Why So Many Women Are Scared of Induction (and What to Do About It)
What Has Happened To Spontaneous Birth? Why do so many women not get to start their own labours in their own beautiful time?
My thoughts this week keep returning to the subject of induction of labour and how normalised it has become for perfectly healthy women. How our western medicine, so very good at saving us from both simple and complex illnesses, has now begun to control the start of a huge proportion of births.
The rhetoric of induction of labour for safety has seeped into everything to do with those precious last weeks of pregnancy. I read it daily on social media and hear it regularly from my clients.
Women are no longer relaxing and enjoying themselves but instead eating dates, taking or inserting evening primrose oil, consuming pineapple or curry or castor oil. They are walking miles, doing specific exercises and their minds are turned wholly onto how to avoid induction by making their baby miraculously appear.
Their belief in their own bodies has diminished - ‘Will this baby ever come?’ they wonder. Well-meaning friends and family ask again and again, ‘has the baby arrived yet?’ ‘is this safe?’ ‘there is so much risk’ ‘but the baby is so big’ … ‘just do the right thing!’.
And the parents-to-be are wondering - What on earth is the right thing?
How has something that was only meant for situations when either mum or baby were unwell, pre-eclampsia for example, now become so normalised? How has something so regularly known to fail or lead to complicated, assisted births become the one thing that women are guaranteed they will be offered in their care?
The flawed or cherry-picked studies and the open admittance that it is more painful and that the evidence behind it is weak.
Why has induction become so bloody central to the entire birth experience?⠀
Why can’t those precious last few weeks remain a time of calm and positivity for each and every woman?⠀
What will it take for our belief in spontaneous labour to return again? The positive nature of just watching, waiting and caring. The biological importance of a baby truly ready to be born.
Where can we go from here?
We know that the emperor is stark naked and yet he continues to parade down the street.
If you are being offered induction or are feeling pressured to induce for seemingly non-medical reasons then I highly recommend a couple of brilliant books on the subject: ‘In Your Own Time - How Western Medicine Controls The Start Of Labour And Why This Needs To Stop’ - Dr Sara Wickham & ‘Why Induction Matters’ - Rachel Reed.
I also have a full chapter on the subject of induction of labour, including why it is offered, when it can be helpful, how it is performed and how you can use your hypnobirthing throughout on my Online Hypnobirthing Course: https://www.betterbirthstories.com/hypnobirthing-online-course
Remember, knowledge is always a good thing. You can only really have a level conversation with your care provider if you first have a firm grasp of the subject matter.