Deck the Halls with Healthy Babies ; Holiday Inductions
Hey, Village. Yall ready for the holidays?
If the fall/winter holidays are things that you look forward to, I am sure at this point you already have it planned out or at least an idea of what those special days are going to look like. Maybe your homegirl is having a “Friendsgiving''. Oh, and let’s get into these ugly Christmas sweater parties, OK?! Those are my faves.
With holidays and shit coming up, I want to talk about something to consider when visiting your medical provider. Because guess what? Doctors and medical providers have family and friends that they want to spend time with also. There aren’t many doctors who want to be pacing the halls on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s. So, it’s not uncommon at all to see a big ass surge of people with healthy pregnancies suddenly being told so bullshit and to consider an induction. We gotta remember that they are human but then there’s that, “Well.. Your ass chose to be a doctor”. Manipulating someone’s birthing experience to drink eggnog and eat turkey is fucked up.
I think it is very important to ask your birth team how they feel about possibly having to deliver your baby on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and/or New Year’s Eve/Day. Induction rates tend to rise at the end of the year because doctors want to control the days they have to deliver on. I got to be real and say that I didn’t really notice at first because I would take a lot of that time off. This provided me time to give myself grace, yanno? Chill with my family and friends. However, last year, I had three births in a five week span. As you know by now, 2020 was a bitch. It changed so much. There was no way I was going to leave my birthing family vulnerable in a global crisis when I know they are scared and need me. And man… I am so glad they had me. Out of those three births, all three of those medical providers were pressuring my clients for induction.
After that experience and hearing it from my other doula friends… I needed to dive in head first.
Where else to start than to research popular birthdays? I found a graph on Reader’s Digest that shows a map of the number of babies that were born over a ten year span.
The darker the color is on the date, the more the number of births. If the date is lighter, the fewer numbers of birth that the date had. Look at the end of November and dates around Christmas. That shit is wild to me. That’s when doctors will start talking that shit about “your baby is measuring big” or if you are a day or two past your due date… they will start suggesting moving things along. It’s great to know anyway but when those pressures start to come up, it’s imperative to know what is considered “medically valid reason to induce.”
According to my good sis, Lamaze International, induced labor can pose health risks for you and your baby. Cause all of those medical interventions are not even fucking necessary most of the time. Advocate for yourself and be in control of your birthing experience, sis. However… sometimes the baby may not give a fuck about your birth plan. So…in some situations, to be induced is the best and safest option.
You may need to begin labor artificially if:
You’re showing very little signs of labor by 42 confirmed weeks of pregnancy.
You have a medical illness that is not responding to treatment.
There’s too much protein in your urine or high blood pressure (also known as preeclampsia). This has a chokehold on us black women. Ima talk more about that tho.
Your labor isn’t starting on its own after your water breaks, and you have a Group B Strep positive culture. But this is a tricky one.
You have a uterine infection.
Your baby’s growth has been slow for his or her age.
You must advocate for yourself. You still have so much control over your birth even if your due date is one of the dates we know tends to have fewer births. Be sure to do your homework on knowing how to advocate for yourself. I would love to be a part of your birth team to be with you--in-person or virtual doula support. Make a birth plan and discuss with your provider beforehand.
At the end of the day, this is your shit. You call the shots. The biggest and most powerful tool that you can have is your knowledge. The more prepared you are, the better you will be at navigating these conversations with healthcare providers. And if you need help with feeling confident in that space.. Let me know. That’s what I am here for, love.
Love,
Your Doula
