Childbirth

Inducing Labor

When your due date arrives and your labor is not starting on its own, the need for inducing labor arises as a way to help you deliver your baby vaginally. From myth and tales, like those passed through generations, to medication and diverse techniques, doctors and midwives can make a woman's labor start with the so-called labor induction.

Folklore talks about tying up a pregnant woman to a rock in an open field and pulling it along like horses did for plowing until the very last minute to induce her labor. Modern techniques are far away from those Indian and Pilgrim's practices performed centuries ago, but demonstrating the concern around pregnancy and methods to help both the mother and the baby to reach a happy end.

Today, medicines are the first option to induce contractions, although Alternative Medicine suggests a number of natural techniques not involving any medication. However, a pregnant woman can also use instinctive procedures to speed up the labor, when its progress is stopped for some reason.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, labor induction is performed in 1 out of every 5 births in the United States . Usually, you will not be able to know if your labor will be induced or not until the moment when the risks of prolonging your pregnancy can be higher than those of delivering your baby right away.

Doctors or midwives will proceed to induce the labor when your water breaks but the labor does not start on its own after waiting for a determined amount of time, which would be normal in your particular situation. Labor is usually induced when pregnancy has gone 2 weeks or more past the due date, because the longer the waiting time, the more chances of health risk for the mother and the baby.

Carrying your baby more than the expected due date can also make your baby grow too big, and you body will not be able to produce enough food from inside your body, particularly if your placenta is not functioning properly for whatever reason, diminishing the amniotic fluid.

Another common cause in recommending labor induction are high blood pressure, gestational diabetes or other types of diabetes, preeclampsia, acute or chronic illness, a serious infection, or if you have previously had a full-term stillbirth.

Techniques to induce labor depend on the condition of your cervix at the time of the due date. Such procedures may include medications with hormones to promote the cervix to start softening or using mechanical methods to ripen the cervix before starting the induction.

Other non-conventional techniques can also trigger your own body's induction to labor, including nipple stimulation or having sexual intercourse, which may not be comfortable but the prostaglandin in the semen of your partner is able to promote your contractions after the orgasm.