has disastrous potential, so my wants, beliefs, wishes, desires, pain, rights, trends, power play, whatever, was second to my wanting the baby to be ok.

@jca That would be good if only the things some doctors suggest as ‘best’ didn’t put people at risk and the babies at risk. After all, routine c-sections are nothing to sneeze at, they’re serious procedures with a lot more risk and recovery issues. Administration of drugs like epidural and pitocin and dozens of others carry risk, as well. I feel there would be a better balance to the process if mothers were more informed rather than feel that another person knows them best during a crucial period. Doctors’ training exists within a specific era and their knowledge changes decade to decade to reflect something other than objective patterns. Read here and here. Some of the most infuriating moments in my dealing with the second O.B. were when he assumed me as troublesome because I didn’t hang at his every word and every number he threw at me – it’s this notion that mothers have no clue as to what’s going on and should just shut up. Of course, I was a pre-med biology major holding an MPH and I could understand every procedure medically and statistically and could understand every single piece of vocabulary that would go between nurses and doctors, something they don’t expect of a pregnant person so they could have shoved it but how many women know what I knew? It’s amazing that talking about whether or not they have rights within the hospital has most people shaking their heads at my ‘hippie’ nature. Please, wake up, I tell them.

My sister has a nine month old and her labor was not induced.

@SuperMouse in the US, too?

@ANef_is_Enuf yep, right here, smack dab in the middle of the in the good old U.S. of A!

I understand the C section rate is through the roof, and that C sections are often done for the convenience of the doctor. In my case, with water broken Tuesday night, Wednesday night they started the Pit and still no contractions. By Thursday evening, I was asking for a C section, because I was tired and felt I wanted to get it done. I’m sure the doctor, in my case, would have liked to do it and have a guarantee of being home in time for the 11 o’clock news. However, he chose not to go that route. What he actually said was “it’s time you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about the baby.”

So for the stats, they’re sad and unfortunate, but for myself, having an experienced doctor was beneficial (and beneficial he did not listen to me).

One of my nieces has three sons, aged 7 and younger. She had all three of them the old-fashioned way; number two came so fast that he was born on the living room rug.

@jca Hell, if you were asking for a c-section, that’s your choice and at the end of the day, you need to just think about you and your baby. I’m just one of those people that sees myself as pat of a larger amount of people, something happening to me was happening to others. They don’t often tell you that pitocin actually slows labor down for some and that it has different effects for others. Anyway, I’m glad everything was okay and it’s good to trust your doctor. We do have to take a step back sometimes, though, and say ‘why do doctors see a c-section as an option if things are getting too long vs. just keeping the woman laboring’ the way midwives do?’. It’s a perspective shift, basically and they don’t need you staying in the hospital for long – it doesn’t pay, you have to keep beds moving.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir: Yes, definitely. There was something on one of the news magazines (20/20? something like that) that discussed the rate of Pitocin births. C section rates, too, have been common knowledge. I think in the C section rates, it’s definitely due to doctors not wanting to be sued. We can’t blame the C section rate on conveniencing doctors, as others have said, it’s scheduled ahead of time. I see myself as part of a larger amount of people, too, but when it comes to something like this, if the doctor recommended something, and the patient refused, and things turned out badly, the patient has little or no recourse, as it would all be well documented (and the result of that is that we would all be paying for it anyway, as the child would probably be eligible for Medicaid and Social Security Disability).

In my case, I was lucky because I knew the doctor (who was about 60) had tons of experience. I think I made him nervous, though, because when I was asking for the C section, I had an infection at that point (from water being broken over 24 hours) and I asked him “will my temperature affect the baby?” and “I know the baby was fine in all the tests I had.” (my way of telling him that if he didn’t do the C section and there was a problem, he better cross his t’s and dot his i’s). I’m sure in the back of all ob-gyn’s minds is the threat of being sued. That’s why a lot of gyns no longer deliver babies.

My wife went through nursing school almost 5 years ago. At that time she did her labor and delivery rounds in one of the big hospitals in Dallas.

