By Lori Morris, CNM, certified nurse-midwife and women's health coach

If you're pregnant and close to the end around the holidays, you are very likely about to be pressured into an induction you don't need. Christmas is not a medical reason to induce labor, and neither is any other holiday. If your baby isn't here yet, there's a reason, and you're allowed to say no and wait for labor to start on its own.

I want you to hear this now, while you still have time to push back.

Every year, labor floors across the country start filling up the week before Christmas. Why? Inductions.

Just like you, nobody wants to be away from their family on the holidays. The majority of doctors, and a lot of midwives too, are going to find any excuse they can to get their patients delivered that week, because every baby born that week is one less phone call on Christmas.

And inductions make babies come one way or another. If your body isn't ready and the baby won't come vaginally, you end up in the OR with a C-section. They don't really care how your baby gets here, as long as it gets here before the holiday.

I get it. I was the nurse who just wanted to be at the house. I was the midwife. But that's no excuse.

I got curious one year and went looking for birth rates by date. I found a chart from the UK with every single day of the year plotted out by color. Almost the whole chart was shades of orange. Only three days were pale yellow, the lowest birth rate days of the year:

Fewer babies aren't born on those days by nature. Go back before inductions were common and the numbers would be pretty even from day to day. Nobody gets induced on Christmas Eve night, because nobody wants a baby on Christmas Day. Nobody gets induced on Christmas Day or New Year's Eve either. You connect the dots.

When a provider brings you in to start an induction at night, it's not about you. You're starting motherhood exhausted, up all night when you should be sleeping. And guess who isn't awake? The doctor who sent you in. The nurses who were already scheduled are there doing the work.

You're being started at night because they're really, really hoping you'll deliver before supper time the next day.

Your baby doesn't know what day it is and doesn't care about your plans or your doctor's plans. A holiday doesn't make your baby's lungs ready to breathe air. It doesn't make the sucking reflex ready to nurse. It doesn't put your baby in the right position to find the way out.

Elective inductions override God's timing, and nearly every induction is elective at its core. Elective means it's chosen, not needed. Here's what gets ignored:

Is a NICU stay worth it? Is an unnecessary C-section worth it, and recovering from major abdominal surgery over Christmas?

So how do you know if your baby is ready? Are you in labor? No? Then your baby isn't ready.

I've lived this one myself. My second baby's guess date was December 25th. Everybody was looking at me like I was about to mess up Christmas. I left it be, and she was born January 2nd, after the holidays were over and everybody was back to normal. And if she had come on Christmas, that would have been okay too.

Your doctor or midwife does have a calendar, and they want to be home. I get it. But they chose an unpredictable line of work.

If something goes wrong during an induction, it will never be credited to trying to evict a baby who wasn't ready. They'll be thankful they "saved" you and go on about their business. Meanwhile, you could be spending Christmas visiting a sick baby or recovering from a much harder delivery. They aren't heartless. They're just thinking about their own families, the same way you're thinking about yours. That doesn't justify the choice.

Your induction will be sold to you as being about you. "Let's just get this baby here so you can have your baby for Christmas." Unless there's a documented medical reason, it's about them.

And here's how I know. If it were urgent, it wouldn't be scheduled. If something were endangering your baby, it would have been done the day they found it.

You say no, thank you. That's it. I know it's not easy to say, but you can say it, and they'll get over it. You don't have to defend your reasons. No is a complete sentence.

You can let them know you believe it's better for labor to come on its own, when it's time. Feeling bad for your provider is not a reason for induction. Put your baby first, and trust God more than you trust your doctor.

This applies to hospital births. Home birth and birth center midwives don't do this. And the hospital nurses don't care if you wait for labor. A lot of them dread the week before Christmas because of how many inductions they'll have. I know, because I was one of them.

This all goes back to choosing your provider wisely. If you're still deciding, read how to know if your provider truly trusts birth.

God has already chosen your baby's birthday. It might just be December 25th. And if it is, your baby won't have to share that birthday with very many people, because it's the lowest birth rate day of the whole year. :)

Is Christmas a medical reason to be induced?
No. A holiday is never a medical reason for induction. Unless there's a real, documented medical problem, an induction scheduled the week before Christmas is elective, meaning it's chosen for convenience and not needed.

How do I know if my baby is ready to be born?
Labor is the sign. If you're not in labor, your baby isn't ready yet. Guess dates can be off by as much as two weeks, so an induction can bring a baby before his lungs, reflexes, and position are ready.

Can I say no to an induction?
Yes. You can say "no, thank you." You don't have to defend your reasons. If there were a true emergency, it would be handled right away, not put on the calendar.

Are holiday inductions more common?
Yes. Birth rate data show the fewest babies are born on December 25th, December 26th, and January 1st. That doesn't happen naturally. It happens because inductions and surgeries get scheduled around holidays.

If you're pregnant and want support from someone who trusts God's design for birth, take a look at my Menu of Services, or email me at lori@morriswellnessservices.com. If you're facing pressure to induce right now, you might also find these helpful: Holiday Inductions: Trusting God's Timing Over Convenience and Navigating the Overdue Baby Dilemma God's Way.

Please keep trusting God. Trust His timing. He's with you, and He already knows your baby's birthday.

You can listen to the full episode of If Mama Ain't Healthy (Ain't Nobody Healthy) at the top of this page.