Induced Labor Rise Called into Question

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(Free-Press-Release.com) September 22, 2009 -- Julia Nielsen couldn’t wait to deliver. Her last baby, a girl, was nearly nine pounds at birth, and the delivery was difficult. So this time she just wanted the pregnancy over with. Bowing to her wishes, the doctor gave her pitocin four days before her due date. But after labor began, the fetus’ heart rate dropped to 90 beats. She was rushed to the operating room where, after a c-section, the baby boy was not breathing.

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Induced Labor Rise Called into Question

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The baby recovered normally, but three years later Julia became pregnant again and went into labor at 36 weeks with another daughter. She gave birth naturally, but her uterus erupted into her bladder and she began hemorrhaging, and required hysterectomy and bladder repair surgery. She feels that her injuries were due to the induced labor of the second child.

“Because I chose, or demanded, the doctor induce labor, I will have pain and scar tissue the rest of my life,” she said, writing in Associated Content. “Not to mention never having another child.”

Julia’s problem is not unusual. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the proportion of births with induced labor more than doubled between 1989 and 2002. More than one in five births were induced in 2001. Cesarean deliveries increased for the fifth consecutive year in 2001 to the highest level reported since at least 1989.

“We are seeing a national trend in the increase of rate of inductions,” says Dr. Gus Parker, an OB/GYN at Mount Carmel East in Columbus, OH, as reported in PregnancyToday. “And I think we have to be very, very careful that patients are informed regarding the potential risk.”

Risks Weighed Against Benefits

Whether demanded by women or requested by doctors who want the delivery to fit into their schedules, induced labor is risky.

When is induced labor a good choice? When fetal or maternal concerns outweigh the risks posed by induction, according to PregnancyToday. “Examples include fetal deterioration or growth restriction, pregnancy-induced hypertension, gestational diabetes or being so overdue that the placental unit struggles to supply enough food and oxygen for the baby to survive.”

Women in Berwyn, Cicero, Stickney, N. Riverside, and other western Chicago suburbs with questions about pregnancy and the risks of induced labor can call WomanCare at 708-795-6000. Or go to www.womancare.org.

More information can be found online at http://www.womancare.org

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