Check out the results from this week’s poll about drugs and delivery method! 47% ended delivering vaginally, 26% delivered with forceps or vacuum extraction, and 26% had an emergency c-section. None had a schedule c-section after receiving drugs and there was one vote that entered a different answer.  She entered, “Vaginal birth with manual assistance whilst being prepped for an emergency c/s” which would go into the category of “Vaginal with forceps or vacuum extraction.”

Therefore, the results would have been: 47% vaginal only, 27% vaginal with manual assistance, 26% emergency c-section.

What does this poll mean? I can’t make any conclusions from this data since I don’t know the background information from the voters. It does show that if you receive drugs to start or speed up labour, that your chance of having an emergency c-section is 26%. However, this sampling is small with only 152 votes. Some could be multigravida and others primigravida. It also shows that if you choose to use drugs to induce, you still have almost a 50/50 chance to birth vaginally without assistance. This is great news! In order to conclude that receiving drugs to start or speed up labour increases or decreases your likelihood of having a c-section, I would have to know what is the likelihood of c-section from mothers who did not receive drugs to induce labour. This is my next poll.