Bulldog Inducement

[helle]

"We wanted a girl and we wanted to get it out of the way and find out," Lake said.

oh dear

[Freya]

Bloody ridiculous.

Ive been induced twice; both more than 2wks early for medical reasons and believe me we got mightly lucky the boys came out happy and healthy. Just because 37wks is "considered" term doesnt mean that your baby will be born happy and healthy like a 40wk-er. Different people have different baking times; my 37wker was fine but someone else's might be born with breathing issues. I think its highly irresponsible to induce because of FOOTBALL, its beyond sad.

Induction because your husband is heading off to a war zone with last minute notification - I can understand that. For a football game or any other reason bar impending doom or medical neccesity? Nope. If my husband didnt make it to the birth Id be sad but thems the brakes. He'd try is darned hardest to be there though unless it was absolutely not able to happen.

[boomba]

Oh my!

How could you put football before your precious baby??????

Gee I would have been in trouble if I was a wife of a NRL star the night I was in labour wiht Ds it was the grabd final! We watched while I was in labour lol!

Maybe instead of coming to the desicion of being induced they should have concieved at a different time!

I would much prefer baby to come on its on accord if possible and have a doula and let my Bulldog husband play if that means more to him than our child! I would be majorly shattered and would consider divorce ...whats more important than the birth of your child?????

so sad in my oppinion...wonder if the wife is really ok wiht this?????

Sorry rant over I will go hide under a rock!

[Smoke Jaguar]

Does Australia have the Footballers' Wives syndrome, too?? Cos this is more what I'd expect from a English Premier League player and partner...and nope, can't even justify it in my head for the roundball, either...!

[Glamourcide]

... Nice to see they have their priorities straight. /sarcasm.

I was induced with DD1 and to this day kick myself every time I think of how bloody naive I was going into it. Yes, it was for medical reasons, but I thought it was totally complication- and risk-free... boy, how wrong was I.
All's well that ends well as far as my case goes, but I think it's pathetic that these morons are going to put mother and child at risk (however small) because Dad wants to go run around a paddock in short-shorts. Sounds like they sorely need an education before they go making a decision like this.

[Trillian]

This couple have obviously sat down together and made the decision that they feel is right for them as a couple, and I don't think anyone else really has a right to judge them actually, whether you think it is right or wrong, this is their decision, and no one knows what it is like to be in their position except them.
My comment about them being supportive of each other is that it probably takes a fair bit of strength for this woman to stand up and announce that this is what she is going to do, and she has decided that this is what she feels is best.
You never know, perhaps this lady is a member of bb.....

Ummmm, what about the rights of the baby to be born as nature intended - without drips full of synctocinon forcing you out before you are ready, without suffering the effects of the drugs your mother will possibly need due to the increased physical toll an induction will have on her (maybe she will have as natural birth as she can despite the induction, but if she can let her DH convince her to have an induction early, possibly giving birth to a premature baby then she will possibly be open to having drugs too - that is my own personal assumption), not to mention the effects of having an emergency surgical birth if the induction fails? Hmmmm, there's some food for thought - the baby has rights too, what a novel idea!

If she did happen to be a member here, I would like to think that she has learnt enough information from this site to know that she is being led down the merry path of intervention all for the sake of a flipping football game!!!! This is a completely UNNECESSARY induction. it is this sort of thing that gives this country the surgical birth rate that it has. This is why this country's maternity system is in a shambles, where everyone does what is best for them, not best for the mother, and certainly not best for the baby. This may have been her choice too, and maybe the only one she felt that she had, but all I can hope for is that she is fully aware of the consequences this may have.

Now it may seem like I am anti induction or anti surgical birth, but I am 110% supportive of women who have to make that decision to have an induction or surgical birth for alegitimate medical reason or someone who chooses a repeat c/s due to previous birth trauma or who cannot get support for a VBAC but this is just B.S. I hope for her sake, and most importantly for the sake of her baby, that this all goes well.

[Lulu]

"But with finals, and wanting to have Shannon's and my parents over, we thought it was a lot easier to do it a couple of weeks early and the doctor said it was fine.

"Obviously the idea was to do it mid-week because with footy finals I didn't want to be worried about it around Saturday or Sunday."

I still can't get past these comments!!!!

No one sounds very informed here do they?

[Glamourcide]

^ I wonder if they have any idea that an induction might actually take them until the weekend? I was induced on Wednesday morning with DD1 (gel) and nobody told me anything about 'it might take 48 hours' until *after* the two doses and still nothing - then I was put on the drip and had ARM... this was on the Friday morning. So all up, my 'Woohoo, baby will be here on Wednesday' induction turned into 'WHY THE HELL IS NOTHING HAPPENING?! JUST CUT IT OUT ALREADY!!' and it took days longer than I expected it to. (ETA - the gel didn't even *budge* my cervix, the doctors kept telling me to 'wait, wait' but eventually went ahead with synto & ARM - I went into hospital Wednesday morning expecting to have a baby that day and didn't come home until Sunday, had bub on Friday afternoon.)
So... it will kind of be poetic justice if this pair go to hospital mid-week, expecting the baby to arrive that day, and he ends up missing his game or the birth of his child because the gel doesn't work and the doctors wait till the weekend to start ARM and synto

ETA... just how aware are they that ESTIMATED due dates are just that, and that she could well go a week overdue if left alone? Then he gets his game out of the way and she has a natural birth, no problemo.

