What can you tell the doctor to induce your labor?

Answer 1

Answer

Having given birth twice by induction, I can tell you what they did for me.

There are two main ways to induce labor; pitocin given by injection and/or punturing the membrane, also called "breaking the waters". When this is done, surgical utensil shaped like a crochet needle is inserted into the cervix via vaginal canal and tears a small hole in the amniotic sac. This causes the "water to break" and usually induces labor shortly thereafter.

The amniotic sac can and usually does rupture by itself when the fetus is fully grown, but this method was used on me because I was at full-term and any more growth may have resulted in health problems for the baby and I.

Word of advice: If you plan on having an epidural during labor, ask your doctor/midwife/anesthesiologist to get that going BEFORE they induce your labor. When my labor was induced, I went immediately into hard labor (also called 3rd phase) after my membrane sac was ruptured. I was only 4 centimeters dialated and fully effaced. I went from 4 to 8 centimeters within 1 very painful hour. This can be very traumatizing for anyone in their first labor, especially if they had planned on getting an epidural.

I never needed to use pitocin, so you may want to ask your doctor how this process works.

Answer

If you are wanting to be induced before your due date then there is a risk that the baby would be born prematurely. Dates and even ultrasound can sometimes be a little 'off' with accurately dating the age of a pregnancy and/ or baby. 37 weeks is usually the 'official' cut- off point for a pre- term labor but one baby may be mature at this age while another may be immature.It may risk his/her health and even their life if they were induced. It is usually so much better to wait unless there is a good medical reason to induce. Once I was in hospital with a woman who had insisted on an induction because she was so depressed with being pregnant, but she later regretted it. She was more depressed than before and now had an infant in special care as well.
As for full- term inductions, I would heartily second what the first contributor said. Artificially induced labors are so much more difficult to cope with. Most labors are painful but somehow the pain is more vicious and difficult to get on top of. It lacks the rhythm of the natural process. At least, it did for me.

I was induced with both of my children. My first pregnancy went so smoothly that I couldn't wait to do it again before I had even left the hospital. I had gestational Diabetes with both children. Though I didn't have it, high blood pressure may also be another cause to induce labor. With my son, I had low amniotic fluid which the doctor's monitored 2 or more times a week. If it reaches and remains below a certain point, they may induce labor for that reason. It is always safest to push the pregnancy out as close to the due date as possible, but if it becomes medically necessary doctor's may choose to induce. There are many reasons why doctor's would choose to induce labor. If they think the child, or mother's, life or health may be at risk, then they will induce. Inducing labor is not much different from natural labor in that progress can happen in any stage and at any rate. I had two very different outcomes with induction so it varies from person to person and birth to birth.

Answer 2

Doctors will not induce a labour just because you want them to. Unless it is necessary for the health of either mother or child, if the labour should have started, or if the baby is overdue, they will allow the pregnancy to continue its natural course.