My son was induced at 10 days over, and i still feel I was forced in to it.
This time around Im going to a different hospital and have a different care provider. when Itold her i was induced at 10 days post dates she asked me 'why so early? Was there a placenta or fluid problem' When I told her the OB had flatly refused to check either she was shocked.
My midwife said they will go til 14 days overdue, and then look at induction options. They can do placental and fluid leve monitoring in the meantime as well.
She told me there is no difference in the risk of birthing at 38 weeks compared to 42 weeks.
I went in for induction at 9days over and felt a bit forced although I had started to have pre-eclampsia. It took 2lots of gels and having my waters broken to get anything moving but even then my DD wasnt born till officially 11days over (28hrs later) and only then by emergency CC. I was still only at 4cm. I was really devestated by my birth experience.
My induction was needed. I would have loved to go naturally but at the birth they discovered her cord had been breaking down since just after the scan I had at 37weeks and she hadnt really grown since then (only 2.8kg). She was also very very tired so I dont think she had the strength to come down naturally.
If I ever get the chance to give birth again I dont know what I will do. I would love a VBAC but the drama involved with DD birth makes me afraid to go very far over date.
I went to 43 weeks with DS and ended up having contrctions the night before i was booked in and it ended with my waters being broken and 4 hour labour.
DD i went to the 10 days and was induced. @ hour labour only gas in the last few minutes
It's not so much about an arbitrary period of time, as much as it's about how you and your baby are doing. You and your baby might be fine until 44 weeks, for example. Normal pregnancy lasts until 42 weeks, so there's no need to intervene before then if all's normal.
I was booked in for an induction at 42 weeks, but went into labour naturally 40+13. Very glad to avoid an induction. I had CTG monitoring from 40+10 and at one visit the midwife could see I was upset about the upcoming induction and suggested than I just didn't turn up! That was empowering to hear This time around I have put into my birth plan that I do not want an induction unless there is evidence based medical necessity to do so (CTG scan is abnormal and fluid levels are low) and that I want to be offered monitoring instead.
Well this time I went 4 days overdue, went into labour spontaneously, so no induction!!! Still had to have the drip towards the end though but I will explain all that in my birth story in the next couple of days
I think its worth remembering that the method used to calculate your due date (40 weeks from the first day of your last period or 38 weeks from ovulation) is a VERY OLD method and is can be used as a rough guide at best. If you planted an apple tree on a particular day, would you expect the first lot of apples on that tree to ripen and fall off the tree at the same time? Of course not. Our babies and our bodies are so unique and we all need different lengths of time in the oven until we are ready to be served!!
Left alone to nature, the baby is the one who releases the hormones responsible for triggering labour contractions- which generally come on slow and regular at a pace which is not going to cause distress to bub. Births that are artificially induced via synthetic hormones (synto) have a much higher rate of intervention- (particularly c/section & pain relief), as the synto drip causes contractions to come on faster and harder than they would naturally. Thus the woman opts for pain relief sooner than she may in a spontaneous labour, which of course comes with its own risks and disadvantages- particular amoung them a woman's inability to feel her own contractions and thus know when best to push. These rapid contactions are also more likely to cause distress to the baby, leading to decreased heart rate and often emergency c-section.
The genuine statistics for women who will NOT go into labour spontaneously if left alone are incredibly rare. Something like 99.9% of women who go past their estimated "due date" WILL go into spontaneous labour within 2& 1/2 weeks (17 days) of their EDD. Those who don't are known to have rare medical conditions.
Your baby and your body alone know when the safest time to deliver is. The rates of artificial intervention during birth would be drastically reduced if the medical community had more respect for the incredible innate ability of the baby and the woman's body to do what nature intended for it to do, when the time is right. We need to stop perpetuating fear into women who all too often go against their baby's and bodies will in order to fullfill some sort of rigid criteria which is outdated and is in desperate need of review.
This post is not intended to offend anyone who has opted not to wait for a spontaneous labour due to medical recommendation. Of course there are situations when artificial induction may be necessary, but being 2,3 or even 10 days 'overdue' when you and your baby are prefectly healthy is not a valid medical reason for doing so. Some babies need 37 weeks in the womb- others may need 42 weeks- and these are both absolutely normal and natural. Remember that YOU are in charge of your birth - not anyone else!! Through education about how our bodies work, and how women throughout the ages the world over have birthed, we can become empowered to make balanced and informed choices.
DD was born at EDD+11 and i had been booked for induction by AROM at EDD+14 and had absolutely no intention of actually going in for it!
The stillbirth risks increase in the 43rd week, so they don't like you to get into it. The risk increases 6fold - that's 0.4 stillbirths per 1000 births up to 2.7 per 1000. For me that "substantial" (from way less than 0.04% to 0.27% increase in risk (which by the way is from a study done in the 1950's) was not enough to make me worry or consider induction - studies have shown that induction before 42 weeks make no difference to neonatal mortality rates. Most overdue babies who die are born between 42 and 43 weeks, but this is true whether they are induced at that point or not - fewer die if they're born at 43 weeks, so it makes as much sense to try to prevent birth between 42 and 43 weeks as it does to hasten it before 42 weeks.
I had scans and monitoring to made sure DD was fine (she was) every 3 days for the last 2 weeks (i had high BP so they started monitoring me a bit sooner than 40weeks) but i don't even know if i'd bother doing that next time.
My placenta looked perfect and DD had short nails and masses of vernix and didn't look 11 seconds overdue, let alone 11 days!
My sister was born at EDD+24 (that's right, nearly a month!) after a 96 hour posterior labour and she was absolutely perfect.
I went 18 days over with my DD16, I was'nt induced because my cervix was'nt ripe. I was monitered at the hospital for an hour each day and at my last doc appointment he gave me a stretch and sweep, my waters broke that night and labour was very mild I was told to walk and walk I did 36 hour later they induced me anyway and I gave birth 6 hours after that. She did'nt look that great, she was very skinny with loose skin everywhere, her skin was extremely dry for months after, she was weak and needed to be suctioned then ended up with a virus that saw us in hospital for 2 weeks. I would'nt go that far over again. I had another baby 10 days over and the placenta was looking worse for wear but bubs was great 9pound 10. I would suggest AC to help things along, my last pregnancy I was booked for a c-section on my due date and had AC around 4 days before, did'nt really think it would work, but that evening after an avro session I was in labour.
Good luck, hope it all goes nicely..
(DD16 overdue 18 days was alos a bubs that was posterior, my theroy is they are in the wrong possie to start labour properlly or effective labour, with my worst posterior labours my watres broke first but labour did'nt really start until induction went ahead>>>)
Last edited by blackduckies; March 27th, 2009 at 08:35 PM.
: added
Just thought I would add that if you say you don't want to be induced at xyz date that is your hospitals "policy" you will have to listen to the risks of going overdue, the word still birth will be mentioned which of course no one wants to hear. However, if you do choose the option of induction it is very unlikely they will tell you that that increases your risk of stillbirth!
Not trying to sway you just saying make sure you know the actual facts on the risks rather than just taking on the words like dramatically increases the risk etc etc...think it was Hoobley that posted the exact stats..I think it's really important to know the ACTUAL FACTS so you can make the decision from an infrmed place
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This time around I have put into my birth plan that I do not want an induction unless there is evidence based medical necessity to do so (CTG scan is abnormal and fluid levels are low) and that I want to be offered monitoring instead.
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