Are there any major complications to induction?

S

shakeshack

Registered User
Saw dr for week 39 visit and we were recommended induction at week 40 if we are still pregnant. I'm all for it bec the risk of emergency c section if baby gets too big for me to push sounds worse than inducing natural labor. Any risks to the induction drugs? The medicine dr mentioned is different from the us ones.
 
Your doctor should be able to tell you about the comprehensive risks, so definitely ask her/him. That being said, if it is a routine induction and you will want an epidural then they will recommend you go on that at the same time, as being induced can kickstart you into a much more active (ie painful) stage of labor and so you will want to already be numb. One potential risk then is getting the right amount of epidural - for me, by the time I was ready to push I still couldn't feel anything, so had to be coached on when it was time, and therefore it took a really long time and was quite frustrating. But since I didn't feel labor pains I can't quite complain, either!
 
I was induced at 38 weeks for medical reasons and had an epidural, but I didn't keep topping it up towards the end so that I could feel to push the baby out.
Labour was 6 hours from induction to birth and the pushing stage was maybe 20 mins. It was my first baby. The pushing stage was a little painful but I think it is better to feel what was going on.
There are risks with any medical procedure so ask your doctor to confirm them with you and ultimately you and your doctor can decide whether induction or waiting for labour to start on it's own is the option with the least risks.
 
If you're worried about emergency C section, do not induce thinking that you will avoid that. Inductions have a significantly higher rate of failure than one that is not induced - so chances are you will be MORE likely to need an emergency C section because your body is just not ready yet. Also the one thing that determines whether or not vaginal birth will be possible or not is the size of the head, not the weight of the baby. And I don't think that the size of the head is HUGELY larger at week 41 than it is at week 42.

Other "complications" the risk of the baby being not yet ready and needing special care/NICU after birth, a more painful delivery, etc...

PERSONALLY I wouldn't recommend induction if it was not medically necessary, or if it was not for "good reason" such as the father leaving on military duty or something like that... Although my 2nd daughter was induced at 41 weeks - mostly because I'd had a very stressful pregnancy and wanted my mum to be around for the birth - and at the time, she was due to leave in about 5 days... Ultimately it's your choice - but don't be pressured by your doctor. Of course your doctor would prefer you to be induced, it's much easier to schedule it in if you plan it in advance. But do the research and make up your own mind based on your circumstances :)
 
As others have mentioned you need to ask your doctor about the risks; ironically one of the main risks of induction is an increased need for an emergency caesarian. Just be aware that in HK most doctors want to induce much earlier than would happen in a lot of other countries - 40 weeks is still early as all due dates are an estimate and different people have different gestation lengths. So your normal may be 41 weeks and you would go into labour naturally at that time.
Your baby is ready when it is ready and just because you go past your due date doesn't mean your baby will be too big, in fact it is unlikely although for some reason lots of doctors here seem to suggest otherwise.

For what it's worth i have had two inductions, the first because labour started and my waters broke but they then stopped and hadn't restarted after 12 hours; so i was given syntocin via a drip.(Baby was 40 + 4) Labour definitely came on quite hard and fast but I was able to labour without pain relief for 6 hours or so and that was with contractions every minute after about the first half hour. I ended up having an epidural due to forceps delivery (was prepped for an emergency caesar but luckily wasn't needed) after pushing for 2.5 hours.

Second time baby was 41+3 and i was induced from scratch, my cervix was already open so didn't need any gel but they broke my waters and put me on syntocin drip. This time labour escalated much more normally (I had been having contractions for weeks and it was 2nd time) and was shorter. Managed without any pain relief and baby was 4.5kgs (10 lbs) and had no problems pushing him out.

I think the closer you are to going into labour naturally the better as even if you are induced your baby and body are ready to birth, so please ask your doctor about this too (and make sure he is not recommending induction to fit you into his schedule!)
 
What Nicole said, I wouldn't do an induction at 40 weeks unless medically necessary. It's much better to go into labour naturally when both you and the baby are ready if at all possible. My son was born naturally at 41 weeks and 5 days and was 50th percentile weight and length, the due date is just an indication of when you might give birth not a deadline to give birth by and some babies need a bit longer to mature.

Do some research as I suspect that an induced birth is more likely to end up in an emergency c-section than a natural labour past 40 weeks. I would make another appointment with your doctor and get him to explain why he thinks an induction at 40 weeks is medically necessary, it may be good medical advice for your particular case or something he is recommending for his own convenience?
 
In Canada, and many Western European countries, they only induce "late" babies at about 42 weeks. The due date is only a rough estimate. It's not like a baby that is 40 weeks and 2 days is really much later.

I think in HK doctors are just too eager to medicalize everything. I've heard of HK mothers who wanted natural births, but were frightened into C-sections / inductions because their babies were too big. But their babies ended up at very normal weights, like 7 lbs.
 
At my appointment one day before my due date, my obgyn said she can induce me if I wanted, because from that point on it was a 'waiting game.' I was only 1cm dilated but she said cervix was ripe for induction. I said I would think about it. The baby came on her own less than 24 hours later.

Also, the ultrasound measured my baby to be over 8.5lbs at that point, and my baby was only 7 lbs at birth.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

About this archive

This is an archive of over 20 years of GeoBaby and GeoSchools knowledge and discussions, kept online as a read-only reference.

Back
Top