070 - Induction 101: Tips on Avoiding and Preparing for Induction (with Kayla Heeter)

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SHOW NOTES:

In the United States today, about ⅓ of all births are induced, and about ⅓ of all births end in C-Sections. And while inductions aren’t responsible for all of those C-Sections, I’d argue they’re responsible, at least indirectly, for about half of them. Today we deep dive into the world of inductions-what are they? How are they done? Why are they done? And why shouldn’t they be done? Is there anything you can do to prevent having an induction? Is there anything you can do to induce naturally if you’re trying to avoid a medical induction? All of this and more on today’s solo episode on labor induction. 

Referenced in today's episode: http://www.milescircuit.com/

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TRANSCRIPT:

One out of every three women are being induced in America today.

That is a lot.

That is a lot.

For something that God so beautifully designed our bodies to be able to do, to make a baby, to have a baby, to give birth, a third of them are being overtaken by this medical system, okay?

And then, roughly a third of all babies in the United States are born via C-section as well.

Now, not every induction ends in a C-section.

However, if you are induced, your chances of a C-section increase by 50 percent.

50 percent.

That is a lot.

Hi, I'm Kayla Heeter, follower of Jesus, wife and mother of five children, Christian childbirth educator and doula, and your host of the Surrendered Birth Stories podcast, where we share God-centered birth stories, evidence-based birth education, and our pursuit of surrendering our birth plans to God.

Let's get started.

Hey, everyone.

I can hardly believe it.

It is the week of Christmas.

We are already here somehow.

And it flew by just as fast, if not faster, than usual, even though I started like preparing and celebrating in like mid-November, which is the earliest I've ever done that.

So it's wild.

But anyways, Merry Christmas.

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season, and I hope you all have wonderful Christmases with your family.

I know we are looking forward to Christmas morning with our family for sure.

We have everyone over at our house, which is nice because then we don't have to travel with the five kids, and the baby can still nap here at the house.

Everyone, which is my mom and my sister and brother-in-law, they come to us, and my papal is joining us again this year for his 95th.

He just turned 95.

Christmas.

So we are so excited to have him in town too.

It's always so special.

So special.

So whatever you guys are doing, I hope you have a fabulous Christmas.

I did want to say that as we inch closer and closer to 2025, we are still on the hunt for some birth stories for 2025.

So if you or anybody you know would be interested, or maybe you've been thinking about it, but you're not sure, please reach out to me.

Please click the link in the show notes.

We would love to hear your story.

We would love to have you share.

And I know God will use any and every story in wonderful ways.

Now, as we jump into this week's episode on Inductions, I wanted to tell you that it is very timely, because around this time of year, there are probably more scheduled inductions than any other time of year, while people are trying to avoid having Christmas babies, or people are trying to get their babies out before the end of the year for tax purposes.

Um, it just felt like a very appropriate time to go over everything about inductions.

So, uh, let's jump in to this week's episode.

In the United States today, about a third of all births are induced, and about a third of all births end in C-sections.

And while inductions aren't responsible for all of those C-sections, I'd argue they're responsible, at least indirectly, for about half of them.

Today, we deep dive into the world of inductions.

What are they?

How are they done?

Why are they done?

And why shouldn't they be done?

Is there anything you can do to prevent having an induction?

Is there anything you can do to induce naturally if you're trying to avoid a medical induction?

All of this and more on today's solo episode on labor induction.

So this is a topic I am very passionate about, very knowledgeable in, experienced with, and I just feel like this topic does not get enough attention, especially in most, let's just say, modern American hospitals, because it's happening way too much.

And that is induction, okay?

Induction of labor.

So, inductions, just in case you don't know, is basically when you are forcing your body to go into labor before your body is ready, right?

Because when your body is ready, when your baby is ready, it will go into labor, all on its own.

But, for some reason or another, if we are trying to get that baby out sooner, and we'll talk about reasons, that is when you would do some sort of induction.

Now, today, I'm going to focus on what I'm going to call medical inductions.

So these are inductions that are going to be taking place in the hospital mostly.

Maybe some birth centers, depending on the birth center, but mostly hospitals, and the way that those inductions would take place.

There are, you could say, natural or like home remedy induction methods that we're not going to focus on as much.

Maybe I'll speak to those a little bit at the end, but we're focusing on medical inductions.

So when I was first pregnant with my first baby, and I was getting to the end of my pregnancy, if you've listened to my birth story, like the pilot episode of this podcast, then you would hear that my doctor offered an induction, and I didn't know what that was.

And he didn't really take the time to explain it as much as he just said, oh, you know, you'll just come to the hospital, and we'll give you some medicine, and you'll have your baby.

And he just made it sound so simple, and so appealing to a pregnant woman desperate at the end of her pregnancy.

And he didn't mention anything else about it.

He didn't tell me what it would be like.

He didn't tell me what the risks were, what the benefit, I mean, like nothing.

