Journey Birth Suport: Inducing Labor

Talking about birth all the time seems to bring up a lot of personal stories. Women love to share their birthy world stories. As a doula in training, people love to ask me about the birth of my son and they wonder if I had a natural birth. Unfortunately, I developed preeclampsia. I was on bedrest for 2 months and my labor was induced. I was strapped to a bed with 7 different kinds of medical interventions and it took over 2 days before Logan was born. My story is special and everything went well. The induction was necessary because of my high blood pressure, but what about other women? Are inductions overused today?

Under some circumstances induction is absolutely called for and will improve the outcome for the mother and baby. Unfortunately, when it’s not necessary, induction can actually have the opposite effect. This blog is about educating women and helping them understand the need to ask questions. We want to stop the unnecessary inductions and let labor begin naturally. According to research, the number of inductions being done in the United States is steadily rising.

Let’s explain some of the risks involved with inducing labor. Oxytocin or prostaglandins occasionally cause contractions that come too frequently or are abnormally long and strong. This in turn may stress your baby. In rare cases, prostaglandins or oxytocin also cause placental abruption or even uterine rupture, although ruptures are extremely rare in women who've never had a c-section or other uterine surgery.[1]

With labor induction and the increased risk of c-section, you’re creating large problems and making all sorts of extra medical interventions necessary. A medical induction with oxytocin requires an intravenous fluid (IV) and continuous electronic fetal monitoring. The woman is now considered high-risk, and over-stimulation of the uterus with oxytocin or even induction by cervical agents can cause more fetal problems than if she were in spontaneous labor. And she’s now stuck in bed, which leads to abnormal labor progress and makes her more likely to have a c-section. She’s also more likely to require an epidural, which gives effective pain relief, but causes a need for more oxytocin, so labor will be prolonged by three to four hours. The epidural also decreases her ability to push, so she’s more likely to need vacuum extraction and forceps, there’s more perineal trauma, and again, a c-section is more likely. Induction changes everything.[2]

To keep mother and baby healthy, it is best to let labor begin naturally. You can continue your regular daily walking or light activity, but there are no home remedies that are proven 100% effective in starting labor. Remember, when the baby and your body are ready, labor will begin.