How can you induce a woman to go into labor, and why would a doctor induce someone instead of just letting them give birth whenever it happens naturally?

Question

How can you induce a woman to go into labor, and why would a doctor induce someone instead of just letting them give birth whenever it happens naturally?

In: Biology

Answer 1

The biggest and most common reason is because placentas have veins and arteries that age at a way faster rate than all the other blood vessels in your body. Like “old people” vessels, they become stiff and narrow, and less and less efficient at doing what they need to do to support a baby. If the placenta “dies” before the baby is born from spontaneous labour, the baby will die because it won’t be able to get the oxygen and nutrients it needs. This is the cause of a lot of stillbirths. We know that the longer a pregnancy goes on, the more likely the placenta is to “get old” and cause the baby to die. So by looking at all the data you can pinpoint the exact time in which the risk of stillbirth starts to become higher than the risk of complications from induction. At that point most drs will suggest induction. The date we use when I work is 41 3/7 days gestation or 10 days past due

The way we do inductions where I work is like this

First we assess the woman’s cervix to see if it is “ready” for labour. When someone has had a few babies before or if their body is pretty close to going into labour on it’s own the cervix becomes “soft” or “ripe”. I explain it to patients as kind of like making sure the door is unlocked before you try to open it. If the woman’s cervix isn’t ready, we place a medication inside her vagina up beside the cervix which causes cramping that softens/ripens the cervix. This often takes 12-24 hours so we usually watch people for a few hours after giving it and then send them home. If her cervix is “ready” then we admit her and start an iv and administer oxytocin which is the chemical the brain releases to cause contractions. We start at a low dose and then turn it up every 30-60 minutes to mimic how the brain releases increasing amounts of oxytocin. We monitor the baby to make sure it is not in distress as well as of course the mother. We check every 4 hours or so (or sooner if the woman is saying or showing signs that things are moving quickly) to make sure the oxytocin is working to open up her cervix. We do all the normal things to help the woman cope with labour. Eventually she will feel the urge to push and yeah etc baby happens the end