Are there any major complications to induction?

would agree with nicolejoy - my first babies head was SO big i should have either been induced / had a c-section but my doc was on "holiday" and the substitute doctor "asked me" if I wanted an induction - and being my 1st baby, i had not planned on my doc not being there as i told her "do anything necessary to ensure that my baby is fine" - when you are lying there on the bed trying to push, at least with me, all i could remember was the prenatal classes i took that told me all the negatives of induction and so of course i said NO to the induction- in the end my baby was in NICU for 10 days at QMH though she was born at Matilda, and was on a life saving machine for 3 of those days as critical....what i just want to make sure is that you tell the doctor that if "induction" is best then do it - of course, do more research, but when you're in labour you have a tendency to forget - let your husband know, write it down on your birth so you don't have to be asked when you are not in the right frame of mind.
 
To answer your question I labored for 7 hours after induction, and the epidural probably wore off at some point but they topped it off as they said it should wear off by the time it was ready to push, and it didn't. :P Sounds like other people labored 6 hours from induction, so that's a similar time frame. It took me longer I think to push the baby out due to the fact that I couldn't feel the contractions due to the overdose of epidural. My doc induced me because my waters had broken prematurely during the pelvic exam, and they worry about infection if you don't go into labor naturally after that, which I didn't.
 
THanks all for the helpful replies. The Dr said the main reason for recommending induction is although baby's head is average, relative to my pre-pregnancy 107 LB 5'2" frame, going past 41 weeks might be tough if baby's head gets bigger. Last 3 weekly appts and no more growth in the size of baby's head or weight and the weight estimate now is 3.2 KG w/c i think i can manage. Also he mentioned meconium as a possible risk if the baby stays longer than 41 wks. We are scheduled to induce at 40.5 wks, but I DO fear an emerg C and would rather wait if we are not yet ready.
 
If you would rather wait, then refuse the induction - or schedule it more like at 42 weeks when they do it in many other countries. 40.5 weeks isn't "overdue" by hardly anyone's definition!! Of course if that's what you want, then by all means go ahead and do it. I'm just saying this because in your post, you sound like you would rather not induce at 40.5 weeks, even though it's been scheduled...
 
3.2 kg is a totally average 7-lb baby. and 5'2" / 107 lbs is not particularly small for a HK woman.
.5 weeks sounds ridiculous. what's that? 3.5 days?
did you ask him why he doesn't do it at 41 / 41.5 / 42 weeks? is it for a dire medical emergency? or just scheduling convenience / being overly cautious?
just curious -- are you at public or private?
 
It does sound a little like your doctor is trying to 'scare' you into an induction. Ohhh, you're small, baby's big, risk of merconium etc... is he putting the other point of view to you at all. i.e. that waiting until At Least 41 weeks is most likely to result in natural labour which will be better for you and for baby (as shown by the SMH article above). Also that the risk of merconium being in the amniotic fluid is small, is most likely to happen when the baby is stressed during labour which induction wouldn't avoid if it's going to happen at all, plus the baby is not necessarily going to have any ill effects from aspirating merconium. As I said my baby was two weeks 'late' and he did aspirate merconium, was born, threw up a lot the first night and was fine.

I'm not saying you should or shouldn't induce, the decision has to be yours but your doctor seems very keen on persuading you?
 
personally had a horrible experience with merconium aspirtation where my daughter was in NICU in critical condition for 3 days due to that...all i know is that my 2nd doctor said that i should have had the baby 1.5 hrs earlier than i did and the whole trauma would have been avoided...don't know what that means in terms of meconium aspiration - but that really is not to be taken lightly. anyhow, just ask your doctor about the amniotic fluid each time and that should be a good indicator....also, if you need another opinion RE induction perhaps you can search the web to see what others think to decide for yourself (and not be led to do it by doctor for non-medical reasons)....
 
Sorry, leslie, I really wasn't meaning to make light of merconium aspiration, I know it can be serious and I can't imagine how horrible it was to have your little one in NICU. I was just trying to illustrate that the doctor can't really cite it as a reason to induce at 40.5 weeks without some more information to back that up. As you say, the OP probably needs to get more information.
 
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