It was just like, yeah, sure, if you're tired of being pregnant, we can just induce you.

But I have since found out it is so much more involved than that, and so much riskier than that, and just, it's just happening way too much in our culture.

So let's just talk a little bit of statistics, first of all.

So inductions today in the US, or I will say we just only have data within the last, like about four years ago, but 31.37%, okay, so almost 32%, so 31.5%, give or take, of all live births are happening via induction, like a medical induction.

And I really do, that is like under reported, for sure.

So I believe more than that is actually taking place, but as far as what's being documented, almost 32%, which is like a third of all the births, okay?

So like one out of every three women are being induced in America today.

That is a lot.

That is a lot.

For something that God so beautifully designed our bodies to be able to do, to make a baby, to have a baby, to give birth, a third of them are being overtaken by this medical system.

Okay.

And then, just to throw a little more information your way, again, roughly a third of all babies in the United States are born via C-section as well.

Now, not every induction ends in a C-section.

However, if you are induced, your chances of a C-section increase by 50%.

Okay?

50%, that is a lot.

So people just think, oh, I'm just going to go in for an induction, and I'll go in in the morning, and they'll give me some medicine, and I'll have my baby that day.

But that is not what it looks like.

That's not reality for the vast majority of people, okay?

So inductions, drastically increase your chance of C-sections.

And in America today, we've got about a third of all women are being induced, and a third of all women are having C-sections.

And we could get into all the details of why having an unnecessary C-section is not great, like to call them unnecessary-ians.

Major surgery, okay?

But we're not here to talk about C-sections and surgery today, but if you can avoid having a C-section, we highly recommend avoid having a C-section.

And one of the best ways to avoid having a C-section is to avoid having an induction.

All right, so let's talk about what an induction would look like, because I think people just assume, like I did, you go to a hospital, you get some medicine, and boom, you have a baby.

But that's not actually how it goes down.

So first of all, your chance of having a, quote unquote, successful induction, meaning it ends in a vaginal delivery, highly depends on a couple of factors.

One is what your cervix is up to already.

So how dilated are you?

How effaced are you?

How low is baby?

Which direction is your cervix pointing?

Like all these things, because, you know, the further along your cervix is in that process, the more ready it is for labor, for the higher of a chance you have of your induction working.

Another factor would be if you've had babies before or not.

So like, is this your first baby, or is this your first vaginal birth, or have you had babies come out of you vaginally before?

Because that will play a factor as well into how likely this induction is to work.

Part of the science behind that has to do with oxytocin receptors in your uterus, which I don't want to get like two in the weeds here, but when your body is going through labor for the first time, one of the biggest hormones involved in labor is called oxytocin.

And it's responsible for so, so, so many things.

I mean, like, almost everything in the labor process.

But one of its biggest, most important roles is contracting your uterus.

And so when your body is sending out that oxytocin, your uterus actually has little receptors in it to receive that oxytocin to make your uterus contract.

Well, a first-time mom doesn't have as many receptors yet because she's going through it for the first time.

Whereas a second-time mom who's already been through labor will have more oxytocin receptors in her uterus, which would cause the uterus to be flooded more easily with oxytocin and be able to contract more efficiently and whatnot, which is a lot of times why you see a second-time labor go faster than a first-time labor.

So in induction, however, we're not dealing with actual oxytocin from the mom, we're dealing with something called pitocin.

Or if you're in a different country, which I guess almost every other country besides the US calls it centocin.

But it's synthetic oxytocin or pretend oxytocin pitocin.

It is probably the most widely used drug in terms of inducing labor.

There are other things you can use, and we're going to talk about that, but that's your number one that almost every induction will need.

So let's say that you are a first-time mom, and that your cervix is nowhere near being ready to have this baby.

So you're not effaced, you're not dilated, baby's not low, your cervix is pointed backwards, all those things.

So you have like all the cards stacked against you.

They're going to have you come in to the hospital at night, okay?

Like probably around midnight usually, or whenever they have a room available.

Sometimes they'll just call you and say, hey, a room's opened up.

You can go ahead and come on in, which to me tells you that you don't really need to be getting induced, because if it were serious, they would make a room available.

I'll tell you that.

We'll talk about reasons in a little bit.

But anyways, we're just walking you through what it's going to look like.

So you go in, they're going to give you something to thin out, soften, and efface your cervix.

Now, there are different drugs out there for this.

The one that was created for this is called Cervidil.

However, the one that is most widely used is called Cytotec, because it's cheaper.

That's pretty much the reason, because it's cheaper.

It's actually a stomach ulcer medication, but they realized that it actually can induce labor.

And so, it's step number one, because we need to get your cervix to be soft and thin before it can dilate.

So, sometimes they'll have you take this medication orally.

Sometimes they will insert it vaginally.

A lot of that depends on, again, use specifically and hospital specifically, but it can be done orally and or vaginally.

