The Third Trimester: Inducing Labor
It's helpful to know that only five percent of babies are actually born on their due dates. This is very normal and does not mean anything is wrong. Sometimes, though, there are problems or your health care provider has concerns about the baby's and/or your health, and labor needs to be induced. Inducing labor means that your health care provider will start your labor through artificial means. Most health care providers will wait one to two weeks after a woman's due date before considering inducing. There are other reasons why a woman might need to have labor induced. She might have a chronic illness like high blood pressure or diabetes that threatens the health of the baby, or the baby might not be growing or thriving in the uterus. Sometimes, the uterus can become unhealthy for the baby. A woman also might have the membranes that surround the fetus rupture (or have her "water break") without going into labor naturally within a reasonable amount of time. Labor can be induced during a vaginal exam - your health care provider might rupture or strip the membranes surrounding the fetus or insert a gel or suppository containing a hormone to stimulate contractions. A drug called Pitocin can also be given intravenously (put into your body through a vein in your arm or hand) to start contractions.
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