Their induction and C-section rates were so high they jokingly referred to the hospital as “C-Section City”. Their instructors acknowledged it as “something you should consider” when they decided where they wanted to work. The number I heard was 60%, but that could be a guess for all I know.

The medical staff never presents it as “hey, this is just taking too long”... it’s always “we’re worried about the baby”. What new parents wouldn’t do anything to reduce the risk for their new baby? And who wouldn’t trust a staff that has done hundreds of births.

It still feels like something isn’t right. I just can’t see how that many births need to be done via surgery or drugs now when millions and millions of births occurred before either was common practice. Yes I know more mothers and children died during birth back then, but the necessary rates can’t possibly be that high. And why would rates vary so much between hospitals if the need for intervention is so clear cut?

I know it’s a sensitive subject and the last thing I want to do is fault anyone for their personal decisions. I just think people, especially those who are going into the whole process, should know their options and the hospital’s policies so they can ask the right questions and make themselves comfortable with what’s going on.

I’d hate to find out afterwards that I didn’t agree with the policies of the hospital I choose. Not much you can do then.

@jca And yes, you’re right, it also has to do with the larger culture – the more these things are normalized, the more midwives and doulas are seen as ‘alternative’, the more women will be okay with being controlled in this manner. The more will ask for c-sections (with the now popular c-section + tummy tuck) to suit their lives and those who question this will be seen as unruly.

I’m not disputing that all of these cynical reasons are a factor in why doctors induce or do C-sections, but we shouldn’t forget that more women died in childbirth in the past than they do now and part of the reason for greater maternal and fetal health is advances such as C-sections. Let’s not throw the baby (literally) out with the bath water. My doctor suggested a C-section for CPD after 22 hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing; he let me push for another hour because I was doing “so well.” At the end of the third hour, I was glad to have my beautiful guy born by C-section even though it was a disappointment in some ways.

@janbb I don’t think anyone was throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I, for one, am advocating knowledgeable moms and for midwives to be covered by insurance companies. And for all of our ‘advancement’ in obstetrics, we’re here.

That article made me wonder if there should have been more to my question, still. Not only in the US, but also the health insurance status of the mother. Just thinking quickly in my head, most of the young mothers that I know are or were on medicaid or something similar when they gave birth. We live in a particularly poor area of the country, and our direct area was in an economic depression long before the recession. I wonder if this “trend” is more common in areas with higher rates of poverty.

Just a guess, of course. I have no information to back that up… just pondering.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I agree with what you’re saying just want to make the point that all childbirths are different and that there are times when C-sections are necessary. I do think that knowledgeable moms who are informed about the various options are crucial and midwifery should definitely be covered.

Just to clarify my point (it was late when I wrote)...what I meant to say was…that if a woman is healthy and a baby is healthy and the inducement of labor is simply for convenience (not to save the mother or baby) then….it’s absolute madness.

“A surgical birth can bring in twice the revenue of a vaginal delivery” from here, thanks to casheroo.

More and more provinces are funding midwives. Our province did in 2008 and all my friends flocked to midwives.

I had an awesome doctor for the birth of my first and second. My first was induced at 37 weeks because I developed really high blood pressure. She let me labour over 3 days and push for 3 and ½ hours because I was/am extremely anti-cesarean. I don’t think I’ve ever been that tired.

When I was pregnant with my second I went 10 days overdue. My doctor decided to do a gel induction. That was done in her office and I went off to finish up my shopping. I was scheduled for second gel induction 6 hours later but by the time that happened I was in full-blown labour.

I hated my third child’s birth (new city new doctor). I was hooked up to pictocin and my labour spaced out and they weren’t happy so they upped the dose and suddenly I was in a transition like labour but only dilated 3cm. I had an epidural and my labour stopped. They cranked the pitocin even more. The nurses left me alone for about an hour and when they came back I was completely dilated. They got mad at me because I didn’t ring them.

Pitocin messed everything up in that delivery.

If I were to have another baby I would definitely go with a midwife.

