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If you’ve been booked for a routine induction (or if you have requested one), consider why you are doing this. Is it because you want to ensure that your baby stays healthy and well, or is it because you want to reduce your risk of c section or is it because you are simply tired of being pregnant and you just want to meet your baby!
Research shows routine induction of labour at 39 weeks offers no improved health benefits to you or your baby (ARRIVE study).
Routine induction of labour at 41 weeks may offer more benefits to your baby than induction of labour at 42 weeks.
In their guidelines, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists suggest induction of labour should be offered at 42 – 42.6 weeks if mother and baby are well and at 41.4 weeks for a planned VBAC
After the ARRIVE study was published they stated it was reasonable to offer elective induction to low risk first time mothers at 39 weeks provided the following considerations were adhered to:
1. The woman’s wishes were considered as a primary driver of how care would unfold.
2. That there was adequate staffing and resources to ensure full support for an induction and labour that might take up to 3 days.
3. That there was a clear protocol for the definition of FAILED induction which included a 24 hour plus allocation for early labour, and that syntocinon can be given for 12 to 18 hours after breaking the mothers waters.
If you are facing a medically necessary induction, then the benefits of birth outweigh the possible risks. Go into your induction prepared with a support system in place.
For the majority of people the safest way to give birth is waiting for it to begin spontaneously and trusting the process will unfold at its own pace. If complications arise then we can make use of modern obstetrics to provide medical support.
Listen in to find out all of the risks of routine induction
Would you like to support women at the end of pregnancy when the pressure of routine induction becomes extreme? Would you like to offer women continuity of support in their pregnancy, labour birth and beyond? If so then maybe my doula training is for you. Find out more here or email me at drkrysia@gmail.com