There are two main models of care in pregnancy. The obstetric model (what 99% of women get in this country which is why our outcomes are so poor) views pregnancy and birth as potentially dangerous, abnormal and requiring constant testing, management and appraisal. The midwifery model assumes pregnancy and birth to be normal states for women (obviously they are!) and watches to see if anything out of the ordinary does occur before acting on it while encouraging a proactive response to head off issues in the first place. This approach also emphasises general wellness rather than potential illness all the time. "They" in hospies who make those decisions have a few reasons "they" like to induce. One is that there is a slight rise in stillbirths AFTER 42 weeks HOWEVER dating in pregnancy is arbitrary at the best of times so an evidence based approach would OFFER you an u/s at 42 weeks (from conception, mind you, NOT LMP which is a meaningless way to date as are dating scans) and if you and the babe were clearly well, allow your baby to choose their own birthday - they always do Only 5% of babies come at around 40 weeks so the emphasis on it is utterly meaningless. Babies come when their brains and lungs have matured sufficiently, nothing to do with our bodies at all. Labour is tipped off by a chemical in the baby's brain. Further, inducing at that arbitrary "10 days" mark is essential to the running of privte obstetric practices and hospitals where women going into spontaneous labour is not convenient. Most babies in Australia are born between 9 and 5 nowadays despite what we know about how labour works and most of us would naturally go into labour at night. This is not the way that a private practice can be organised as you will have women hanging about taking up time on your books indefinitely. Midwives only take 2, or at most, 3 clients on a month so not only is the woman seeing her CP for an hour or more at each appointment but she really gets to know you and is there to support your birth when it happens not make it happen to her timetable. Hospitals need to know when you'll be off their books so despite the HUGE wealth of evidence showing how dangerous induction is and how it causes caesareans, this is a better outcome for institutions than waiting for you to labour spontaneously. Unless someone can clearly show you or your baby have a health issue, there is NEVER an excuse for induction. The greatest cause of prematurity in this country is induction because all babies cook to their own timetable. The vast number of "failed" inductions you read about are because not even the powerful and dangerous chemicals involved in an induction can make a baby come if they're not ready. And from induction comes the whole cascade of interventions which normally results in either an instrumental birth or a caesarean. To surgeons, surgery is not a bad outcome but they're not the ones trying to parent child/ren while you have a wounded body or soul. If you want the safest birth experience possibly, always say no to induction. Look up Henci Goer's article "elective induction" and Gloria Lemay's article, on biophysical profiling and what a crock it is. So for your baby to not come at 40 weeks just puts you in the majority and that has to be nice!
Only 5% of babies come at around 40 weeks so the emphasis on it is utterly meaningless. Babies come when their brains and lungs have matured sufficiently, nothing to do with our bodies at all. Labour is tipped off by a chemical in the baby's brain. Further, inducing at that arbitrary "10 days" mark is essential to the running of privte obstetric practices and hospitals where women going into spontaneous labour is not convenient. Most babies in Australia are born between 9 and 5 nowadays despite what we know about how labour works and most of us would naturally go into labour at night. This is not the way that a private practice can be organised as you will have women hanging about taking up time on your books indefinitely. Midwives only take 2, or at most, 3 clients on a month so not only is the woman seeing her CP for an hour or more at each appointment but she really gets to know you and is there to support your birth when it happens not make it happen to her timetable. Hospitals need to know when you'll be off their books so despite the HUGE wealth of evidence showing how dangerous induction is and how it causes caesareans, this is a better outcome for institutions than waiting for you to labour spontaneously. Unless someone can clearly show you or your baby have a health issue, there is NEVER an excuse for induction. The greatest cause of prematurity in this country is induction because all babies cook to their own timetable. The vast number of "failed" inductions you read about are because not even the powerful and dangerous chemicals involved in an induction can make a baby come if they're not ready. And from induction comes the whole cascade of interventions which normally results in either an instrumental birth or a caesarean. To surgeons, surgery is not a bad outcome but they're not the ones trying to parent child/ren while you have a wounded body or soul. If you want the safest birth experience possibly, always say no to induction. Look up Henci Goer's article "elective induction" and Gloria Lemay's article, on biophysical profiling and what a crock it is. So for your baby to not come at 40 weeks just puts you in the majority and that has to be nice!
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