When Is Induced Labor Medically Necessary? | FAQ

Heidi Wickstrom:
Sometimes a mom needs to have labor actually induced, so that would be called an induction of labor. There are certain circumstances when an induction is actually necessary. Obstetricians generally don't want babies in the womb to progress beyond 41 weeks of gestation. At that point, then mom would be induced to go into labor. They use medications to put mom into labor, and then she starts the labor process to deliver the baby. Some other times that labor might be induced is if they're concerned about a health issue with mom. A common trigger to an induction of labor can be a condition called preeclampsia, where mom develops high blood pressure during pregnancy which then obstetricians and the other staff become concerned that they should get baby out sooner rather than later, and they'll artificially induce labor for mom, and that's done medically. Another time when induction of labor could become necessary is if mom, her water breaks. When the water breaks, it means that we should be getting to a point when baby is actually going to mom's going to start contractions, and baby is going to get to a point of being delivered. But if the water breaks and baby doesn't start to progress, meaning mom doesn't start to have contractions, the team could be concerned, and then they would want to induce labor to make sure that mom actually starts getting to a point where baby is now not going to be in any distress and could start progressing through the labor process, and mom could be getting ready to deliver the baby.