"My pregnancy and birth experience"

At around my 39th week of pregnancy, I was ordered a growth scan and I was told my baby is measuring low on the percentile . Referred to have a chat with a doctor after baby’s heartbeat was monitored and all was fine.

The doctor came over and they seemed pushy and very bent on getting me to have an induction at 39 weeks. I told them my decision to wait one week and get to 40 weeks, but it seemed they weren't listening at all to how I felt my care should be handled, offered no options on how to work around how I felt about handling it but continued saying I should get induced.

I had one more week to 40 weeks and was determined to wait it out as my baby was moving fine and I felt fine over all . What broke the camel's back and hurt me the most was a call I got from the same doctor a day after the scan while I was home sleeping.

The doctor told me I needed to understand that my decision not to induce can cause death to my baby . I can still recall how I broke down crying . They offered to fix the induction the next day, when they will be on duty. I was broken, the doctor seemed hell bent on inducing me, when all scans and observations showed that my baby was fine.

I asked the doctor why they wanted to induce and they said just to be on the safe side. I asked if I can wait a week, and they asked me why, what’s happening this one week that I want to wait?

I feel the doctor should have handled the whole situation much better as a medical professional instead of trying to scare me into having an induction, knowing full well this is my first baby and as first time parents, it’s so easy to get overly worried about baby, but I feel they did not use the right words or listen to me.

I decided to wait it out, went into labor at 39 weeks 5 days and had my beautiful baby when my body was ready , born with no complications at all . Sometimes all it takes is listening to the patient and planning the patient’s care around their decisions to help make it work . Not being forceful , pushy or trying to scare a patient into making a decision you want as a medical professional.