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I'm 38 weeks. Yesterday the OB brought up inducing labor out of the blue, and put us on the spot to pick a date. We rotate b/t OBs in the office, & I told her the doc last week hadn't discussed anything with us. She didn't discuss the pros or cons, or any of the associated risks of labor inducement that I'm now reading about online. So much for 'informed' consent. She settled for 'call us on Monday to schedule it when you've decided' - saying we should schedule it now to make sure we can get the date we want at the hospital.

They want us to schedule a date within the 40-41 week mark 'just in case' I go past my due date, b/c they believe I have gestational diabetes and are 'worried' about my having a big baby. I failed my 1-hr glucose test but opted to go directly to the endocrinologist instead of doing the 3-hr screen, and was put on diet control. Except, I had a terrible experience with the disrespectful, unprofessional witch of a nurse at my second visit, so I fired them (long story/rant).

Besides that my SO & I don't want to pick our child's birthdate, we don't really buy the argument that they're worried about the baby being big. My "GD" (which appears only borderline to us) has been very controllable by diet. And I've had 2 separate u/s this month alone, showing the baby at 35% percentile - a normal/healthy weight. And now, after coming home and doing some research online about inductions, I'm starting to conclude that induction isn't medically necessary or even prudent for me at 41 weeks. Besides that (I read) most first-timers take longer than 40 weeks, they say induction increases the chance you'll need a C-section, be more painful, etc. I'm hoping to go natural. If I went over 42 weeks, *maybe* I'd understand the necessity, but I want to give my baby all opportunity to decide when he's coming, and have faith that he'll come when he's ready.

I've read about a lot of women, on this forum and on other sites, who wish they'd done things differently for their first pregnancies. I don't want to be steam-rolled or guilt-tripped just b/c I'm a first-timer. I read that the OB can ditch you if you refuse induction - I've already got the 'noncompliant' label b/c of the nasty endo nurse calling my OB. But then I think it might not be all that bad if they ditched me - I'd considered switching OBs a number of times already. Its not like I know my current OBs well enough to actually prefer them to a stranger on call at the hospital.

At the end of the day, I just don't want to have some doc cram decisions down my throat, particularly when I'm in pain and not able to argue well. Stories/advice/feedback? Thanks for reading...

if you have gb, then yes you should choose your date. and there's nothing wrong with a "just in case" date. hopefully you won't need it. and if you do have gb, i don't believe you will be able to to full term as something happens to babies between the 38th and 40th week when the mom has diabetes. not sure if it's full blown diabetes or gb aswell. i would trust your doctor's tests and don't look lightly on what you believe your gb to be. borderline to you is still high for a normal person and those doctors don't just buy the MD at the end of their name. just be careful so you guys can enjoy it as much as you can. and being induced isn't that bad. i was induced because the baby was big and she ended up being so big i should have had her by c section so i say trust your doc. an ultrasound is not correct to show baby's size so don't go by that. and i'm not sure a new OB would take you this late in your pregnancy. good luck none the less and remember to post your birth story!

thx teddy. i'm 38 going on 39 this sat, so i'm already full-term. they want an inducement date if i go past 40 weeks (9 days from now), but before 41 weeks.

i got a 2d opinion from my parents - my dad's a pediatrician - and i've decided to refuse inducement before 42 weeks. believe me, they'd tell me if they thought i was being nuts / irrational.

u said trust the docs' tests - my issue is, the tests don't support the necessity of inducement. the OBs ordered the u/s so they must have some trust in the measurements. and the 2d u/s measurements are very reliable - they were done by the high-risk center at the hospital. i trust the perinatal doc there - he & his group handled my sister's twins. he told me the baby's fine. i trust that doc and wish i'd gone straight to him to begin with.

borderline means my sugars are normal half the time. if i pig out, yes they go over the mark, but i try to be careful w/out driving myself nuts. and, i get myself screened for diabetes reg, b/c family members have it, so i know its GB not full-on diabetes (yet - knock on wood).

