Waiting for Labor to start on its own strongly recommended (no surprise here):

duskyjewel · Sep 25, 2014

No kidding. I've got Gomer Pyle in my head going, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"

The US seems to have taken that Monty Python skit about the machine that goes ping literally. We have a science and technology fetish in this country that we have got to learn does not serve well for everything.

klone, MSN, RN · Sep 25, 2014

What drives me absolutely CRAZY is that the MFMU https://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/Pages/mfmu.aspx just started a new study called "ARRIVE" wherein women are induced at 39 weeks, or allowed to go into labor spontaneously, trying to prove that there are FEWER morbidities/mortalities if babies are taken out at 39 weeks.

I'm just glad I got out of perinatal research when I did, because I would NOT have, in good conscience, been able to have ANYTHING to do with this study.

poppycat, ADN, BSN · Sep 26, 2014

Here's a really good story for all you OB nurses. (I'm almost 58 so this goes back to the olden days.). My mom was induced for me about 5 weeks early because her goofy doctor was to be on vacation out of the country at the time she was due & didn't want someone else to get paid for delivering. Needless to say, I had a few problems at birth.

I don't get inducing early unless there's some kind of problem with mom or baby.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Sep 26, 2014

People don't appreciate how much brain growth goes on those last few weeks.....and that immature brain can lead to all sorts of other problems, both immediately and later on.

There is a reason pregnancies last 40 weeks.

HyperSaurus, RN, BSN · Oct 8, 2014

I'm in NICU, and there's nothing that irritates me more than an elective section at 37 weeks because first-time mom doesn't want to go into labor and the kid ends up in NICU because he just wasn't ready.

zoey503 · Oct 10, 2014

In your experience, are most 39 week elective inductions done by the pt's request, or do you see that docs are offering to induce early?

Katie71275 · Oct 10, 2014

I see both. Docs are offering to induce and moms are bugging the docs on and on. But I am also seeing the flipside, where docs are waiting to 42 weeks before doing anything. Personally I think waiting that long can be too much..41 weeks seem to be more the norm, or 41 and some change.

duskyjewel · Oct 10, 2014

If a patient is "bugging" her doctor for a medically unnecessary induction, it's the doctor's job to educate their patient and refuse to do unethical things.

estrellaCR, BSN, RN · Oct 11, 2014

Inductions most often lead to C/S than natural labors. Also more fevers and complications especially due to C/S. I wish more MDs would consider this. Most inductions are supposedly medically necessary (oligo, high BP, gestational diabetes, etc). But i have seen C/S done even when BP is max 140s/90, Which is not really an emergency.

I never heard of an induction at patient's request. Where I work at, the induction is always cited as a medical reason...i'm in a public hospital with high rate of Medicaid patients. Maybe private hospitals with private insurance payer patients have elective inductions?

klone, MSN, RN · Oct 11, 2014

I've seen a few social inductions. You can always find a medical reason, even if it's specious.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Oct 12, 2014

We do several inductions a day, 2-3 AM and 3 PMs are our max. Most of them end in vag deliveries, but we have a hard and fast rule about medical reasons. Our c/s rate is under 12%, one of the top 10 in nation. :up: