@milestide25 Aww, I'm sorry that you couldn't have the home birth like you wanted to!! I really hope you can do it next time 😊 I'm planning a homebirth too, despite it being very frowned upon in the country where I live!

I refused induction. I wanted an all natural birth and that's what I got! I wanted to do a home birth, though, but that is illegal in my state. there is a neighboring state that allows it and I will travel across lines to give birth at a birthing center next time.

@loveless Okay that explains most of my questions thanks so much! It really is pretty messed up, but it's all a learning curve.. We women who have seen through the illusion have responsibility on our hands. It's great that we can raise our own awareness as it'll impact the world's awareness in the long term. Times are shifting, we are being shaken up real good this time around, so there's a lot of both massive change and refusal to change going on!!

the truth is the birth system in America is fucked up. and I've only recently came to this realization that it is particularly this system that is the main cog that works the gears in the way this country is run.. and it starts by controlling the manner in which people birth for the way you choose to birth a human being in this world can impact the whole of a generation

midwifery in this country itself is rather political

I could tell you all about why there are so many cesareans and inductions and only in this country is it like this, it goes very deep. in America with a midwife legally they are required to transfer their care over to the hospital once the woman is over 42 weeks, not doing so results in losing their license and ending their midwifery practice, so a lot of midwives will push to induce labor at 40 weeks just so they can provide the woman they are caring for the birth she wants. and you are correct there is no reason for women not to go over 42 weeks, it is perfectly okay and actually normal. I gave birth at 47 weeks (gestational) if I had a midwife that would have never happened, in hospital setting you can push the doctors to allow you to go over 42 weeks but it takes a lot of effort on your part. the fear is that your baby will be stillborn, not very likely, and that your amniotic fluid begins to drop, more likely but that is why water intake is so important especially in the 3rd trimester. the thing is doctors in America instill a lot of fear to the pregnant world, insurance companies pay a role in this too.

@emkasting Well, that's what they say, and im sure it's true in various cases, but there's research to contradict absolutely everything out there that we'd take as ultimate truth. So, I'm just saying we don't need to believe everything that doctors say. However obviously, if we don't first educate ourselves on the subject, it most often makes more sense to go with the recommendations.

& no midwife would get paid to promote induction, I promise. a midwife would have absolutely nothing to gain by offering induction. My midwife in particular is all about natural birth and natural parenting, things like that. She only recommends induction when it is really medically necessary. Most midwives are that way. OB's are more likely to induce women at 38 or 39 weeks, but a midwife will normally let you go to 42 weeks. But beyond that it gets pretty dangerous for the baby. The risk of swallowing meconium goes up, another thing that I worry about. It can be fatal. That's the only reason I'm going for the induction, because I know my midwife wouldn't recommend it if it wasn't necessary and because I don't want to put baby in danger :)

Girl that is SUPER dangerous. No doctor in this day & age would let a woman go past 43 weeks. There are WAY too many risks associated with letting a pregnancy go that long. After 42 weeks the placenta essentially starts to die. I would never put my child in danger like that. I could go to 42 weeks but that's only 3 days longer than I'm already going, he is big.

@emkasting Yeah I agree, it confuses me a little that people wouldn't want to go natural. Are you sure you have to get induced? I've known women who gave birth naturally at 45 weeks. I'd question what any doctors or midwives say because sometimes they're paid to promote induction.. If you trust your midwives though, definitely go for it. I wish you well hun 😊

I'm SO upset that I have to be induced. I am over a week past my due date and my midwife thinks it would be the safest thing. But I've seen a couple girls on here say they are opting to be induced or opting for a c section and I just don't understand that. To each their own I guess but I can't understand why someone would choose not to go natural!