in the end, i figure inducement means c-section. i'd rather wait the week and give the baby a chance to come naturally. given his size, i think i can afford to give him the time. i'd regret caving into pressure when reasonable minds can differ on this point, esp. given the associated risks w/inducement. if my OBs throw a fit and ditch me at this point, i'll just wander myself to the hospital when its time and see who's available to deliver me, birth plan in hand. i've only got one more prenatal appt with my current OBs anyway. i'm not attached to my OBs - i plan to find a different practice if/when we have more kids.

thanks for the input! i'm doing lots of walking in the meantime. tried to get the SO to give it up in the bedroom - sex is a natural inducement method, something about the guys' sperm and girl's orgasm giving off hormones - but so far nothing, haha. cheers!

God No!!! Don't let them induce. As you have read here so often they think the baby is "too big" and in the end the baby is just normal. Women give birth to 9-10 pound babies vaginally all the time! As you said your baby is in the 35th percentile. Induction is just awful, of course docs want to do it. Nice and easy for them! If you are induced chances of you ending with an epidural and/or c-section is very high. I am a true believer in women and nature. Check back with us and I am sure you will go to labor in good time! Good luck!

Oh and this threat that your baby is going to be too big...stupid really even if you go over 2 weeks the weight gain has slowed down so much by then that we are looking at a max 1/2 pound...

gummi: yeah that's not a bad idea i suppose, but i suggest going with the 41 week inducing. the only reason is that it can be very bad for the baby if he/she is running out of fluids. i mean, if you haven't gone into labor by 40 weeks, your OB will probably have an u/s done to make sure there is still enough fluid around the baby. and if there isn't, then you really don't have a choice. that's why i was induced. my baby had .4(cm i think) of fluid around her and the minimum was 5. you really just need to do what's good for you and your baby and i'm sure everything will turn out just fine.

i don't trust size guess-timates from the ultrasounds because my ultrasound tech is excellent and she was a whole pound and a half off. just like my ob said, the mom's guess is better than anyone's and she was right. i knew my baby was big.

and regarding your gb, i wouldn't self diagnose anything. you won't necessarily have sugars all out of whack if you have full blown diabetes. if you trust doctor's tests, then you should get tested for that as opposed to guessing what you feel you may or may not have. diabetes can do horrible things to pregnant women and it is deadly to babies between weeks 38 and 40, so make sure you're on top of that. i don't know much about gb, but i do know about regular diabetes as my mother has it and had it when she was pregnant with my little sister.

inducing doesn't always mean a c section. it depends on if the doctor does it right. my doc wouldn't induce if i hadn't dilated and she wouldn't give epidurals until i was far enough along. she made sure nothing that was done would stall labor and i ended up in labor with my first baby for about 6-7 hours.

don't hold too tightly to that birth plan either. it never goes the way you hope. the only one with the true birth plan is that cutie in your tummy, and they don't ever tell you what's going on =P mine sure didn't.

the sex is a good way to try to induce labor. the hormone in the sperm is the same stuff as the stuff they give you to soften your cervix and the orgasm helps with the contractions, so tell him hey if he wants this baby soon, he'd better give a little lol.

iona: funnily enough, that isn't always the case. my doc was told by her u/s tech that the baby was a good enough size and was actually under by 1.5lb. and she is an excellent tech and went by the machine's guess. i watched the whole thing. and yes, i gave birth to a 10.5lb baby and would you like to know what happened to me? 4th degree tearing and i ended up getting an episiotomy on top of that, hemerhoids, a cracked tailbone and the baby had blood sugar problems (no i'm not diabetic and no i didn't have gb) and she broke her collarbone because she was so big. so don't take having big babies so lightly.

