Jill, everything depends on your Bishop's score, which is a measure of
cervical ripeness. Even if you are at your due date, if you do not
have a ripe cervix, the odds of an induction failing are quite high,
which means they keep on bringing out bigger guns to get things going.
About 30% of first time moms who agree to induction end up having a
section. If you DO have a ripe cervix, hanging in will mean that you
are very likely to go into labour shortly anyway, so unless you or
baby are in trouble, why would you induce?

A section -if you really need one because of a medical problem - is
not the end of the world - but a section caused by unnecessary
induction is not something you want to take on. You want to minimize
the possibility of a section, particularly with a first child, since
it has such big implications for subsequent pregnancies and births.

The safest birth for both mother and baby is one that starts with
spontaneous labour.

Don't be seduced.

Mary G
1 Section, 2 VBACs