How Long Would You Be Prepared to be Pregnant For?

[ElleJay]

Because I medically can't give birth naturally, I wouldn't expect to go past my due date, health issues and such. But that's just for me personally. And I know that I'll be having a c-section on the due date for this bubba.

If I didn't have the problem that I do have, and given that bubba was healthy and nothing wrong, I wouldn't object to going as far as 42wks


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- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - even though I should be cleaning

[ella79]

This is an interesting topic...

I am 32yrs old, and out of all of my friends and family who have had babies in the last 5-10 years, none have been willing to let their babies go past 10 days overdue (many have said they would in the early stages of pregnancy, but have then ended up being induced or with elective c-sections). it is an extraordinarily difficult task to be able to achieve a "post-dates" delivery in this day and age, primarily as society's opinion is that if you let your baby go past 42 wks, you're really being extremely irresponsible!! my father is a doctor (nothing to do with obstetrics), and i think he thought i was a mad raging hippee!! i am not.
My first baby arrived 11 days late, and my second arrived 21 days late. early pregnancy tests were taken (before my period was even missed), and i had some early scans, so we are very confident that my EDD was "correct".
I did not WANT to be pregnant for so long (of course I would have loved the babies to have arrived at 37 wks!) - and was well and truly over the whole thing by about 40wks both times, but i also really wanted to avoid an induction, so let my babies decide their own arrival dates (and yes, i went with a private OB in a private hospital, albeit i had done my research in advance and chosen a "low intervention" OB)...
my first baby was PERFECTLY cooked. she was the picture of health - alert and tracking people around the room from the moment she arrived. my son was admittedly a little "over-cooked"!! his skin was a mess and he began to shed it like a hibernating snake!! he was also very strong and alert though.
I am pregnant now for the 3rd time. I have moved states (from VIC to WA) since having my last baby, and found it VERY difficult to find an OB who will let me go past 42 weeks (even though you would think that my own obstetric history, and perfectly normal, intervention-free births and healthy babies would SUPPORT my argument!). i finally found one, and am travelling a long way from home to deliver for the sole reason that i want the freedom to choose to go past 42wks (with appropriate monitoring of placental function, fluid levels, etc). i originally wanted to go to the family birth centre (which is right near my home), but they will not accept mothers who have passed 42wks, so i would be transferred to the main public maternity ward in any case, and i was worried about getting lumped with a poorly trained obstetric resident or registrar in the case of an emergency, instead of being about to choose my own ob... this pregnancy has been extremely taxing on me, and i really hope that this baby is a little more punctual than the others, but at the end of the day, given that both of my other babies (and myself) have made it through birth unscathed (well, as unscathed as one can be with a 9lb 7oz human emerging from one's nether regions!!), then i really hope that i have the strength to wait it out this time again, and let nature decide the date of my baby's arrival, and most importantly, to ward off very seductive offers from medical staff to get the baby out in a more timely manner!!