And it's supposed to soften and thin out your cervix.

Now, sometimes, if your cervix is far enough along, I have seen, you know, a couple of inductions where all the mom needed was side attack because her body was that close to labor, and then it put her body into labor, and she was able, like her body sort of just took over after that and ended up, you know, kind of going into labor, and the baby came out.

However, I would say for a first time mom whose cervix is nowhere near that place, it's going to take several rounds of this side attack in order to thin out your cervix.

So by several rounds, I mean like days worth.

It's not just like, oh, well, we'll do a round now, and in two hours, we'll do another one, in two hours, we'll do another one.

It's several hours in between, and I mean, you could be on side attack for 24 hours before they can take any other type of step, in your induction.

So however long that takes, does it take 10 hours, five hours, 12 hours, 25 hours?

It just depends.

You just always say, if you're going in for an induction, you need to brace yourself for a marathon, because you don't know how long it's going to be.

So bring stuff to do.

But anyways, you'll get that cervical ripener, and whenever your cervix is ripe enough or dilated enough, usually like a fingertip or one centimeter, the next step is typically inserting what's called like a Foley bulb or a Cook's catheter.

People have different names for it.

But basically, they're going to stick this little balloon up into the tiny little hole that you now have in your cervix, and they're going to fill it up with a saline solution, and they're trying to manually dilate your cervix that way.

So as this balloon stretches and fills up, it's going to dilate your cervix.

In theory, it doesn't always work.

It's going to dilate your cervix ideally to like 5 centimeters, and when it gets to that point, it's supposed to just kind of fall out on its own.

Now, the only thing about this is it doesn't always work, right?

Sometimes it works.

Sometimes it doesn't.

Some people find it extremely uncomfortable, and other people don't really notice it at all.

Again, like really case by case basis.

Okay?

But anyways, that's like step number two.

And again, this can be done just whenever your cervix is ripe enough to get like just a little bit opened, because it has to be dilated enough, you know, for them to get it in there in the first place.

But I've seen people have that balloon in, you know, for 12 plus hours, and it's still the exact same when it comes out.

Which is another sign that your body is just not ready to have this baby.

Then there's basically two more steps left.

One is artificial rupture of your membranes, meaning they're going to break your water for you.

Some people choose to go that route next.

Other people choose to go the Pitocin route next.

But basically, whichever one of those you do, when you're in induction, typically you'll also do the other ones.

So whichever order you decide to do those in, you'll usually end up doing both.

When you break the water, if baby's head is in an ideal position, and if baby's head is low enough and lined up with the cervix, then breaking that water and taking that cushion away from the baby's head puts direct pressure onto your cervix, at which point that direct pressure should stimulate more contraction, should stimulate more dilation, should stir up all these hormones, and everything should, in theory, kind of move forward.

But if baby's head is not in a great position, and you break the water, or mom's body is just not ready to go into labor, then it might do absolutely nothing.

So that's just a risk you have to be willing to take.

And then remember, once you break someone's water, the risk for infection increases.

And I know in inductions, a lot of times, they're doing all these cervical checks to see, you know, if we've made any progress, have we made any progress?

Like, is anything happening?

And the more cervical checks you have, the higher your chances are of getting some infection.

Because remember, you have now taken away God's perfectly designed barrier to protect that baby from the outside world.

You know, baby's up inside of you, but they're wrapped in that sack.

And then, you know, between you and that sack is the cervix and, you know, the mucus plug and all that.

So when you take all that away, you're opening baby up to, you know, risk of infection.

Pitocin is the one that is most, again, commonly widely and often used in induction, and this is a medication that would go through your arm and an IV, and it is going to cause you to have contractions.

Now, I just want to point out that pitocin or centocin does not have those same pleasant side effects that your natural oxytocin does that the Lord gave you, okay?

Oxytocin is like, oh, beautiful, wonderful.

It causes all these contractions, but it also gives you like the lovey-dovey feelings and your letdown relief.

It's just responsible for so many things, whereas pitocin will simply contract your uterus, and that is all, which is why a lot of women say pitocin contractions are a lot more intense than natural labor, like spontaneous labor contractions.

Also, they can come on like suddenly, like when you're getting the pitocin drip, it can hit you out of nowhere like a freight train.

Other people, it's like they don't feel them right away.

Again, it kind of just depends on where your body is in the process, but they'll typically start you on the lowest dose of pitocin, and then they will increase it incrementally every 30 minutes until they see your contractions in a pattern that they would like to see them in, which again is typically every few minutes lasting about a minute, etc., etc.

Now, the only, I would say, positive thing about pitocin is that you can turn it down, and you can turn it off.

So it's not like once you start it, that's it.

You know, if you see that the contractions are getting too intense or lasting too long or you're not having enough breaks, you can back off of it, which is good, thankfully, for your baby and you.

