Midwife/dr scaring me into an induction

It’s your body so your choice. If you really don’t want one then push back again. A lot of inductions result in an emergency c-section as the baby isn’t ready to come out so if there are no issues showing in the scan I wouldn’t agree to an induction. I was told the same thing about my baby measuring small and had an induction at 39 weeks which ended in an emergency c-section. My baby was born in the 25th percentile so not as small as they thought. I don’t regret it as we also had a lot of reduced movements but if baby’s movements are good then don’t let them pressure you x

I second the above comment. They tried to bully me into an induction also (due to my age, 40) - everything else was fine. I refused. Babies come out when they are ready, not when a date is set by a doctor. If everything else is fine I would wait. Trust your instincts. It also makes sense what you said about all your family having small babies. If baby is moving fine and everything else is fine - let her come out when she is ready.

I also had so many scans, 8 in total again due to my age - and I wasn’t told I can simply refuse. All this radiation is not the best for the baby. When I refused the 9th scan they didn’t even bat an eyelid.

I always say to not forgot they work for YOU! What you say goes. They will do their best to get that extra paycheck that comes with c sections.

Ask then if they will offer extra monitoring to keep an eye on things and push the induction back (or cancel all together and wait to see how things progress). As long as they’re keeping an eye on baby and you’re tuned in to changes in movements then there’s no reason to rush to induction. Some babies are just small and scans are not always accurate!

Thank you so much everyone. I think I am going to cancel, hopefully she comes before 🤞🏾

@Shannon thank you. How was your induction experience? Was you in the hospital for days? Yes I have been having weekly monitoring and everything seems fine, she is 9.8% on the centile which they said it not a massive concern anymore. I just feel like they are not letting me choose for myself and they are just trying to scare me

I had the opposite & was scared into an induction due to a ‘big’ baby. My induction was quick thank God, however my baby was really stressed throughout the whole thing, his heartbeat was very erratic, and they did prepare me for him being rushed off as soon as he was born. I wish I had done so much research beforehand on inductions. They are massively unnecessary in the majority of occasions they are offered now and they increase the risk of SO many issues. My own midwife actually told me not to accept the induction that the hospital/consultant was offering me as my baby was healthy, a big or small baby is not an issue. She told me they like to offer inductions as it works better for them, rather than having women just turn up in labour! I would just accept more scans/monitoring to make sure the placenta is still ok & don’t let them scare you into something you don’t want. They are SO manipulative!

you just have to say no. stand your ground. i refused induction for the same exact reason and my daughter came all on her own, perfectly healthy at 40+5. it was really scary to have the drs try to push me into something i knew wasn’t right for me, but you have to trust your gut above everything!

@Shannon thank you so much, this is a massive help. I appreciate you telling me your story. 4 days in the hospital sounds awful, I would just rather stay at home

@Amelia I was thinking the same thing. I just don’t understand how a forced labour with no control over the speed of contractions is better than a natural birth. I am going to go in tomorrow for monitoring and speak to someone else

@Izzie thank you! I am going to. I have cried all day, it’s made me so stressed

Trust your gut. The doctors told me to book an induction so I did and I said to my husband I don’t know if I’ve done the right thing. Turns out I couldn’t have the induction at that time as my baby was still high and my cervix was closed. I was so confused when I went home because I thought I’d meet my baby that day.

@Meg yeah they told me to go for a sweep and this happened to me last week.

i’m really sorry it’s stressing you so much. maybe do something to take your mind off it? do something that makes you feel good, you deserve it

@Shannon I agree, we also stayed for 3 nights for jaundice treatment, it was nice having the support of the nurses and having food brought to you! Otherwise we would have felt much more isolated and overwhelmed. It was nice also not having to do any housework 😆

https://amzn.eu/d/1R1SdPD This book is great with explaining everything about induction, when it is really needed and when it is not (most of the time is not needed)

Thank you so much

I am so sorry you are dealing with this pressure from the doctors! It's not right and really shouldn't be allowed. Then them using the dead baby card too! Listen to your body. What do you think? Are you happy with baby's movements etc? The told me that my baby was measuring small. Like 3rd centile small, and wanted to discuss induction. Then 2 weeks later she was measuring better, but I fully believe the earlier scan was inaccurate. Remember there is a huge margin of error with scans! It's your body, your birth and your baby, have you heard of BRAIN to help you make decisions? My baby eventually came 12 days over dire at 7lb 5.5oz, 25th centile.

@Charlotte thank you so much for this. Yeah it has had me distressed all day but I think tomorrow I am going to cancel it.

I refused an induction for small baby concerns on my due date - i swapped consultants to one that actually listened to me!!! I had 3 sweeps and daily scans to monitor. My husband couldn’t understand why I was ignoring medical advice (he freaked out when they said still born) but I knew my body. The irony is they wanted to induce me and I had to call up each morning to get a slot only to be told there wasn’t one so couldn’t have been that important!!! I was 6 days late and baby was nearly 9lbs!! Was in labour for 4hrs on gas and air. Stand your ground. I didn’t want to force the baby out!!! It scared me. I swear most of the time inductions are to manage staffing and rotas!! The uk is one of the only European countries that induce on due dates!!!

@Francesca thank you so much for this. Yeah it has freaked both of us out and I feel like I know my body and my baby too. I’m going to go in for a sweep today and monitoring and see if I can see someone else. Yeah I definitely agree it’s not right at all They actually told me my chance of a still born is higher than needing a c section even though this is someone I have never met and only spoke to, to try cancel my appointment.

It’s balancing medical advice with your own wishes. It’s important to know ALL your options. Sweeps, bouncing on your ball, walking along a pavement one foot on one foot off, sex, clary sage, dates etc Try it all to get baby out naturally :) I did agree to an induction on day 7 as a compromise but we agreed a few days to see what happened. He came on day 6 🙌🏻🙌🏻

@Francesca you have been so helpful. Thank you. Yeah you have to be firm