Seriously... for a FOOTBALL GAME? I dunno. I'm not a fan, I don't follow sport, so I don't know if it really *is* a big deal... it just sounds completely dumb to me. Especially when an induction *can* be a risky process.

[Trillian]

Do you honestly think that they will let it go on for that long before deciding to go for a c/s, considering the reason why they are inducing? No Way! Would be nice so maybe we should put our rose coloured glasses on JIC...

[LionsandBears]

^
So... it will kind of be poetic justice if this pair go to hospital mid-week, expecting the baby to arrive that day, and he ends up missing his game or the birth of his child because the gel doesn't work and the doctors wait till the weekend to start ARM and synto

I was appalled when i heard someone would do this - just goes to show how unnatural birth has become in our medical model. btw - I don't think they'll let it go to the weekend. I get the impression the doctor is under instructions not to let the birth interfere with football, so the poor baby will be born early, even if they have to whack up the induction or schedule an "emergency" c-section. Hard not to judge really - I think it's disgusting. I just hope bub is OK after being forced out early so Daddy can kick a ball around with his mates.

[aussienic]

I read this today too and was quite disgusted to be honest..

One part of the article says thier son was born 2 weeks early and was fine and my first thought was that he was ready to be born kwim?

It really irratates me when I read of these types of things.. Its blooming football for goodness sakes

either miss the match or miss the birth

[Bathsheba]

Oh dear as a Footscray supporter I am really disappointed in Brian Lake to have this attitude. I have also been through 2 inductions (both for medical reasons apparently, 14 days "overdue" and cholestasis) and managed to avoid a c-section... but it could have easily gone that way as the hospital staff certainly seemed to have ownership of the whole process

[Nelle]

I hope the article has misrepresented the issue and it's not quite as convenience based as it seems.

Either way, my guess is that this couple haven't been told the entire truth about the risks of unnecessary early induction. I'm not saying things will definitely go badly, things may go well, and of course I hope they will. But if something goes wrong and the parents find out that with better research they could have made a safer informed decision, I think that would be a lot of guilt to work through.

Anyway. Sounds like the decision has been made, and I wish them and their baby a happy, safe and successful birth.

[Astrid]

I was not fond of AFL before, but now I really do not like the sport. Putting damn final before the needs of a baby is completely wrong and should never be condoned. This country has its priorities completely out of whack when it places sport above everything else. Before it used to be "don't have your wedding on grand final day or we wont come", now it is "don't dare be born on grand final day". Pathetic.

[JellyBean]

Oh my God - that is so incredibly sad - and wrong . This is the exact thing Obs are criticised for - putting 'convenience' before the health and safety of mother and baby. It simply should not have been approved without the presence of a serious medical complication to justify it.
Besides - the Bulldogs may not even make the semi-final or the grand-final - can't they at least hold off until closer to the due date to see what the club's outcomes are??
The article claims they will be inducing the labour on a Wednesday 2 weeks early- then why not at least postpone the induction for a Wednesday 2 weeks later when the baby is actually due? Even 1 week early would be better than 2, geez..... the longer that poor little bub is in her mother's womb, the safer her entrance into this world will be and the better she will be able to cope with the demands of labour.
No doubt the poor thing will become distressed from the sudden influx of synthetic drugs and the lack of respect for mother nature's wisdom, and will end up arriving the unconventional way.... not that that will bother the Ob (), but it will not be nice for mother and baby.....

Someone do her a favour and send her a copy of Henci Goer's book - The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth. The poor love is so uninformed and unempowered!!

[Floweryfields]

I guess it was the choice of being induced early and having hubby with her, or waiting it out and not having hubby if the footy was on that day.
Disappointing, but fact of life - these guys earns huge amounts of money and gotta do what they're told I spose.

[Toomanytoomany]

I would never, ever advocate that I think this is the best move.
But, everyone has a right to make their own decision on what they think is best.

This couple have obviously sat down together and made the decision that they feel is right for them as a couple, and I don't think anyone else really has a right to judge them actually, whether you think it is right or wrong, this is their decision, and no one knows what it is like to be in their position except them.

I agree with this, I must say (although I also acknowledge the pressure the couple must be under). I do hope that it doesn't backfire, though, and that she doesn't end up trying to recover from a c-section *and* care for a newborn while her husband is preoccupied, or even worse, caring for a newbie in NICU because of respiratory distress from coming too early.

I just want to say to them, kids, you're having a baby, and from now on, that's going to have to come first. May as well start at the beginning!

I was induced at thirty eight weeks for no particular reason other than the OB said he was "sick of the sight of me" and it went very well, so I hope she has the same experience. It must be distressing to have their birthing choices picked apart in the media.

[Smoke Jaguar]

They do seem awfully confident that inducing early will mean there is no interference with a later date and not considering that the induction might not 'take'. I guess if it DOES end in surgery they have enough money to hire a nanny and domestic help (parents will probably be at the match!) so that he doesn't have to stay home and be of any material assistance during her recovery.
If she were a BB member, I don't doubt there would be as many posters as here to gently illustrate the serious pitfalls in this 'plan'!
I still get stuck on the idea that he thinks he's so indispensable, and that the club is happy to use it as PR and a bit of 'pep'.