But again, it's definitely not that natural labor oxytocin that would cause contractions.

Okay, so all of that could take place over the course of a few days, okay?

I have seen clients go in for an induction on a Friday morning and not have their baby until Monday.

It just depends.

And it also depends on how patient your provider is.

Some providers are very willing to wait out an induction and will try to give your body time to kind of catch up and do what they want it to do.

And other providers will get frustrated or impatient with a stalled labor, you know, because your body's not ready.

And they'll just say, okay, this isn't working.

Your induction has failed.

Let's go ahead and have a C-section, you know, which is why like 50% of them end in C-sections.

And the other thing is, a lot of times, once you have that induction, your sensations of your contractions, your interpretations of them, it's a lot more intense.

It can be a lot stronger, a lot more painful.

And so people who were maybe planning on having a natural labor or going without any pain medication, now suddenly their plan is kind of derailed because these contractions are not natural labor contractions.

They're a lot more intense.

And a lot of times, women who weren't planning on getting epidurals will get epidurals because the pain is just a lot.

And then, and they're also, they're, you know, hooked up to all these things.

They don't really have the freedom they did before.

They can't get in the water.

It's just, you know, there's just a lot stacked against them.

And then those epidurals, you know, can cause difficulty in pushing, difficulty in positioning, difficulty in the baby coming down, you know, lack of movement, lack of gravity, all those things, and then all of that in and of itself can lead to a C-section as well.

And then also, the pitocin itself sometimes really just is too strong for the baby, and the baby can't handle it, and it puts the baby into stress, which also causes them to call a C-section.

So lots of, lots of reasons that inductions lead to C-sections.

Just one note about C-sections.

We realize, fully realize, that C-sections are a wonderful thing that we have, that they didn't have, you know, 100 years ago, that they are a life-saving surgery, that they can save mom's life, they can save baby's life, and when absolutely necessary, yes, yay C-sections.

However, they are widely overused, especially in the United States, and even more so in some other countries around the world, like Brazil, they are widely overused, and I think because they are so common, people forget that they're still a major surgery, and there are lots of risks that come along with major surgery.

I mean, reactions to medications and surgical healing, when you have a newborn, and interfering with breastfeeding and antibiotic use, because you'll have to have that, and that affects your gut microbiome.

It affects the baby's gut microbiome.

Then people can have bladder issues, because they're hooked up to catheters.

I've seen women come home with their catheters before, because they're unable to pee after surgery.

And I mean, there's just like thing after thing after thing, risk of infection, risk of placenta accreta, where your placenta sort of like buries itself for the next baby into the scar tissue.

Like it's just like so many issues.

And then the thing is, once you have a C-section, you sort of are now risked out, quote unquote, for different types of birth.

If you want to have another baby, like you'll risk out of birth centers.

And for some, you know, some providers would risk you out of home birth.

And, you know, certain providers aren't comfortable doing V-backs, and they would just want to do C-sections forever.

Like, and that's a lot of talk that we don't have time to get into today.

But I'm just saying, having a C-section, it isn't as simple as some people would like to make it.

Now, yes, like I said, we're grateful that they're there when we absolutely need them.

But if you do not absolutely have to have one, avoiding them is best practice, okay, for mother and for baby.

The benefits of a vaginal delivery for mom and for baby are almost endless.

So, just saying that.

Now, I'm also here to say that not every induction lasts for three or four days.

Not every induction is painfully miserable and long.

Not every induction ends with an epidural.

Not every induction ends with a C-section.

I understand that.

I have been at inductions that have only lasted, you know, a few hours, where moms were perfectly happy with their experience, and they had a vaginal birth, and everything went smoothly.

But I just don't want people to think that that is the standard of care, and that that is the case for every woman, and that that's what to be expected.

Because I would say that that's more so the exception, not the role.

So just know what you're getting involved in, and all those things.

Now, let's talk about reasons for an induction.

Why would you need an induction in the first place?

Because again, this is sort of, I feel like depending on your provider is subjective.

So some people would list several other reasons that maybe I wouldn't.

So reasons for an induction.

First of all, if you have IUGR, intrauterine growth restriction, this is basically where your placenta has more or less stopped providing enough nutrients to your baby, and your baby is no longer growing at the same rate that they were before.

So like their growth has significantly slowed or stopped altogether.

Now, I do believe this is being way overdiagnosed right now, and that it's not as common as people think.

However, if you truly do truly have IUGR and your baby truly has stopped growing because your placenta truly has stopped working, then yes, it would be better to have baby on the outside than on the inside where we can feed them with milk.

So that is one reason to have an induction.

Another reason would be if your water has broken and your contractions never started.

Now, I'm not talking like five hours later they never started or 12 hours later they never started or 24 hours later they never started.

I'm talking like a couple of days later they never started.

And again, in that time, you can be doing other things to trying to get them to start, like nipple stimulation and even castor oil and stuff like that.

