The headline “The ARRIVE Trial: Induction at 39 weeks leads to lower cesarean rate” may have caught your eye in the last few months. It may have also left you confused, wondering what to do with these new findings and what does all this mean for pregnancy, due dates and physiological births.
In this episode of Yoga | Birth | Babies, I speak with childbirth educator, Labor Support Doula, Doula Trainer and Breastfeeding Counselor, Bonu deCaires. Bonu and I unpack the findings of the ARRIVE study and carefully examine how to approach these results and how this may unfold in current day obstetrics. If you are a pregnant person or a birth worker, this rich discussion will shed some light on interpreting this new study and how that may effect the expectations of labor and induction.
In this episode:
- How Bonu found her passion as a birth worker and educator.
- The ARRIVE study and the findings from this trial
- Understanding the full parameters of this study and are they able to put into practice at busy metropolitan hospitals?
- How the findings of this study differ from the practice of waiting for labor to start on its own.
- How obstetricians and midwife are incorporating this new study into their practice.
- Could this help the cesarean rate decrease?
- Other methods besides induction at 39 weeks that have proven to decrease cesarean rates
- The response to the ARRIVE trial by ACOG and ACNM
- As a birth worker, how Bonu is seeing this implemented into practice
- How the pregnant person may interpret this study or the desire to follow the outcome of this study
- Is this new suggestion for 39 week induction harming the idea of physiologic care in childbirth
- Who might benefit from using the parameters of the ARRIVE study and opting into induction at 39 weeks
- The benefits to awaiting labor to start on its own
- How this study may change the way elective induction and physiological birth are being taught childbirth education class
- How this study may negatively effect pregnant people of color or non-English speaking people
- Finding Bonu’s work!
About Bonu deCaires:
Bonu deCaires is a childbirth educator, Labor Support Doula, Doula Trainer and Breastfeeding Counselor. Her educational background is in the sciences, she holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Amherst College, and a master’s in nutritional science from The University of Massachusetts. She is certified as a childbirth educator through The Childbirth Education Association of Metropolitan New York and has served on their Board of Directors and Education Committee. She also mentors new educators during their certification process and after. She is certified as a labor support doula and labor doula trainer through Doulas of North America. She has been working in the childbirth field full time for more than a decade, has taught thousands of couples in group and private classes, and has served as a professional doula at close to 500 births. She currently teaches group classes at Pregnancy and Parenting. Bonu is a supporter of Mother Health International and the Bumi Sehat Foundation, two organizations that provide maternity services to underserved populations.
