"Make sure to get induced...everyone does it!"

Double-Helix, BSN, RN · Oct 26, 2011

I think my biggest problem with Denise's advice is that she is planning on being her friend's delivery nurse. Big conflict of interest and unethical to care for a friend in a professional setting.

As far as the inductions, I'm guessing she was exaggerating. A few of my friends have been induced, but only because they were post-dates. None of them wanted to be induced, but wanted to go into labor naturally. I wasn't aware that patient can schedule their own induction. I would think the OB would have some say. Having an induction doesn't guarantee the birthdate either. Many women who are induced go over 12-24 hours. A good portion also end up in c-sections if they are induced too early.

Bad advice from someone who shouldn't be giving advice to friends in the first place.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Oct 26, 2011

Okay, let me start off by saying a few things...A) I am a MedSurg nurse, B) It has been six years since I've been in any sort of OB/GYN area besides being a visitor or patient and C) I am really glad nurses want to work in these departments, bless you all!
Anyway, my friend "Annabeth" is expecting her first baby in late February. She had a few hiccups during the end of the first trimester, but things have been great since, so she is considered low risk.
One of our mutual friends, "Denise," is an L & D nurse and well, she has advised Annabeth to go ahead and schedule her induction because "at least 95% of women do that." She also suggested it so Annabeth could choose her baby's birthdate and ensure Denise as her delivery nurse.
Um, is this for real? Forgive my ignorance, but are those statistics a bit skewed? And do OBs honestly go for those reasons? I have not given birth but plenty of my friends are now pregnant or have given birth in the last few years and the only inductions I know about were for legit medical reasons. (Maybe more of my friends had inductions and I didn't know about it).
And, the other thing, would you ladies and gents of the OB/GYN world advise YOUR friends in this manner? I'm not saying Denise is a bad person, but I didn't think most L & D nurses encouraged women to induce for convenience.
Thanks, everyone...for your answers and for the work you do! I thought I wanted to do L & D or postpartum until I had my clinical, haha.

If those numbers are real, it's frightening!! Several studies will show that inductions also result in a higher likelihood of a c/s---maybe that's why THOSE numbers are so high!!

I've have 4 babies and have run the gammet of how they got here. #3 was induced at 41.2 weeks and I practically had to beg for that! He arrived lady partslly at 9# 14oz--against the odds for sure!

wishiwereanurse, BSN, RN · Oct 26, 2011

yea most people get induced nowadays...it used to be God's job to give people their birthdates but I guess he's getting fired!

brillohead, ADN, RN · Oct 26, 2011

I'm doing my OB rotation right now, and I'm seeing a lot of "augmentations" of labor on my unit. The only true induction I've seen was for someone who was 39-5 and she was losing her health insurance in 48 hours, so they wanted to get the baby out before then so it was covered by insurance.

Even spontaneous ROM seems to call for pitocin these days. Just boggles my mind... women have been birthing babies on their own for MILLENNIA -- why is it all of a sudden a 'medical procedure' that needs to be managed???

I asked my preceptor last week how often they see a fully unmedicated (anesthesia) birth on the unit. Her response was "rarely" -- it was kind of a big deal when they had the last one.

Granted, some inductions are medically indicated, as are some c-sections. I myself was bound and determined to have a fully natural birth, but went to 41w and had decreased fetal movements and was induced. Later on when he had late decels and AROM produced meconium stain, I ended up with a c-section. However, it was medically necessary -- he was completely hog-tied in utero (which explained the lack of fetal movement) and never would have survived a lady partsl delivery without brain damage.

In instances like that, I'm glad we no longer live in the dark ages -- a hundred years ago, he would have been born mentally disabled or dead. Instead, while I didn't have the "perfect" birth experience I had hoped for, I left the hospital two days later with a healthy little boy who is now disgustingly happy, healthy, and smart.

NickB · Oct 26, 2011

There are extremes in both circumstances. One extreme is "everyone is getting induced." The other extreme is "no matter what, don't get induced." This was poor advice by her friend. There is no reason to plan something like this. If she gets to 40 weeks and an U/S says the baby's EFW is 9 or 10 lbs, than she can be induced.

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN · Oct 26, 2011

Back in the olden days (early and mid 80s, lol) when the "country doc" providers didn't seem to care as much about the due dates, I had both of my babies at ~ 42-43 weeks. I delivered lady partslly. With both labors, after my water was broken, I went from 3 cm to 10 cm and had the baby within 3 hours. My body just needed the extra time to prepare to have the baby. Nowadays, with all these medical interventions, the rate of c-section is frightening.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Oct 26, 2011

I'd agree with klone and say it must depend on where you are. We don't have a 95% induction rate; I'd say closer to 15-20% if I had to hazard a guess....and some of those probably don't 'need' it.

We do way too many c/sections; some of them have to do with the inductions and some do not, but either way, we don't need to be doing so much of either.

It's really inappropriate advice that your friend got. :down:

LouisVRN, RN · Oct 26, 2011

Congrats Louis, you mentioned that you have a boy, did you get a girl this time?

Nope! Had a very healthy 9lb 6oz 22" baby boy who is a week old today! We were hoping for two boys though.

ontnursec · Oct 26, 2011

As a nursing student, and a mother of two, I would just like to say that I am very happy that so many of you nurses are not for "elective induction"! I had an induction with my first son and it was absolutely terrible. I had a natural homebirth with my second, and it was perfect, the pain was managable, I was relaxed and not afraid.

Scheduled induction that is not medically warrented is no good!

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · Oct 26, 2011

Update:

So, Annabeth, my friend in a family way, thanked L & D nurse Denise for her input but isn't going to follow her advice. Thankfully, she has more healthcare experience than Denise does anyway (not a nurse but she knows her stuff!)

I guess part of my shock was that Denise hemmed and hawed over leaving MedSurg for L & D because she was all about natural childbirth and wanted to be in more of a birthcenter setting. I guess after a few months there she's converted!

My GYN doesn't do the OB part anymore, so I guess I'll have to really hunt around for an OB who doesn't encourage this when the time does come for me if this is truly the norm in my area. It's a shame, because my hospital has a huge suite specifically for high risk patients, several "rooming-in" suites in postpartum and the best NICU within fifty miles.

klone, MSN, RN · Oct 27, 2011

I think my biggest problem with Denise's advice is that she is planning on being her friend's delivery nurse. Big conflict of interest and unethical to care for a friend in a professional setting.

I don't know if I agree. Women in labor have a need to feel safe, and part of that is having people around you that you trust and love. "Specialing" happens all the time in OB, and I've done it for a friend, and I had my best friend be my labor nurse as well (as well as my friend who was my OB - their service did rotating call, but she "specialed" me).

klone, MSN, RN · Oct 27, 2011

As a nursing student, and a mother of two, I would just like to say that I am very happy that so many of you nurses are not for "elective induction"! I had an induction with my first son and it was absolutely terrible. I had a natural homebirth with my second, and it was perfect, the pain was managable, I was relaxed and not afraid.
Scheduled induction that is not medically warrented is no good!

I had a homebirth with my second child as well! I'm 98% percent certain it saved me from a C/S.