Sometimes it feels like the baby is never going to come out. If so, you may be thinking about inducing labor, just to hurry it along. It’s a popular choice: In 2007, for the 11th consecutive year, the number of C-sections in the U.S. rose, reaching 31.8% for all live births, according to the CDC/National Center For Health Statistics.
However, you may want to reconsider, suggests a new study from the University of Rochester School of Medicine.
The study found that inducing labor increases the risk that a woman will have a Cesarean delivery, one that she may not have needed if she’d waited to go into labor naturally. The study found that 1 to 2 out of every 25 induced labors resulted in a C-section.
Why is this a concern? Because C-sections, as common as they are, are still surgical procedures. As such, they are associated with several risks, including infection, maternal bleeding, blood clots and injury to mother or baby. Of course, C-sections are medically necessary in some circumstances: You have diabetes, high blood pressure and placenta problems; your baby is not growing well; or you’re 10 days past your due date.
However, if those don’t apply to you, the risks linked to being induced and having an unplanned C-section could outweigh the benefits.
Fortunately, maternal health problems that may require earlier delivery are not common, according to a recent WiserPregnancy survey:
- 6% of women were diagnosed with gestational diabetes
- 5.6% of women were diagnosed with gestational hypertension (high blood pressure)
- 3.8% of women were diagnosed with placenta previa
- 1.1% of women were diagnosed with placental abruption
In many of these cases, doctors decided early delivery was necessary.
If your condition doesn’t warrant early delivery, why is it better to wait for spontaneous (i.e., natural) labor? Besides giving your baby more time to develop, women who are not induced avoid the risk that they will need an otherwise unnecessary C-section.
Have you considered setting a date to be induced? Why or why not?
