Induction and C/S aren't always bad

[gypsy79]

My sis recently gave birth to twins by elective cs. Her ob said right from the start that he doesn't like to deliver twins naturally because of the 'possible dangers' for twin 2. My sis was happy with the decision and had the elective cs. She didn't want to put her babies at any possible risk. I didn't necessarily agree (obviously it IS possible to deliver twins naturally without any problems - people do it all the time) and I did talk to her about whether she was happy with the decision, but she was, so there was no point in pushing my opinion. The most important thing was the end result, not how they got there.

If we only had necessary interventions perhaps it wouldn't be a minefield of 'when should I listen, and when should I not?'. If we could trust that when our dr said we needed a cs, than as women, we don't have to weigh up whether it's true or not. Imagine that.

I think the whole point is that (as a PP said, sorry I can't remember who) generally the obs and midwives have to use their judgement when suggesting interventions (or not). The fact is that often no-one knows what is the right thing to do, and most medical professionals will probably err on the side of caution. The thing to remember is that generally they do have the mother and baby's best interests in mind. And yes, perhaps some of those interventions will turn out not to be necessary, but some of them will be.

I am lucky and have had 2 great births - one with an epidural that resulted in a vacuum extraction and one natural waterbirth. I am happy with both births. But not everyone gets to be as 'lucky' as me. I agree with the many previous posters - yes, it is definitely best to be informed and to know what your rights and options are. But, people should not discount all interventions just because they are interventions - sometimes they may be necessary. Yes, we may have one of the highest intervention rates in the world, but I bet we also have one of the lowest infant and maternal mortality rates (before I get shot for saying that, that is a completely uneducated assumption on my part ).

[kateo]

Induction was gently offered to me when I was 39weeks with my daughter. Not pushed but suggested. I thought everything was OK and the Doctors would push for intervention if it was a real emergency. A couple of midwives I know actually said they thought I'd be fine to wait a few days longer.
I clearly remember asking the doc if everything would be OK if I waited a little longer. She said she thought it would be but didn't want me to go too long..........well I did.
If I hadn't had such a strong view about being "natural" I probably would have accepted the earlier intervention and have a live baby.
I was highly stressed during my first pregancy due to being forced to go to a tertiary hospital due to percieved high risk. I think due to this the docs may have "soft footed" with me and not pushed an induction.

[sushee]

I think the whole point is that (as a PP said, sorry I can't remember who) generally the obs and midwives have to use their judgement when suggesting interventions (or not). The fact is that often no-one knows what is the right thing to do, and most medical professionals will probably err on the side of caution. The thing to remember is that generally they do have the mother and baby's best interests in mind. And yes, perhaps some of those interventions will turn out not to be necessary, but some of them will be.

I don't necessarily agree with this. In my experience intervention can, and is, offered for convenience. In my antenatal class, I was the only woman out of 10 who didn't have a planned c/s coming. They all had reasons - the baby was too big, their dr didn't want them to 'go over, which was common in first babies', their hips were too small and that little nugget, which my ob tried on me 'you tried so hard to have this baby, would you want to risk it with a natural birth?'.

That class is one of the reasons I now speak out against what I consider to be unnecessary intervention. There is a place for NECESSARY intervention, absolutely, and women should not have to second-guess which category they fall under. Our births would be less of a minefield if we knew were were being assessed for our actual risk instead of the medical profession's perceived risk, because their risk isn't just considering us, but other factors such as other patients (I was offered a epidural because they had another lady giving birth and they couldn't attend to me), their own lives (my ob didn't want to come in on a Sunday when my labour stalled because it was Easter Sunday and his family were 'doing lunch') and because intervention with a medical solution is what they're trained to do.

Do I doubt his intentions? No, I believe that they were mostly good. But he's not God and I needed to be part of those decisions too. And my motivations and his weren't necessarily the same. Because I'm the one giving birth, and I was only one of many he was being paid to help.

kateo, I'm sorry for you loss, and that things had been different for you. Life can be very cruel.