Five questions to ask if you’re offered an induction.
What are the best questions to ask if you are offered an induction?
When you are offered an induction, before you approve, ask these all important questions to gather all the information you need.
Firstly, It is important to ask ‘why’? Why are you being offered an induction in the first place? Is there a medical reason? You have time to think about accepting or not so it is important to gather as much information as you need. It is also important to note that if it was a medical emergency, they wouldn’t offer you an induction, you’d be offered a caeserean section.
Once you know why you are being offered an induction, the next question to ask is, ‘what are the benefits’? Ask for details about the benefits with evidence. Good practitioners will be happy to share evidence with you and discuss your options in an open way so be alert for those that don’t!
This question is followed on nicely with ‘what are the risks’? If they tell you that your chances of X will be doubled, if you don’t accept an induction, ask for the actual statistics. If that first statistic was for example, 1% and it doubles to 2%, it’s up to you to decide whether that is high risk or not.
The fourth question to ask is ‘what are the pros and cons’? This is different from the benefits and risks. You are asking now about how it will impact your birth experience. Induced labour isn’t like a spontaneous labour. Instead of your natural birth hormone oxytocin kicking in, you will have the synthetic version Syntocinon.
The final question you should ask is about the induction process itself. ‘What does the process involve’? Don’t be afraid to keep asking about this as it’s important you know what the process involves so that you can make those informed decisions for yourself.
I hope that these questions will help you consider and explore your options when it comes to an induction of labour. For more information on the Induction of labour, please visit Dr Sara Wickham’s website.