But if it's been 72 hours that your water has been completely broken and you still don't have any contractions going at that point, then yes, that would be a reason to induce.

The next reason would be, and this one's debatable, I'm just going to say, some people would say post dates, meaning like after 42 weeks, like you've gone beyond 42 weeks.

Now, in my opinion, as long as baby is healthy, mom is healthy, blood pressure is good, heart rate's good, all that kind of stuff, to me, that's not a legitimate reason to induce.

I know people who have gone to 43 weeks and 44 weeks, believe it or not.

So some babies genuinely just take longer than others, genuinely.

And then I know other moms who have their babies every time at like 36 weeks.

So it just depends.

I think our bodies are a little different, and while all babies are born somewhere around 40 weeks, there's a range there.

There's a range and a variation of normal.

So some take longer.

So while it's listed that a reason to induce is for being past 42 weeks, I would say on a case by case basis, as long as mom and baby are healthy, that that in and of itself is not a good enough reason.

The last reason I would say is preeclampsia.

Now, if you do have legitimate preeclampsia, which is, you know, your blood pressure is really high, you're dropping protein in your urine, and now, again, I also think this is overdiagnosed, again, just with how everything is going today.

But if you truly do truly have very high blood pressure and you have protein in your urine, this can quickly start to affect other things in your body and in baby's body, and it can lead to very dangerous outcomes quickly.

So if you do legitimately have true preeclampsia, that is also a reason that you would want to induce, okay?

So there are situations in which induction of labor is the best route to take.

But again, they're few and far between.

They're not common.

So other reasons your doctor might tell you is a good idea to induce that I completely disagree with would be things like, they're going on vacation, and you want them to be the doctor at your delivery.

I just don't think that's a good reason, okay?

But it's a reason people use all the time.

They're like, oh, well, they're going to be out of town, and I really want them to be here for my baby because I connect with them and I like them so much.

So we're going to go ahead and induce.

There's a lot I could say about that, but I just, I think that sort of speaks for itself, you know?

Another reason would be fear of big baby.

I hear that one a lot.

Well, they do an ultrasound at the end, and, oh my gosh, your baby already looks like it's going to be 10 pounds.

We better induce to get this baby out, or you're never going to be able to push it out.

Coming from somebody who has gone to 42 weeks and pushed out an almost 11 pound baby naturally without tearing, I completely disagree without reason.

Again, I think it will lead to other poorer outcomes, like c-sections or, you know, vacuum deliveries or whatever.

But I think if you just let the body do what God designed the body to do, that baby will come out.

Pending you don't have some wildly uncontrolled case of gestational diabetes, your body is not going to make a baby that you cannot push out of you.

Now, there are some times when babies get in funky positions and their heads get stuck and stuff like that, but that can happen to like a five-pound baby.

It doesn't have to be a giant baby for that to happen.

So do not let the size of the baby talk you into an induction, okay?

Those babies come out.

It really has to do much more with head position than anything else.

How much the baby weighs is not really a big factor in, you know, whether or not they will come out of you.

It really has to do with head position and then your positions when you're, you know, in that pushing stage.

Another reason they might give you would be like low fluid levels.

Again, I always just say avoid unnecessary ultrasounds or avoid ultrasounds at the end of your pregnancy or decline them, because usually if we can't see what's going on, we don't have any reason to believe that anything's wrong.

You know, if heart rate's good and blood pressure's good, there's really no reason to look at anything else.

So fluid levels vary.

They go up and down throughout the day.

It really just is your baby's urine.

They're like peeing it out and then drinking it.

It's completely sterile, but it's like they're practicing swallowing and peeing while they're inside of you.

And, but as the pregnancy goes along, they have less and less room in there, right?

Like we're sort of maxing out our capacity.

So fluid levels also not a good indication.

There's no study that is out there that proves that inducing because of low fluid levels results in better outcomes for a baby.

So just saying, that's also not a reason to induce.

Also twins, not a reason to induce, or multiples of any kind, not a reason to induce, and just because mom wants to.

Also not a good reason to induce.

Now, I will say, with all my babies, I went into labor naturally, like spontaneously.

My body went into labor for one, two, three, and four.

Now, with baby number three, I did try and take some castor oil to move things along, but it did not work.

I don't think I drank enough, by the way.

And I also didn't do the midwives cocktail.

I just did straight castor oil, but I didn't drink enough of it.

It didn't work.

And so there's that.

But for my fifth baby, I did do a self-induction, an at-home induction, because I was having a home birth.

And it was for no medical reason at all.

It was my complete end of pregnancy, out of my mind, desperate, hormonal, fragile, emotional state is what did that to me, or what I did to myself.

And it did work, and it did put me into labor, and everything went fine and smoothly.

And it was about, you know, like four or five hours of active labor, and he came out, and everything was fine.

