Elective Inductions to Reduce the Cesarean Rate?, with Sharon Muza

Today we are taking a close look at the ARRIVE trial abstract, research that suggests elective inductions at 39 weeks could reduce the Cesarean rate. What does this mean for pregnant people and maternity care? Does mother nature really have it all wrong? Is there a better way of reducing the Cesarean rate? Sharon Muza helps make sense of all these questions and more. Check it out.

To listen here, click the play button on the player above, or click the button below to listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Play.

What we talked about:

• What is the ARRIVE trial about? What does it conclude?
• What is the medical community doing with this information?
• What are some of the possible problems with the study?
• Is the protocol that they used in the study easy to replicate?
• Is a 19% Cesarean rate the number we should shoot for?
• What about homebirth and birth center studies that show Cesarean rates ranging from 8% to 13%?
• What about the study by Dr. Neel Shah that shows the actual hospital you walk into may be a better indication of your Cesarean rate than your health, age, or anything else?
• What are some of the other concerns (for pregnant people, for babies, for the medical community, for the institution, for doulas…) of putting this protocol into practice?
• Would the widespread use of doulas be a more effective way of reducing the cesarean rate?
• How many people do you need to induce at 39 weeks to prevent one Cesarean? How many doula-supported births do you need to have to prevent a Cesarean?

Resources, links, and other great info:

• ARRIVE Trial
• Do You Know What Reduces the cesarean Rate? Birth Doulas Reduce the cesarean Rate!, by Sharon Muza
• Preventive Induction of Labor: Does Mother Nature Know Best? – Henci Goer Examines the ARRIVE Study, from Science & Sensibility (this has an EXTENSIVE list of references to check out!)
• Your Biggest C-Section Risk May Be Your Hospital, Consumer Reports
• The Doula Difference: Lowering cesarean Rates, by Jessica English
• “Approaches to Limit Intervention During Labor and Birth”, ACOG’s Committee Opinion
• Evidence on: Doulas, from Evidence Based Birth
• Discussion of the ARRIVE trial, by Rebecca Dekker of Evidence Based Birth
• Safe numbers for c/s? WHO number 10-15 – 19%
• Lamaze’s 6 Healthy Birth Practices
• “Go the Full 40” campaign, from AWHONN’s Healthy Mom & Baby
• March of Dimes Infographic
• ACNM Recommends No Change No Change in Practice in Response to Induction Study, Statement from the American College of Nurse-Midwives
• CMQCC Responds to Induction of Labor trial, from the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative
• New Research on Induction Creates Controversy, from the National Accreta Foundation
• ACOG Response to ARRIVE Trial, from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• WHO statement on caesarean section rates, World Health Organization
• Optimal C-section rate may be as high as 19 percent to save lives of mothers and infants, Stanford School of Medicine

Related Birthful episodes:

• Inductions, with Dr. Gene Declercq
• The Induction Process, with Toni Golen
• Place of Birth as Your #1 Cesarean Risk, with Dr. Neel Shah
• Epidurals & Breastfeeding, with Dianne Cassidy
• ACOG’s NEW Recommendations on Limiting Interventions, with Sharon Muza
• Birth Doulas, with Sharon Muza

Photo of Sharon Muza

About Sharon Muza

Sharon is a Certified Birth Doula (DONA) and Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator as well as a DONA Approved Birth Doula Trainer serving the Seattle area. She’s a Fellow of the Academy of Certified Childbirth Educators, and a trainer for Passion for Birth, a Lamaze Accredited Childbirth Educator Training Program. She has been working professionally in the world of birth and labor support and childbirth education since January, 2004, though she attended her first doula birth in 2001. Sharon has trained well over 1000 birth doulas!

Sharon is very active in the birth community and participates in many birth related organizations.

She is the the community manager for Lamaze International’s Science & Sensibility blog and the blog manager for the DONA Doula Chronicles, the professional blog for DONA International.

Learn more at SharonMuza.com

Title music: “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).

Sponsorship music: “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).