have you ever been induced? i have and it wasn't awful at all. i know everyone's isn't as easy as mine was, but you can not tell anyone that every woman that has been induced suffered. now, i know i said i did, but that's because i knew my due date was earlier than they thought. i asked to be induced early, but because we knew when i conceived, they didn't want to bring the baby too early. aaand, there's nothing wrong with an epidural. you try popping out a kid with all the fun like i had with no pain meds. i would have passed out from the pain and the stress that kind of pain causes on a body is far worse than an epidural.

oh, and the weight gain comment is just incorrect. babies can go through a growth spurt any time in the mother. there are no "growth rules".

this thing really has me stressed out. ultimately, i think my issue is that i don't trust my obs. they don't listen to a thing i say, and barely answer my questions. yet they come really highly rated in my area for some reason.

i have no problem w/inducement - or other medical interventions - if there's a good reason for it, and if the benefits outweigh the risk. i don't think my case fits the bill. teddy, maybe if i had ur doc i'd feel more comfortable. if the ob told me the baby was running out of fluids, or that the baby was *actually* big, or some other medical reason specifically, i'd be ok with it. but they didn't, and seem to favor inducement more out of convenience than actual necessity. the gd seems like a vague excuse. why else demand scheduling an induction 3 weeks in advance? if its that impt, shouldn't i be induced now? u said ur doc wouldn't induce if u hadn't dilated. that's clearly not my ob's case.

what i can't stand is being railroaded. in order to do what's good for me and the baby, i need to be informed. and the fact that the doc didn't inform me of all these risks and potential long-term ramifications when asking me to essentially consent, makes me wonder what i'm going to encounter with them when i'm actually going into labor. i understand that things may not go the way i hope, but i expect - what anyone should expect - is to be informed. u can't trust and should *never* substitute someone's else's judgment over your own *just* b/c they have an MD behind their name.

besides, haha, if mom's guess is better than anyone's, and my sense is that my baby's not big... backs up the u/s doesn't it? :p

also, it's not full-blown diabetes - like i said, i'd been tested pre-pregnancy. the reason i call it 'borderline' is, the 1-hr GD test has a positive, negative, and grey score. i scored in the grey area and normally would have been sent for a 3-hr test to confirm that i actually had it. but b/c i tested late and b/c diabetes runs in my family, i opted to go directly to the endocrinologist. i was put on diet restriction w/no insulin, and taught how to use the glucometer - 4x/day. what i found was that w/a few tweaks, my sugar levels are normal - like urs - as long as i don't pig out. that means no substituting ice cream and cake for dinner - kind of a no-brainer.

i'd been self-monitoring after i got into a fight with the disrespectful witch/nurse at the endocrinologist and refused to go back to that practice. if there was more time i'd go to another endocrinologist, but there isn't at this point so i do what i can at home.

incidentally, the diabetes thing is another example of my docs not listening. i told them my family's diabetic history months ago, asking to be screened early on - instead they waived me off, saying 'later later'. then they sent me for the 1-hr screen late b/c they messed up the date range in the lab paperwork - and then got on my case when the correct date range came and went, like it was my fault.

btw, diabetics have risks that gestational diabetics don't have, i.e. birth defect risks. its not the same thing. the endo told me on my one visit with him that i'd prob not see him again after that visit, that my gd would go away as soon as i had the baby. (my issues with that office came during the follow-up visit with the nurse). interestingly, he was the first person that mentioned induction - asking me if they'd scheduled me for one, as if it were a routine thing. i recall being super surprised.

iona - thx for understanding my pov. i'm not opposed to another u/s if they seriously think he's going to get too big, but i'm not going to agree to it 'just in case'. go women and nature!