But I will say, it's just speaking from experience, I had probably the least amount of peace during that time.

And I think it's because I tried to control the situation.

And instead of surrendering my plans to the Lord, surrendering my birth to the Lord, surrendering to his will and what he wanted for my baby, and what he wanted for me, and what he wanted for the labor experience, and when he wanted the baby to come, instead of doing that, I tried to take things into my own hands, and I lost all of that supernatural peace.

So if you truly do not have a legitimate medical reason to induce and to get your baby out before God says it's time, I really, really, really couldn't stress enough.

Don't do it, okay?

To me, there's just something so special.

And again, God has had to teach me in every single labor.

He has had to teach me lesson after lesson after lesson.

He's had to teach me trust and surrender each and every time.

And it's like, you would think five babies in, I would be a pro at this, a pro at leaning on the Lord and at trusting God and His will.

But I'm telling you, it's like, he still has more to teach me each and every time.

And I'm just saying, there's something so special about allowing God to be the one to do what he does, which is to choose our baby's birthday, which is to choose when we go into labor, to choose when he deems that it's time for your baby to be born, instead of us.

There's so many things in life that we already try to control, that we should be surrendering to the Lord.

But to me, this is just another level.

And again, speaking from experience, I've done it both ways.

And it's hard to say I fully regret, because that makes I just, I feel bad for Indy when I say that for my baby.

But I do.

I regret inducing myself, because I didn't have a reason to do it, and I didn't feel peace about it.

Other people have a complete peace about it with the Lord.

And that's between them and God.

If they feel like that's what the Lord is telling them to do, or that the Lord is guiding them in that direction for whatever reason, then great.

But if you've thought about it, prayed about it, you have no reasons to induce, you have no peace from the Lord about it, He's not telling you, then I just say, I would do everything you can to avoid an induction.

I do have a few tips about avoiding unnecessary inductions because I think people, a lot of first-time moms or a lot of people with, just like a hospital provider, think that, oh no, I won't agree to an induction, or they won't pressure me into that, or it won't be a big deal.

And then they're really caught off guard at 39 weeks when their provider brings it up.

So let's just talk about this.

First, I would choose a provider with a low induction rate, okay?

You can ask, you can ask the providers what their induction rates are, what their c-section rates are.

If you're at a birth center, or if you're with a home birth midwife, and asking them what their transfer rates are, or just asking them, like, at what point would you induce?

Do you have a time clock?

Do you have, like, what parameters basically do you have around induction?

Ask, ask, ask, ask, ask.

And it is never too late to change providers.

I will say that.

I have seen people change providers in the middle of labor.

So it is never too late to change providers.

So just think about that, okay?

Also, maintaining a good relationship with that provider and keeping a constant line of communication going.

Because if you're speaking about this from the beginning, and you're talking about it throughout your whole pregnancy, it's not going to—no one's going to be blindsided at the end.

But what happens a lot of time is, there's just so much good surface level chatting about the weather talk that you never talk about anything serious.

And then when you get to the end of your pregnancy, your provider is saying, okay, let's go ahead and schedule an induction for Monday.

And you're like, wait, what?

I don't want to do that.

And they're like, well, yeah, but I don't really feel comfortable with you going past 41 weeks or whatever the case is.

So a lot of people I find are surprised when the providers that they've had such a great relationship with are pushing induction on them at the end.

Now remember, those providers are usually part of a practice that usually have some sort of induction policy that the practice adheres to.

So again, asking these questions ahead of time and asking them throughout the pregnancy and not just waiting till the end.

Also maintain a healthy diet and exercise level, because a lot of times, things that can lead to induction suggestion would be like, oh, well, you have gestational diabetes, so your baby's probably going to be bigger, so we should probably induce.

Which again, that's not a reason for induction.

Or preeclampsia, again, reason for induction.

But diet and activity level have a lot to do with getting gestational diabetes or getting preeclampsia in the first place.

So if you're eating well, exercising well, you know, drinking water, staying hydrated, all these things, that can reduce your chances of induction, unnecessary inductions.

Also, understanding informed consent.

So just because your doctor suggests it does not mean that it is the law.

It does not mean you have to do it.

So having an open dialogue with them, asking for real, what are the risks?

What are the benefits?

What are your statistics?

How many of these end in C-sections?

Like just having an open conversation and understanding that you have a right to be informed from them on anything that they are suggesting to do.

Like I said before, avoiding unnecessary ultrasounds at the end of your pregnancy.

So simply agreeing to an ultrasound can increase your chances of getting induced because they can find something on there that they would like to induce you for.

So if you just don't get that ultrasound at all, then there's no reason to induce you.

A lot of times, if you just listen to the baby's heart rate, and we know the baby's good, you can feel the baby, the baby's moving, mom's blood pressure is good, everything.

Okay, that's all we need to know.

The baby will come out when the baby is ready to come out.

