One Of My Least Favorite Pregnancy Questions AND Some Thoughts On Inducing Labor:

When are you due?

I hate this question.

I mostly hate this question because (no matter who you are) if you're pregnant and people think you're supposed to be smaller than you are, and you say, "I've got Six weeks left!" they usually reply with, "REALLY? ARE YOU SURE!" or my personal favorite, which someone said to me this weekend, "Are you sure you aren't having twins!?" It's like, seriously? Who says this to a pregnant woman?

This time around, when people ask me when this baby is due or how far along I am, I simply reply,

"Who knows! Whenever the baby decides to make it's grand entrance!!"

"Only a few more weeks!"

or "Yep, I'm about to POP any minute! Watch your shoes. My water might burst all over em!"

Then I hold my belly and chuckle like Santa as loudly and obnoxiously as I can.

I don't know when I'll have this baby. I sure hope I don't stay pregnant forever. The goal is for our child to walk down the stage during graduation OUT of my stomach! That's the goal. I'd like he/she to come out before the age of 18. That'd be great.

I was at a VBAC birth circle last week listening to other woman share their birth stories. I was encouraged to listen to how they were able to birth vaginally after having had a previous cesarean and was relieved to know that it's normal to go well past my due date. One lady finally went into labor at 42 weeks, the other went into labor at 43 weeks (both delivered with my midwife). Their advice was to totally throw my due date out the window. One girl shared her birth story (which ended in a cesarean) and shared the pressure she felt to deliver her baby at 40 weeks because her doctor said that she had no choice, he was inducing her at 40 weeks because after that point, the baby is in "danger".

When did we subscribe to this thinking that our babies and our bodies don't know how to birth without synthetic drugs? This topic angers me so much mostly because I was forced by my doctor to induce labor with Conrad and knowing what I know now about inducting, I credit my induction to my emergency cesarean.

Instead of getting anxious about going over my due date, or wondering when the baby will come, I've been trying to say affirming statements about birth to myself.
-God has equipped me to birth this baby. My baby will be the perfect size to fit.
-The baby will come when it is ready to come.
-My body will nurture this baby until it is ready to arrive.
-There is no reason to stress over when it will come.
-Trust your body, trust God, trust your baby.

"Inducing labor means to force it to begin. It is sometimes necessary when the continued pregnancy itself is a threat to the mother's life, as in the case of a diabetic mother whose pregnancy is too stressful, aggravating the diabetes into a life threatening situation. This would be a medical reason and the proper use of induction. Such cases are rare. (There has been a dramatic rise in the labor induction rate in the last 15 years. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the rate of inductions was 9.5% in 1990. In 2003, the rate more than doubled to reach 20.6%. Imagine where it is now! The world health organization suggests a rate no higher than 10% induction, world wide.)

The majority of inductions are done today for what can only be termed "frivolous" or very questionable reasons. Induction for convenience or because the woman has gone past her "due date" with no other medical reason for induction is highly questionable and oftentimes dangerous.

Forcing labor to Begin is usually a rough business for the woman. An artificial hormone, contracting the uterus, is dripped into her arm intravenously.

The effect it can have on the uterine muscles is alarming. Your own natural hormone contracts the long muscles of the uterus progressively from the top downward toward the cervix in a wave like action. The contraction builds slowly to a peak of it's strength.

Induction can cause violent contractions which make the muscles contract all over at once. It feels like a big crunch. It feels stronger and it cuts the uterus off from circulation longer than nature intended. That blood supply to the uterus is also the baby's oxygen supply.

(No wonder babies often times don't react well to induction and need to be delivered another way....)

A forced labor is an extremely hard labor. It is difficult for the two of you to work with it. The woman in a forced labor often starts with a self doubt emotional signpost and stays that way for the entire labor (this was my experience with Conrad.) She is apt to feel overwhelmed. If both of you are looking forward to an unmediated, enjoyable labor experience, then you should know that an induced labor makes your goal difficult. Most woman feel it is an extremely painful experience.

Induction is a risky business. " Natural Birth The Bradley Way.

And people often look at me like I've got a third eye when I say I'm opting not to birth in a hospital, or with the help of drugs. I've been there with an induced labor and it's not pretty. 13 hours on pitocin without an epidural. I'll take all of the pain in the world over my previous situation!

HAZARDS OF LABOR INDUCTION:

First-time mothers have approximately twice the likelihood of cesarean section with induction compared with natural onset of labor. This risk is due to the procedure itself, not any reason that might have led to inducing labor. Inducing labor at 41 weeks in a hypothetical population of 100,000 first-time mothers will result in somewhere between 3,700 and 8,200 excess cesareans and cost an extra $29 to $39 million.

Women who have had prior vaginal births may increase their chances of cesarean section five-fold if the cervix is not ready for labor, and they are given cervical ripening agents. Inducing 100,000 hypothetical women with prior births at 41 weeks will result in between 100 and 2,300 excess cesareans and cost an extra $25 to $26 million.

All induction agents can cause uterine hyper stimulation (contractions too long, too strong, and too close together and higher baseline muscle tension). Uterine hyper stimulation can cause fetal distress. This means that, paradoxically, inducing labor because of concern over the baby’s condition may cause the very problem the induction was intended to forestall while the baby might have tolerated natural labor.

Induction of labor involves the need for other interventions — IV drip, continuous electronic fetal monitoring, usually confinement to bed — that also can have adverse effects.

Rupturing fetal membranes, a routine component of labor induction, can cause fetal distress and increases the likelihood of cesarean section. It may also precipitate umbilical cord prolapse (a life-threatening emergency for the baby in which the umbilical cord slips down into the vagina). Forty percent of all full term births involving cord prolapse were induced labors, rising to nearly 50% of births involving prolapse at 42 weeks or more.

Induced labors are usually more painful, which can increase the need for epidural analgesia. Epidurals introduce a higher probability of a host of adverse effects on the labor, the baby, and the mother.

Women with prior cesarean sections have a slightly increased probability of the scar giving way with Pitocin (oxytocin) induction (8 per 1,000 vs 5 per 1,000 with spontaneous labor onset) and greatly increased risk when prostaglandins (24 per 1,000) are used for cervical ripening or induction. Prostaglandins include Cytotec (misoprostol), Prepidil (prostaglandin E2), and Cervidil (prostaglandin E2).

Pretty interesting stuff right?

In all honesty, I was really hesitant to break up with my doctor, which is why it took me so long to switch over to my midwife at 20 weeks. When my doc said he had planned to induce me a week before my due date because he was going on vacation, I decided that my intuition about birth was going to be thrown out the window and I needed to RUN! With all of his vast knowledge, and his lack of patience, he had his own agenda to keep to. Whatever I had planned or hoped for, was the least of his worries.

Going "natural" for me, is not about how tough I am or about proving a point, it is more about not being induced with synthetic drugs. I don't want any kind of restriction at all to prevent me from having the freedom I feel is necessary to labor the way I want, this time around.

With that being said, LOTS OF WOMAN get induced every single day and have wonderful, enjoyable labors. But then there are woman like me, who didn't.

I'm being very conscious not to cling too tightly or have any expectations at all about my "due date" and trust my baby to come when it comes. To enjoy the last few weeks of pregnancy and not to agonize over the days passing or counting down the days until I have my baby. I'm finding much more comfort this time around in knowing that there isn't a day to watch.

But when my friend said to me recently, "You've only got about 4-6 weeks left to go...."

I was like, "Oh god, you're right! What if this baby is stubborn and comes at 42ish weeks....?!"

God help me!