Summer fun is calling, and I am taking some time off of recording new podcasts to be with my family. In the meantime, I’m re-releasing some of my favorite episodes. Enjoy!
According to the Listening to Mothers iii Survey, 41% of the people indicated that their care provider tried to induce their labor, with three out of four of those women (74%) indicating that it did start labor, resulting in an overall rate of medically induced labor of 30%.
In this episode of Yoga | Birth | Babies, I speak with midwife, writer and presenter, Dr Rachel Reed. She speaks very candidly about medical induction and augmentation of labor. Dr Reed explains why and how a medical induction is performed and the precautions of pitocin. For any pregnant mother, birth worker or support person, this episode will give you a lot to ponder.
In this Episode:
- What brought Rachel to practicing midwifery.
- The process and hormones of a spontaneous physiological birth and how that differs from a medical induction
- The definition of medically necessary induction
- Medically justified reasons for an induction
- “Suspected big baby” and going post date- How a mother advocate for herself care if she is feeling pressured to be induced for these reasons
- The process of beginning medical induction from scratch
- The role pitocin should play in labor
- Statistics for how often pitocin is involved in labor
- Side effects of pitocin – are women given informed consent to these side effects
- The cascade of interventions and the relationship of induction to the necessity of other interventions
- Option for a mother facing medical induction
- Is there such a thing as “natural induction”
- “DIY” induction methods
- What Dr Reed is up to now with her blog and book!
About Dr. Rachel Reed :
Dr Rachel Reed is a Senior Lecturer and Discipline Leader in Midwifery at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. She has practiced midwifery in a range of models and settings in the United Kingdom and Australia. Rachel is committed to the promotion of physiological birth, and of women’s innate ability to birth and mother. She is a writer and presenter, and is the author of the MidwifeThinking.com.
Connect with Dr. Reed:
Facebook/Twitter: @MidwifeThinking