Sunday, January 24, 2010

Journal of Perinatal Education: Saying No to Induction

Check out this awesome article!

The Journal of Perinatal Education: Saying "No" to Induction

This is really good stuff:

"The Listening to Mothers survey reported that almost 50% of the women surveyed had their labors induced (Declercq, Sakala, Corry, Applebaum, & Risher, 2002). Physicians are astonishingly up-front in discussing how much more efficient scheduled inductions (and scheduled cesareans) are. They claim that women will not have to worry about middle-of-the-night births and that hospital staffing and bed turnover can be better managed. Both physicians and women seem to be comfortable with “intervention-intensive” labor and birth.

"Women are between a rock and a hard place. It is so easy to be seduced into believing that the baby is ready for birth. It is also frightening to hear the physician talk about a too-large baby or a possible medical problem. In the first instance, potential problems are brushed aside; in the second instance, problems are suggested where none are likely to exist. In both cases, pregnant women do not have the full information required for making a truly informed decision.

"To make an informed decision—either informed consent or informed refusal—women need to know the value of waiting for labor to start on its own. The last days and weeks of pregnancy are vitally important for both the mother and her baby. The end of pregnancy is as miraculous as its beginning. It's a lot easier to say “no” to induction if the mother knows the essential and amazing things that are happening to prepare her body and her baby for birth."

Among others, there is an awesome section on the risks of unnecessary induction, most of which are not presented to women when they are being unnecessarily induced.

Check it out!

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