WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR DOCTOR KEEPS PUSHING INDUCTION

In the hospital, I was surprised by absolutely every step. Disoriented and confused, I realized that all of my groundwork had not prepared me for the reality of a medicalized birth. In my disbelief, I wondered why no one had explained any of this to me, despite being given every opportunity. And that first birth experience left me traumatized.

I was as naive as the next first-time-mom. It was 2020 and I was pregnant with my first daughter. I did all the things that I thought I was supposed to do in order to prepare for an empowered birth. I read lots of books, watched YouTube videos, met with multiple doulas (before the pandemic shut the world down) and selected the one that I thought would best support me. I practiced yoga, exercised regularly, decorated my nursery and planned to the best of my ability.

But in the end, I learned this the hard way...

THE RIGHT INFORMATION IS NOT ENOUGH TO SAVE YOU

Once I had recovered from my crash landing into motherhood, and decided to have a second baby, I promised myself to do everything differently. I took a completely different, more empowered approach. I positioned myself as the one in charge. I found and read information that was actually relevant to my situation, and the pregnancy was full of all kinds of complications, twists and turns.

THE INDUCTION CONVERSATION

Due to my pre-existing chronic hypertension, I had high risk pregnancies. The standard practise for women in my condition, is to recommend a medical labour induction. So, for me, the induction conversation came up in every single appointment I had with every single practitioner that I saw during those long 9 months. It was exhausting, but I held strong. In the end I became an expert at navigating those conversations. As a result, I made a huge realization that was missing from every birth course, doula reel and pregnancy book.

THE MISSING KEY

Your doctor is a human too, with hopes and fears, protocols, experiences and biases. The key to navigating the conversation is to become curious about what it is that they are scared of and what it is that they are trying to avoid from happening.

It's not about compromising. Getting curious about your doctor's fears helps you to understand the obstacles so you can navigate around them.

I started asking questions. I was planning a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). I asked my doctor, in his almost 40 years as an obstetric doctor, if he had ever seen a uterine rupture? His answer was no and he added that he didn't believe any of his colleagues had ever seen one either. He answered my question, but in doing so, also reassured himself that maybe this wasn't our biggest concern.

Not to minimize the very real risk of uterine rupture during a VBAC (or quite frankly, any kind of birth because they aren't exclusive to VBAC), but it wasn't on the top of my list. I had other more pressing complications that had a higher possibility of happening to me. I was much more concerned about addressing these other serious possibilities.

Once I had figured out what events he was scared of happening, I addressed each of them directly in my birth plan. This part took real hard work. Doctors tend not to be forthcoming about your options, or they wait until the thing is actually happening to bring them up. So I tried adding different contingency plans to my birth plan. And every appointment I would bring them up and get his feedback. Sometimes he would get hung up on the wording and that would be an easy fix. Sometimes I had to come up with something else completely.

Every conversation was a consent conversation. Because true informed consent absolutely cannot happen in a single 5 minute chat before a decision is made.

I was very careful not to compromise on what I wanted, and was happy to let go of things that weren't important to me. I had my main, "this is what I want to happen", birth plan. Then I had back up plans for each hypothetical situation. Lastly a list of "I absolutely do not want" interventions. Guess what... a medical labour induction was on that list. My back up plan was an unscheduled repeat cesarean. I consulted with a local obstetrician and he agreed to this plan.

PRIORITIZE COLLABORATION

In today's polarized society, the messages in the birth world tend to be a very divided "us-versus-them" mentality. But your doctor is not your enemy, and vice versa. This is a collaboration, that requires you to bring your care provider onto the same page as you, as the primary decision maker. Because ultimately, you are the one who is responsible for the outcome, for better or worse.

THE PAYOFF

The results of this approach were astounding. My doctor, not only supported my absolutely extraordinary plan, but advocated for me with all of his colleagues at the hospital. They all knew who I was and what I wanted. In the end I had my dream birth.

Read My Birth Story Here

So when the inevitable induction conversation comes up for you, don't panic, instead get curious. And dream away because you are not limited by what someone else thinks might happen to you. Look inside yourself and decide what is true for you. That is real empowerment.