The Snowball Effect of Inducing Labor - Natural Lullabies Newsletter Archives

Natural Lullabies Newsletter Archives
September 2004

The Snowball Effect of Inducing Labor

by Melissa Morrill, AAHCC

It is happening more and more to pregnant women. It could be considered a very normal "procedure", since the labor induction rate has more than doubled from 1989 to 2001¹. Nearly half of the women in a 2002 survey reported having their labor artificially stimulated.

Risks of Inducing Labor

First-time mothers have approximately twice the likelihood of a C-section¹ of induced labor as compared with spontaneous labor.
Induced labors can be more painful.
Induced labors can result in a premature baby (a baby who is not fully developed).
Induced labors cause the need for more interventions (IVs, continuous fetal monitoring, etc.)
Induced labors can cause problems such as uterine hyperstimulation (which can cause fetal distress).
Women are left believing that their bodies are not able to birth a baby.
Induced labor is often more traumatic on fetus' because the strength of the contractions are unnaturally strong.

As a proponent of natural childbirth, I often have to go back to the roots of how our bodies are designed. Then, I look at all the "interventions" we do to start, stop, speed up, or slow down labor to make it go the rate we want it to. I continually ask myself over and over again, what benefits do we receive to induce (start) or augment (speed up) labor? Here are a few popular medical reasons used to induce labor:

Passing the Due Date
Inducing at Full Term
Inducing for a suspected big baby
Elective Induction of Labor (inducing for no known medical reason)

Passing the due date or inducing at Full Term (40 weeks): There are many problems with this concept. First of all, how accurate our the due dates? Secondly, do we REALLY expect all babies (even with a very accurate due date) to be born at the exact same time? How can we make this expectation for humans when we do not even do that for animals? Additionally, the 40 week time frame was actually proven to be wrong by a Harvard Study in 1993. This study proved that normal low-risk pregnancies in first time mothers actually were 41 1/7 weeks long. This is 8 days past the 40 day time frame that we are all given.

Inducing for a suspected big baby: This is a problem mostly because we cannot tell the size of babies with 100% accuracy. Using a fundal measurement or using ultrasound have been disproved as a device to tell the exact size of babies. Another problem with this, is that for thousands of years we have been delivering big babies vaginally. I have students deliver 9 and 10 pounds babies unmedicated time and time again with no problem. Actually, I had a student who delivered a 10+ pound baby in 5 minutes with no problems!

Elective Induction of Labor: This poses the possibility of many risks without having a reason for it. This is usually done out of convenience for the mother, family, doctors, midwife, etc. This is accepted and even promoted in many doctor's offices and hospitals around the country. It questions our human race and the ability for us to continue reproducing without the help from a medical expert.

There are many more reasons for induction, however, these seem to keep appearing more and more with my students. I continually receive calls from students approaching their due date or a few days past their due date and they are being pressured to induce labor. As a natural childbirth expert, I believe that Dr. Bradley said it right so many times. That birth is similar to an apple tree. Not all of the apples fall from the tree at the same time. So, why do we expect babies to be born at the same time? Why do we, as a society, feel the need to have control of everything? Birth is a beautiful, unknown event. Every time I have the pleasure of attending a birth, I am excited about the idea of the many surprised that lay ahead. We just never know exactly how it will go and that is one of the most exciting ideas of birthing. As a human race, we are all so different from one another. This is also carried over into our birth process. None of us will birth the same and even within the same woman, she will birth each of her children very differently. This unique process is part of our individualities and what makes each of us different. It is a process that should be respected, admired, and most of all LEFT ALONE!

My biggest frustration as I try to help couples is to believe in themselves, their babies, and their bodies. For the most part, this is a concept that we are not taught nor do we appreciate. As a woman, we are given an unbelievable gift. That is to be able to birth our babies all on our own. Some women do not even know that a woman's body (her uterus) is so strong that it can push a baby down and out the birth canal with no help at all! We only push during birth because it feels better to push than not to. Our bodies are powerful. Every time we change, rearrange, or intervene with our bodies birthing processes, we are affecting this beautiful process in some way. My wish for every woman, is to experience the joy of feeling her body birth a baby without the high-tech advances that we have given more respect to and confidence of than our own bodies. Giving birth to a baby is such a joyous event. When we are left to our own devices, we feel more, see more, experience more, and in the end learn to respect the awesome powerfulness of our bodies.

You might have heard from a woman who has birthed a baby naturally (completely drug-free). She often refers to the empowerment she received from her experience. This empowerment is the absolute truth. It is similar to getting a Diploma or a Bachelor's degree. You know that once you have it, no one can ever take it away from you. Natural childbirth teaches us to listen to our bodies and teaches us that we are a lot stronger than we might have thought. Inducing labor can only mean that our bodies are not capable of birthing babies on their own. How can that be possible for over half of the women in the United States? How can so many women be left to believe that their bodies are so incapable of birthing a baby?

Perhaps we should encourage women to trust their bodies. Tell your pregnant friends how beautiful they look when they're pregnant. Tell them to listen to their powerful bodies and babies. Maybe, one by one, we can make a difference in the minds of pregnant women and their partners. Maybe, we can create power in someone where there was none before.

To learn more TRUTH about inducing labor, read this fact sheet produced by CIMS.

http://www.motherfriendly.org/Downloads/induct-fact-sheet.pdf

^1"Problems and Hazards of Inducing Labor" 2003 The Coalition for Improved Maternity Services