Making Sense of Pregnancy: What Experts Want you To Know About Your Body

Timing of Labor Induction affects C section rate: Conversation with Dr. Cortese and Dr. Hoffmann, Part II

Paulette Kamenecka

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 In many things in life, timing matters. 

That's also true in labor. 

If we can align when we induce labor with what's known about the circadian rhythms of our body, we may be able to take advantage of times at which our bodies are more receptive to these interventions, and turn that advantage into shorter labors or fewer C-sections.

Based on this retrospective study, these outcomes came with no costs to the newborns. Today we talk about some of the details of this work, how circadian rhythms show up in different ways for women of different weights, and what might be driving the induction impacts in the first stage of labor.