Some obs will be happy to do it on your due date, others will make you wait till you are 40+10days, some will let you go till the full 42 wks, which is a full term pg anyway (a term pg is anything between 37 and 42wks). Either way, if at anytime your cervix is unfavourable for an induction it likely wont work, simple as that. That said though, the state of the cervix can change in a matter of hours too in some cases. My dr with my last pg wanted to induce me 4 days post dates, but I talked him into waiting until 10days post dates. My Dr I had for my previous three births wouldn't even consider induction until you were at least 10days past.

One really important thing to consider is what type of birth do you really want? I know you might have some problems with your Dh and his work, but trust me, once you start the induction the pressure is on you to *perform*. You will be expected to dilate at the rate of 1cm an hour, you will need a whole lot more monitoring than you would otherwise need. And if you don't *perform* as good as they would like, then talk of a c/s begins. The pain of contractions with a Synctocinon (drip) induction are so much more intense and can tire you out a lot faster than if they were happening under your own steam (one way to see what this is like is to clench your hand into a fist and do this repeatedly, one after the other with minimal break inbetween and notice how quickly your hand gets tired - that is what induced contractions can do to your body), this increases your desire for pain relief, usually in the form of an epidural as pethidene just doesn't cut it for the pain and this can make the labour last longer as you have to lay down. alternatively having an epidural can make it go quicker, as they can turn the drip infusion right up because you can't feel how much it is hurting - imagine what that is doing to your body.

I really don't want this to come across as being all negative - I'm just letting you know some of what you can expect. I had one induced birth and it was hell on earth. Some women will have an induction and do perfectly fine, but you need to be aware of all the associated risks too.

Ask your OB first what his 'routine' is with inductions, if he is happy to let you poke along at your own pace or if he wants you to *perform* to a certain time frame. If you can find this out, it will give you a better idea of what kind of birth you can expect to have.

Have you read any of the induction articles on the BellyBelly main site? If not I strongly recommend that you do - they are very informative and a must read before you have an induction.