Teddy, yes i was induced with my first (root of so many problems...the induction!!) lead to another intervention and then to another and then a great big tear! It was awful and had I know better I would have told all the docs to back the heck off!!! 2nd baby I had at home, and I could take my time and relax and she was born quickly, quietly and calmly. If you read on these forums the VAST and I repeat VAST women who get induced end up with either and/or all 1. epidural 2. c-section or 3. tear. Have you ever seen or heard about the documentary Rikki Lake did on birth, "The Business of Being Born" excellent by the way...Anyway she interviewed nurses in NY hospitals who have NEVER EVER seen a "natural" birth in their years of experience...what does that tell us...? Anyway good luck gummibear!

gummibear, hey there. One thing you must keep in mind is that the placenta is only designed to "last" so long. Much past 40 weeks and it starts to get old, not allowing adequate nutrients to pass to the baby. I was one of those babies who wasn't delivered until 42 weeks and when I was I was very very sick and extremely thin. I only weighed about 5 pounds. It was a very scary thing for my parents and I do have some lasting health problems that the doctors think are related. Please consider this information when making your decision. Also, I was induce with both our children. Our daughter, who will be three in February, I was induced at 38 weeks 4 days, and with our son who turned 5 months on the 17th, I was induced at 39 weeks. Both times I had great experiences. My first labor was 11 hours and with our son it was 10 hours. I didn't experience excessive pain before my epidurals, and there were no complications realted to the induction nor the epidurals. Once on the pitocin, then increase the drip in increments, so the contractions intensify gradually. Please don't be afraid of the induction, it is really no big deal. I also have to ask, why did you stay with an OB practice you don't feel comfortable with? I am sure you have other options.

No one talks about the RISKS of induction and what subsequently comes of them....like iona said, c-sections which is a MAJOR. The very scary thing here and the simple truth is that inductions have sky-rocketed for no reason....do you think suddenly women are high risk!?!?! Of course not, just it is so much "easier" to slap that IV in and get these horrible unnatural contractions pumping your baby out! There was a post on here about 6 months ago asking how many people had natural versus intervened births and so sad that about 90% of the women who responded had intervened births. Now days virtually every pregnant women is "high risk" as she deviates from a norm. What the hell is a "norm" during pregnancy. If you are a teenager, or over 35 or under weight or over weight or have never had rubella or toxoplasmosis or if your last baby was below 6 pounds or over 9! These are all HIGH RISK nowdays! And the funny thing if you are not any of these....then you are LOW RISK!!! But risk nonetheless. So sad we have given our power to birth in the hands of others. Good luck gummibear!

It's like your doc saying at your annual check-up, "this year looks good, you are at low risk for dying of cancer." Or someone saying you are at "low risk for being struck by lightening"...I see your point Skyeblue, why do docs have to instill the fear of risk in the first place when all looks well. I have come to learn there is absolutely no norm whatsoever in pregnancy. Some gain 10 pounds others 80 and both produce healthy babies. Some women have morning sickness throughout pregnancy others feel fit as ever, both normal. Some are tired all the time, others never. Some deliver at 37 weeks and other 5 weeks later! All is good. What is normal?

i live in the uk and here inducment only really gets done 12 days after your due date............i,ve never heard of the placenta getting old? here most first time mothers go 2 weeks late and i,ve never heard of there baby ill because of it? also when you are induced here you are just given a gel rubbed around your cervix that helps you dialte before they try anythign else

thank you thank you ladies...

my sweetheart picked up 2 books to try to help ease my mind and prevent hospital railroading - the lamaze guide to giving birth w/confidence and a birth partner book. both look good.

mjv - thanks for sharing - i'm sorry u experienced health problems. inducement definitely has its place and use. i disagree, however, w/the proposition that "the placenta is only designed to "last" so long". angelmonkey - its a very american concept that gets floated around. it implies that there is a design flaw in all of our bodies. yes, it becomes less effective over time, and yes every woman's placenta will fail *at some point* if she does not birth first - but everything fails eventually. what does that really mean? one could equally say that our entire bodies are only designed to last so long - 'when' being the big variable. its crazy to assume we all have this same automatic, universal expiration date on our placentas. i'd like to know how one would even begin to design the study to identify that kind of date.

i wouldn't advocate against induction or other interventions, just that women be able to make informed, active decisions one way or the other - without being guilted about it. mjv, i'm not afraid of inducement b/c of increased pain. people should know there are other risks involved - to mother AND baby:

(1) increased need for pain medication / epidural anethesia --> which can prolong labor, interfere with breastfeeding, cause nerve damage (or worse in rare cases), and affect the baby's breathing & heart rate
(2) nearly doubled rate of c-section in the U.S. --> due to fetal distress and stalled labor
(3) increased need for other interventions --> forceps, vacuum births, NICU babies due to infections and other complications
(4) prolonged labor due to restrictions on a woman's movement - stricter bed rest, food/drink restrictions, continuous fetal monitoring, and being constantly tethered to an IV (even w/no epidural).

See, e.g. "Outcome After Elective Labor Induction in Nulliparous Women: A Matched Cohort Study" in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, February 2002 (Volume 186, Number 2) (where they studied first-time mothers in Belgium with uncomplicated pregnancies and compared elective inductions with spontaneous deliveries).

i reserve the right to change my mind, haha, but i plan to forgo the epidural and want to avoid c-section to the extent possible. i figure if i induce labor, i'll be stacking the cards against me. my body's gotten the baby and me this far - i've got faith it'll continue to operate properly until the baby comes. our moms joke that he's delaying labor b/c of the cold winter weather, hehe.

and i didn't switch OBs earlier b/c i didn't feel i had a legitimate problem earlier. i didn't have much to say or ask at first, and to the extent i had complaints about their unresponsiveness (to my symptom-griping), it wasn't serious enough to switch. its also been difficult to get a sense of the OBs early on b/c this practice tries to rotates you through all of them in your monthly visits.

if you think about it, real comfort (or discomfort) w/a doc comes when you see the decisions the doc makes - and you see their reasoning. for a 'normal' pregnancy (haha Skyeblue and lunamoo), you come in, you get checked up, and you check out. repeat in a month. all the doc's real decision-making comes at the end, near labor time, and then it may be too late to switch. it makes me think i should have two-timed my OBs (insurance co would have loved me).

i made a point of asking over the summer about their delivery practices. OB #2 reassured me that they only use interventions if you want them to or if absolutely necessary... and of course OB #2 is the only one who isn't on call this week or next... but as one woman who pursued VBAC found, docs can say whatever they want about what they *will* do - its at labor time that you learn what they *actually* practice. (her OB told her she could have a vbac, but at labor time he started pushing c-section, and she learned from the hospital nurses that he'd never actually admitted a vbac patient).

the labor inducement discussion last week has been a cold splash of water about what this practice *will* do, and causes serious concern. informed consent means not being pressured into making a decision w/out being told the risks involved. my next appt is w/the most senior OB - whom i've never met actually. i plan to have a chat w/her and then decide where to go from there. the irony is that when i'd asked OB #4 on the preceding visit about birth positions to practice, she'd simply responded that i ought to trust my body to do what it was meant to do. enter OB #3: "So did OB #4 talk to you last week about inducing labor???" b/c that's a great way to trust your body to do what its meant to do... right?

my SO thinks OB #3 is the real problem. she's right out of residency and new to the practice, according to OB #4. and actually, come to think of it, OB #3's the one who sent me to the hospital for a false alarm 3 weeks ago, b/c i was having light but frequent contractions. i didn't think i was going into labor, but OB #3 had previously instructed me to call if, so i did, not expecting that she'd barely ask me any questions and send me straight over... and (sorry if TMI) she was the roughest on my pelvic exam, causing immediate bleeding on the exam table and then some. it made me paranoid that she'd stripped the membranes. i'd barely spotted the day after on my two prior exams. so *maybe* its just OB #3.

still, if it IS just her, she and OB #5 are the ones on call this week... so i honestly can't decide if i *want* him to come this week or not... not that i have a say in the matter really. i'll be switching to another practice, next baby round... assuming there's another. teddy, the SO's still not giving it up... and i'm not sure i remember how, lol...