The Birth Lounge Blog

Failed Inductions: What You Need to Know When we talk about inductions, we often speak of them like they are 100% guaranteeing us a baby at the end. While this is true most of the time, you’d probably be surprised to learn that indcutins can fail and you may be sent home to wait it out a bit longer. Or, if the option isn’t presented to you, you can ask or take yourself home. It is important to ensure that you and your baby are safe to go home.There are thousands of women each year that experience a failed induction and it can be very hard emotionally.  What is a failed induction? A failed induction is the inability to reach active labor while being induced . There is a certain process we want to take when it comes to induction. I call this your ‘individual induction equation.’ It’s truly individual to you and you get to introduce various induction methods as you see fit which makes your equation unique to you. First we want to ripen the cervix--it needs to be soft. You have options...

The Arrive Study I get asked A LOT about The ARRIVE Study . It’s a hot topic. For some people they are thrilled to hear there is science backing up an induction and some folks are terrified because they feel pressure from their provider and don’t feel aligned with a 39-week induction. Before we dive into the issues with this study. Let’s take a look at the history that you should know.  Around 41% of all pregnant people will have an induction suggested to them and 44% of those will be because you’re close to your due date or ‘full term.’ (quotations because we think one absolute date determines a baby’s readiness to be born and that’s simply not how it works) This means almost half of all labors are suggested to be medically initiated….where has our trust in ourselves gone?!  Let’s take a quick pause for one moment and think about birth for what it actually is--a natural event. Without human intervention, there would be so much less birth trauma, so many less c-sections, far f...

The Bishop Score Have you ever heard of a Bishop Score? This is the ‘rating’ that we give a pregnant person’s cervix in order to determine its readiness for induction. There are a few key flaws in this scoring system and I want to chat it out!  The History of The Bishop Score The original Bishop score (Developed by Dr. Bishop, OBGYN in 1964) is based on 5 criteria: dilation, effacement, station of baby, position of cervix, consistency of cervix. You will be given a score of 0 to 3--0 being not progressed and 3 being the cervix is showing favorable progress-- for each of these criteria(Note: the highest score for position and consistency of cervix is 2). You will be given an overall Bishop Score which will indicate if you are a good candidate for induction or if you are not. The highest score is 13 and any score 9 or above is considered ‘favorable’ for induction meaning the numbers suggest your body will be receptive of induction. (Note: some providers will use 8 and this will be u...

Let’s be honest - there’s nothing quite like the excitement of brand new baby rolling into town. Whether it’s a friend, family member, or neighbor who has added a new tiny human to their home, you may be waiting on the edge of your seat to meet the new babe. Before you go running to get your share of baby snuggles, there are a few unspoken rules you should keep in mind when it comes to visiting a newborn and we’re going to break those down for you today. - First of all - when exactly is it okay to come knocking on their door? Ask when it would be a convenient time for them and never come over unannounced.  - Definitely come with a practical gift in tow - you can never go wrong with food for a busy new family! Maybe pick up some fruit or something else fresh as they’re probably relying on the freezer for most of their meals. - Always lend a helping hand during your visit. Offer to take care of those dishes in the sink or throw in a load of laundry or even just to wipe down the count...