I’ve read articles based on studies of c-sections in very populated cities and not so populated cities. What the study found was that the quieter a maternity ward the more c-sections were performed. That’s counter to what you’d think would go on.

When I was having children, the CSection rate was 25%. Now it’s 30% but the Apgar rates have gone down and the maternal death rates have gone up. I live in the USA. Yes, it’s over managed, moms and babies are hurt, and it’s a mess. Don’t get me started.

@snowberry not to be a pain, but I wish you would get started. I get the impression that this isn’t being discussed nearly enough. I’d really love to hear any input you might have, if you’re willing to share.

Nope. My friend A. has had two births in the last couple years. The first was with a midwife, and the second was in the hospital, but was a preemie that surfed out on her fluids in a matter of 20 minutes.

Yes I have the birth records of both my children and neither had labor induced and for each I am sure for unique reasons, though I adopted both of them they both had medical issues at birth so birth was a more difficult event that inducing labor could have made worse.

Just to be clear, the person I know with the disabled grandaughter, her DIL was told of possible complications before she ever went into labor. She made the decision with all of the information, it was just one of those things.

I wonder if more c-sections have been necessary also because babies are bigger than back in the day? Although, mostly I think the doctors do interfere with the process when they shouldn’t. I hear a lot of stories like @tranquilsea where the mother hated getting pitocin, and had other children to compare deliveries; or, moms who did it all natural with one, and drugged up with others, and much preferred natural, especially the pushing part went much faster. I have one girlfriend whp did both babies natural, but with her first the doctor said at one point, “ok, ready to push?” She figured she was supposed to so she started pushing. With her second, she told the doctor, “I need to push.” she realizes now the doctor did not wait to see if she would want to push without being told. The second baby delivered much faster. I am not sure how my girlfriend didn’t know she would most likely develop a need to push, we see it on TV right? And, I am sure she read a bunch of stuff, she is like that, but she, during her labor, went with what the doctor said because she trusted him, he had been understand about every other desire she had regarding her pregnancy, labor and delivery. Understandable. If she ever had a third she would wait for the feeling again, at least wait a little while, even when the doc says she is fully dialated etc.

@JLeslie my grandfather was 14lbs in 1917, and his brother was 16lbs. Just sayin’.

@ANef_is_Enuf I’m curious, were all of the woman you know that were induced early or late? I know a lot of first time moms that ended up being induced because of going passed their due date as well. Because of newer research about the possibility of the placenta failing after a woman’s due date, most doctor’s don’t want to go more than 2 weeks passed the due date (so they end up scheduling an induction during the 40th or 41st week).

I’ve been induced twice now. Both times I was induced at 36 weeks and both were because of complications (pre-eclampsia the first time and placenta failure, IUGR, and no amniotic fluid the second time). Neither one was planned or scheduled though. In both situations, I went in for an appointment and the decision to induce was made right then and there because of the complications.

Early. Some were scheduled ahead of time, and others were decided a day or two before due to complications. One of the more recent births was induced, and then ended with an emergency c-section. I can’t think of any that were induced because they were past the due date, but I know that is common.

@ANef_is_Enuf I do know that had my cousin’s mother been induced for him so he would have been on time or remotely on time his legs wouldn’t have bowed in the womb and he wouldn’t have needed the special braces on his legs that he had to wear for most of his life. He still has issues walking and has a limp as a result. So inducing labor does prevent issues to the child, its not to keep the doctor all in check with his golf game.

@creative1 I didn’t mean to insinuate that labor never needs to be induced. Sorry if it came off that way, that wasn’t at all what I meant.

Just for full disclosure, all three of my own children were induced early, due to the health risks for me (kidney disease). That was 17, 15, and 13 years ago.

@ANef_is_Enuf I know your point was the rise in it but I wanted to make a point that years ago it wasn’t used enough where they were doing children an injustice just waiting for nature to take its course. I am on the page to try to wait for nature but if there is health risk for either mom or baby I am all for induction.

My sister’s first baby was a c-section because the doctor did have a social function he wanted to get to. So, it does happen.