And lastly, not assuming that your due date is accurate.

Okay, due dates can truly be off by a couple of weeks, in either direction.

So a lot of times you could think, oh, well, I think I'm due around this time, or maybe you had a dating ultrasound, or maybe you think you ovulated, whatever.

Whatever the case may be, due dates are not perfect, and they can be off by a couple of weeks.

So imagine if your due date is off by two weeks.

Say you think you're 40 weeks, but you're really only 38 weeks.

But maybe your baby wasn't planning on coming until 42 weeks, and then you agree to an induction for whatever reason, and then you have that baby, it ends in a C-section, and baby ends up in the NICU.

That's the other thing.

NICU stays have increased dramatically since induction rates have increased.

They've gone hand in hand because those babies are being born before they're ready.

Not all of them, but a lot of them are being born before they're ready, and then they're having respiratory issues, and sometimes heart rate issues, and just issues that they wouldn't be having had they been allowed to finish properly developing in mom, you know, in the womb, where they're protected, and where God is knitting them together.

Remember, a lot of these providers, when you are induced, you are on a predictable schedule.

They know when you're going to be there.

They feel like they know about how long it might take, and it's a lot easier to predict when they're going to need to be in the hospital to get your baby out, okay?

Whereas, if you go into labor spontaneously on your own a lot of times, that's a middle of the night, 2 a.m., 3 a.m.

thing, which isn't as much fun to be woken up in the middle of the night and called in to deliver a baby.

That truly is real.

Like, you'll see, if you look at rates of inductions in C-sections and stuff like that, in the US., the lowest rate you'll see is on Christmas, by the way, because who wants to come in and deliver a baby on Christmas?

You will see higher rates for Monday mornings, during the day, and throughout the actual work week.

If, and like I'm saying, if it is not medically necessary, if it's not an absolute, they're not going to schedule it at an inconvenient time for them.

So just kind of put two and two together there and think, do I really need to be having this done if we're just waiting for the schedule?

Or a lot of times, I've heard other people say, well, yeah, I'm supposed to be induced, but I'm on a waiting list.

They're going to call me whenever they have enough room and we'll just come in.

And not like a waiting list for the next couple of hours, but a waiting list for the next several days.

And to me, that shouts, this isn't necessary.

If you're just being waited to call in for an open bed.

So think about all those things, okay?

The last thing I will say is, if you are facing some kind of medical induction, or it's been scheduled, it's been on the schedule, pray.

Pray to the Lord.

Do you have a piece about this?

What is the Holy Spirit telling you to do?

Should you go through with it or not?

Because you don't actually, just because your doctor schedules an induction, if you do not feel like it is necessary, you don't have to go.

Okay?

You are the patient.

You are, they work for you.

Okay?

You're paying them to do this job, to help you through this.

So if, but if you don't agree, or you don't feel a piece about it, you don't have to go get induced.

You can wait.

You can wait until your body is ready.

All right?

If for some reason you do, like we said, one of those medical reasons, you do have to go be induced, or it's scheduled for the next day or whatever, there are some things that you can do to try and get your body ready, okay?

Or if you, you know, say you're having like a birth center birth, or a home birth, and you're not gonna be, or you're trying to avoid, you know, going to the hospital to get induced, or you may be on some kind of clock because you have a certified nurse midwife and you have to be delivered by 42 weeks, or they have to transfer you, or whatever the case is.

There are some things you can be doing to help your body with that.

Things like, this is gonna sound funny if you haven't heard it, but things like eating dates.

I don't know why, but there are multiple studies out there that confirm that eating dates, six a day, it says starting at 36 weeks, lowers your rates of induction, meaning it increases your rates of spontaneous delivery, and I think shortens your labors too.

It has something to do, I think it has something to do with oxytocin and your uterus and the efficiency of it and everything.

But anyways, I will just say that is something.

No, that's not something that's gonna work the night before.

Like if you're ready for an induction tomorrow morning, don't eat six dates and think anything's gonna happen.

That's something to be doing like, starting at 34, 35, 36 weeks, somewhere in there.

Also, red raspberry leaf tea.

Now, this is anecdotal, I will say, but the pregnancies that I've taken red raspberry leaf tea, in preparation, my labors have been much shorter and more efficient.

I did not go into labor any sooner, but when I did go into labor, the labor itself was shorter, and I felt like my contractions were a lot more efficient, like just stronger.

So, anecdotally, I will say, I think it helped, and if I ever get pregnant again, I will be taking red raspberry leaf tea for sure.

Other things, they say walking.

Well, that's more so just to make sure baby is like getting good position, you know, with your hips moving back and forth, head going down, that's the ideal thing.

If you're laying down all the time, you know, there's less pressure on your cervix, less ability for baby to get in the right position, so that's where the walking thing comes from.

The mile circuit, we've talked about that throughout lots of different birth stories on here, but just I'll link the mile circuit in the show notes, but that's just a series of positions to help make sure that the baby's in a good position.

