INDUCE:
verb
gerund or present participle: inducing
succeed in persuading or leading (someone) to do something.
“the pickets induced many workers to stay away”
bring about or give rise to.
“none of these measures induced a change of policy”
Typically used in the context of artificially bringing about the beginning labour.
I think many, many doulas and midwives would agree that every day, in every way,
women are being induced to be induced.
Much better to pop it out before it gets too big, eh?
So much nicer to know the day your baby will be born. We can make a plan and know where we stand
If you’re anxious, we can start the process for you if you like
I’ll just pop your name on the induction list and get that all booked in for you
Just to be on the safe side, eh? We have to err on the side of caution
We need to get your baby out now
You are high risk
You wouldn’t want anything to happen
We don’t do that hereIt’s hospital policyYour placenta will fail
We have toWe need toI’m just going toRelax, just relax
You are too old and too young, you are too fat and too thin, you are diabetic, you have mental health, it’s your first baby and your 4th, your baby is too small and too big, you have too much water and not enough. You will never give birth on your own. You will bleed to death. You can’t have babies vaginally.
there’s no choice here you are going to have to be induced
I’d prefer not, you say…
I’m afraid that is not possibleI’m not authorized to allow thatDid the consultant give you permission?Does your husband think this is a good idea?
Tell your wife to be sensible
Do you want your baby to die?
I’m afraid I will have to refer you to Social Services
We have a legal obligation to….
Listen, this is not a prison. Of course you can go home anytime. But are you going to come back in two days with a dead fetus inside you and say I didn’t warn you?
And when a mother has been induced to be induced, she is booked in with a smile and not told…
Not told about the wards, bursting at the seams
Not told about the 4-hourly vaginal exams, the drips, the monitoring belts, the coming and going, the changing of shifts
Induction is a choice. An item on the menu.
Choose according to your circumstances, preferences and instincts.
Choose based on information that is as factual as possible.
Choose based on the pros and cons.
Choose knowing the actual chances of various things happening (absolute not relative risk).
Choose knowing your care is being individualised to you.
Choose knowing that you are not being processed on a one-side-fits-all conveyor belt.
Choose knowing no one has a crystal ball.
Choose after conversations with people who are not crippled with fear.
Choose trusting yourself and your caregivers.
Choose having been given time and physical space and privacy.
Choose in the knowledge that you are the expert in your own baby.
Most of all, choose freely, without manipulation, coercion, blackmail, cul de sacs, fait accomplis, fearmongering, dead baby cards, well meaning platitudes, patronising exchanges, mansplaining, blinding with science, a sense of obligation to your caregiver, fear of being punished, or fear of having your children removed.
Because there is something worse than a difficult choice. There is having no choice at all.
Please offer with kindness and compassion. With intelligent conversation pitched correctly.
Offer after asking lots of open questions and finding out how this person feels and what they want ideally. Explore their situation and provide facts, statistics, and information.
Be able to admit what you don’t know and can’t predict.
Offer whilst listening, intently and with empathy.
Offer knowing her human rights and offer understanding that she has full agency and dominion over her own body and baby.
Offer because in your clinical judgement, she deserves this choice, not merely because the guidelines tell you to.
Please offer gently, because this person in front of you is vulnerable and will remember your words for the rest of her life.
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