My Kristen just had James, and he came all on his own. :D
Jenny had Cynthia without being induced.
Hayley had Jordan, without being induced.
Kayla had a C-section with Emma. D:
^^ All the births I know.

A friend of mine did it 100% naturally. No drugs or anything. She’s kind of a badass.

@incendiary_dan, ouch!
When I have a kid it’s gonna be like “Doctor, just so we’re clear… I want drugs. I want massive amounts of drugs. I want the maximum legal limit of drugs.”

All right, @ANef_is_Enuf I’m started. This is a long, complex, and very controversial topic. We are talking about our children here, and anytime you do that, emotions run high. I can only speak from my own experience, what I know from conversations with people in the past, and my home birth books. The rest of it is available on the internet, or any number of books and experts. You can also find experts and statistics that will support either side of the topic, which makes it even more controversial.

It is also important to remember that medicine is big business- not a very present thought, but it IS a reality- especially when you consider that medicine and related support industries make up one third of our economy. This, among other things, drives law making, which limits child birth options from year to year and state to state.

I advocate and respect a woman right to give birth where ever she chooses, so if you don’t agree with me, I can accept that, but don’t flame me for making the choices I have and saying the things I am about to say. With each pregnancy I spent just about the entire time researching, prayerfully considering my options, and planning my labor and delivery. I fully took responsibility for the outcome- good or bad- that might come from my actions.

I’ll start by giving a bit of background. I have 5 children, and 4 of them were born at home, including a set of twins. One was born at a birth center. As soon as many people hear home birth, they tend to say, “Oh, I could have never done that! My baby would have died!” or “I would have died!” It’s not that cut and dried. A labor and delivery at home is managed completely, I mean completely differently than the same labor and delivery at a hospital would be, and as a result the outcomes are predictably different. My first pregnancy, my OB/GYN doctor told me I would never be able to give birth vaginally (because my ischial spines http://home.comcast.net/~wnor/pelvis.htm were too long). I found a new doctor immediately because he had already determined the outcome of my pregnancy.

I have a few midwifery and childbirth books from the ‘80’s. Some may give me statistics from back then, but it will be time consuming to read through my stuff to get the information that might interest you. In the meantime, toss me questions, and I’ll try to answer them the best I can.

My best friend is due to have her baby with a midwife in October. She’s probably going to have the baby at home because her last labour was so fast she nearly didn’t make it to the hospital. She researched the safety of home births up the ying yang for obvious reasons. What she told me was that the infant mortality of both hospitals and home births were relatively the same. Babies and mothers sometimes die in both scenarios but for very different reasons. Babies and mothers are more likely to die from infections in the hospital. And I can’t remember the most common reason babies and mothers die in home births. Probably the same things that have been killing us for a millennia.

@snowberry….I lurve you! Good for you doing what you did!

I also tried to give birth at home, but went into premature labor…so I had to go to the hospital. However, I had an OB/GYN that I had selected who really believed in as little interference as possible with a mother’s natural birth rhythms. They let me labour in a “home birth” room which was outfitted like a bedroom, so that helped. However, if I would have had my druthers, I would have had the baby at home or had a water birth.

My grandson was born 2 years ago, my daughter was assisted by a midwife in a birthing center. She was not induced.

@incendiary_dan 3 of my children were born 100% naturally. No drugs or anything. Does that make me a badass too? I kind of hope you think so. ;)

@ANef_is_Enuf Your great grandmother had gestational diabetes most likely. Actually, to contradict myself I remember reading somewhere that in the US the last few years the birth weight trend has gone down after increasing for many decades, but there are so many things that affect borth weight, I probably should not have raised the issue. Height of parents, medical care, medicines ability to maintain troubled pregnancies, all sorts of reasons.

All three of mine were vaginal births, no epidurals. The first two were induced in a gentle way (gel on the cervix, and breaking my water), but I ended up also needing pitocin for the third (which sucked). The first was attended by an OB/GYN and the last two were attended by midwives.