So like you get into three different positions for 30 minutes each, and it's going to help make sure baby's in the optimal position for labor.

And sometimes, that's all it takes.

And once baby's in the right position, then your body just sort of kicks into gear.

Some people like to do acupressure, acupuncture.

A lot of times, this can just bring on contractions.

There are certain spots that if you press on, it can bring on contractions, but it may or may not do anything.

We experimented with it, I think, in my second labor or second pregnancy.

And it was like contractions would come, and then when you were done, they would just stop.

So again, it's something where if your body's not really ready, it's not really going to work, you can try it.

You can try it.

Nipple stimulation.

Now, this is something that tends to be more effective only because biologically speaking, it is activating oxytocin.

So just like after your baby's born, when they're suckling at the breast, it's releasing oxytocin into your system.

Well, when that oxytocin is being released, that's what allows the milk to come down.

But if you're still pregnant, it's going to initiate a contraction because that oxytocin is going to contract your uterus.

So when you're stimulating the nipples, it's releasing the oxytocin, you're contracting, so on and so forth.

Sometimes, that's all it takes.

You can do it manually.

You can have your partner do it.

You can do it with a breast pump, a double electric breast pump.

But also, sometimes, it can make your contractions really strong, and so you might want to back off of that.

But I've seen a lot of times in the past that if you're not already in labor, a lot of times nipple stimulation will bring on contractions while you're doing it, and then when you stop stimulating the nipples, the contractions just sort of fizzle out and fade out.

I've seen it be more effective if you're in early labor or something, and you're trying to move labor along.

Then I've seen nipple stimulation help your contractions to sort of pick up and organize and get closer together and stuff like that.

There are definitely other things, too.

Sex, obviously, is probably number one recommendation, only because it's very natural, very normal, and it involves a lot of hormones for the baby and for you and just everything.

So your husband's semen will actually help soften your cervix, will help efface it, it'll help to thin it out.

It's got lots of hormones in it.

It has a stronger effect than like evening primrose oil.

A lot of people will use that to try and soften the cervix, which does help, I think, especially inserting it vaginally, but semen is much more effective at doing that.

But then also if you have an orgasm, then that will release oxytocin, which will again help contract the uterus.

So it's just lots of hormones working together to stimulate things.

So sex is often helpful.

Even if it doesn't necessarily put you into labor, it's going to get you one step closer.

That's for sure.

And then there's the midwife's brew or the midwife's cocktail.

This is just a combination of things that involves castor oil being the main ingredient, but it has some other ingredients in there to help the castor oil be more effective than just taking straight castor oil, to help it be a little more gentle on your body so you're not either as nauseated or so that you're not hooping as much, and so that you're not kind of as miserable with that, but enough to still like keep the castor oil in there long enough to stimulate the bowels, to stimulate the intestines, and to stimulate your uterus into contracting.

So that tends to be very effective.

I would say that's a last resort.

I would say to only use that if you are like with a certified nurse midwife, and she's going to drop you as a client, if you don't go into labor in the next 24 hours, at that point, then okay.

Then take that midwife's brew.

But again, just in all these different things, in all these different methods, in all these different ways, all these different, like just everything that we've said today, have a peace about it from the Lord before you move forward.

Because I don't want you looking back, like me, and regretting the steps that you took, or regretting the decisions that you made.

I want you to be able to enjoy the experience knowing that you have the will of the Lord at the center of it.

I talk about all of this a little bit, in a little bit more detail in my class.

So I teach like a comprehensive Christian childbirth class, and we go over all of this and more.

We actually get a little more down to the nitty gritty and talk about a few more things about induction, believe it or not, in the class.

But this is something that I do always tell everybody in my class, is that average first-time moms, if left undisturbed, meaning you don't mess with anything, they have their babies at 41 weeks in 3 days.

That's an average, okay?

So give or take, 41 weeks in 3 days is the average.

So I always say expect to go at least 42 weeks, and then just be pleasantly surprised if your baby comes any sooner.

And we also say, you know, it's nice to schedule things so that you're not focused on the baby not coming yet.

So just put something every day to do on your calendar, something that you have to look forward to so that you're not focusing on the fact that your baby isn't there yet.

And schedule a really fun due date date.

So schedule a date with your husband on your due date to go out and do something really fun so that you're not focused on the fact that you're still pregnant, for sure.

I found honestly the best thing to do is to just relax whenever and all my other, all my other labors, pregnancies, whenever I would just sort of give up control, surrender to the Lord and relax and just be at peace, that's when my babies would come.

I could share more about induction, but I think at this point, if I share much more, it's like you might as well just take the birth class because we talk about all of this and more.

Thank you so much for listening to today's episode.

You can reach me at Surrendered Birth Services on Instagram, or email me at contact at surrenderedbirthservices.com.

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