Girls with GDD

To all of you with GDD. A friend of mine was just forced by an OB to have her baby induced 2 weeks early because he said he was going to be huge, so she went in to be induced, horrific labour which turned into an emergency ceaser to have a whopper sized baby who weighed 5lb 9oz!!
He is now having trouble breathing is deveoping quite bad jaundice and was clearly not ready to be born yet.

Boy is she angry and just wishes she listened to her body more. She says don't be bullied by your OB who doesn't always know it all!!

Bekka, that's awful for your friend. I can semi relate.
I was told I had GD in my first pregnancy, although I didn't believe I did. I was given a date to be induced, but LUCKILY came the day before. DD was 7.5 pounds, totally average! I also spent a few months *****ing my finger 4 times a day, and eating certain foods. It was not fun.
Anyway, because of this I had to have the GD test early this time and it said I was fine. Then the midwives told me I had to have it again at 28 weeks, but I haven't had it again. I just didn't want to go through what I went through last time.
I am by no means recommending this to others with GD, but I knew I didn't have it. Says something for mothers intuition!!

Sadly, this is a very common story, induction-happy Obs will have no problems offering out convenient inductions and mums will accept them because they are worried or think that the Ob will be doing what's best for them. It's the start in a cascade of interventions, where one intervention almost always leads to another or an induction fails and leads to a caeser. Of course it's not just with Gestational Diabetes but in general. They scare women by telling them their babies will be big and an induction is best... but very often not the case. So trust your body and baby - ask for a second opinion if you are faced with this situation and are unsure.

Another worrying thing about inductions is unexpected immaturity. Say your Ob induces you at 38 weeks, then bubs is born and the dates were out by a week or even two - you have a baby who may have breathing difficulty or other problems.

The most accurate way to get your due date is fron an early U/S and this can be out by 7 days either way.
I know of so many women being pursuaded to have an induction, especially in the private sector, and usually it is for the convenance of the OB and not the mother or her baby. All I can advise you all is to ask lots of questions and listen to your own body.

Alan (Midwife)

I have GD and was diagnosed at 14w. At the moment it is under control (finally!!)... My OB is brilliant and although we have discussed the posibility of a big baby he is not considering any intervention with me until I am 7 days late. The only reason he is considering intervention at this point is that he:

a) Doubts I'll get that far anyway and will go naturally, possibly early. (too many health problems with me... GD, SPD, hypermobility, cervical stitching (due to SPD), Strep B Kidney Infection (since 6w and related to existing kidney health issue, unable to treat properly due to pg) plus degenerative kidney disorder, dormant Murray Valley encephalitis. )

b) He is scheduled for leave around when I would be 10 days over and would rather deliver himself and be still working during my hospital stay. The replacement OB's on at the time are not very good (in his opinion) and would not be supportive of my wishes or my health concerns, prefering to just do a c/s (which all my specialist are totally against as I would need a full anaesthetic and this is very risky) or have delivery restricted to a bed.

When we discussed the whole GD/big baby thing he said that if I wanted I could have an u/s at about 35 weeks but the weight estimates of those are extremely unreliable and he would rather not induce early because of a calculation based on information which tends to not always be accurate.

Even my main renal specialist who to quote him "can't wait until this bloody baby is born so I can start treating you properly woman" is against an early induction under any circumstances besides kidney failure.

So I think I am lucky... OB against induction, other white coats against induction... everyone (including me) happy for nature to run her course.

Kelly - that is so true, OB's are way too quick to book inductions when there is no real reason for it. My friends bub is doing well now but she faced so many problems with him and most were because he was born before he was ready.

Kerry - You are very lucky, sounds like your OB is one in a million. Good luck for the birth, hopefully you won't have to go through an induction at all from the sounds of it.