I'm 39 years old and now 41 weeks + 5 days with my first baby and trying to avoid being induced...

[killerkitty]

I had follicle tracking back in May last year so I know exactly when I ovulated and conceived. When my dates were calculated by the doctor she used the day of my last menstrual period, which was two weeks earlier. However, my eight-week scan confirmed the doctor's date as correct and I was given an EDD of February 15 2009. But here I am, nearly 42 weeks later and the midwife has confirmed my cervix is still not favourable, and the hospital is itching to induce. I don't want to put my baby at risk, but I want to go into labour naturally when my baby is ready. NHS figures confirm that 20 per cent of pregnant women in this country are induced. Can it really be true that one in five women are unable to go into labour? Why are they putting this pressure on me, and who is right? Them or me?

[coolj]

Dont know if I can be of any help to you, but my third child was 15 days late. They were understanding and allowed me to carry on but then booked me in to be induced. Whilst waiting at hospital my waters broke though but unfortunately after pushing for hours I had to have an emergency section as baby was too big to deliver naturally.

They shouldnt put pressure on to you unless for medical reasons. Good luck. Im sure your baby will come when the time is right

[pmac]

Hello Killerkitty. If you are at 42 weeks, I can understand why you are being advised to have an induction, but if you're concerned about the advice, you should seek a second medical opinion. For background - I was induced at 38 weeks as I had developed a slight complication which meant that my baby would have been at risk if he had stayed inside for any longer. As I was only at 38 weeks, all the gentle methods didn't work, and I had to go on a syntocin (this may be oxytocin, I always get confused) drip. A friend of mine who was induced at 41 weeks said that she went into labour as soon as the gel was applied. My advice would be to not get too hung up on the method by which your baby arrives, but to focus on it being healthy. My labour (all induction methods, epidural, ventouse, plus emergency cesearean!!) did not go 'to plan' at all, but I was THRILLED with my son and ultimately, the baby's well being is all that matters. Best of luck

[ohmeohmy]

Around 4% of women deliver after 42 weeks and national data includes delivery at 47 weeks. Due dates are inexact and based on data collected centuries ago.

You do not have to agree to induction. It is your birth and if they are giving you the scare stories ask if there is evidence it is happening to you at this time. ASk for the risks of induction to be explained.

Have confidence in your body, if the cervix isn't favourable then an induction might be difficult anyway. Try natural methods, lots of snogging to get the oxytocin going, talk to your baby and tell her it's time, it's safe, look into aromatherapy, acupuncture etc. It is still your decision. If your instinct tells you to wait and there is no other evidence to hurry, just wait, be monitored and wait some more!

Women are all different, we gestate our babies differently. Women's bodies do know what to do and in most cases are best left to get on with it in their own time. good luck

[iwantitnow]

Induction is not fun, but I don't want to alarm you (I'm 38) but the risk of stillbirth does increase with age and delivery. Have you had sweeps?

[Homebird8]

Due dates are based on some Frenchman in the 19th century who decided that the human gestation should be 9 lunar cycles. Need I say more?

The risks do go up after 42 weeks but I believe I'm right in saying that one of them (which you probably don't want to read at this point in your pregnancy - sorry) neonatal death rises from 1 in 1000 to 2 in 1000. These figures are still very small but if it happens to you then is 100% catastrophic.

My advice would be to research the risks and make your own decision which is the right one for you. The hospital will not be a well rounded source for these facts but will be the only ones able to provide some of the ones you need (like scan info etc.)

[killerkitty]

The midwife has tried to sweep me three times now, but she just says my cervix is not ?favourable?. I'm hoping for another sweep attempt tomorrow...

[Nabster]

Have you had the placenta checked? I think part of the reasoning for not letting mums go too long overdue is the placentas ability to do what it needs too, lessens.

[Nabster]

Natural ways?

Curry
Walking
Rhubarb and custard

[killerkitty]

The hospital will start checking my placenta from tomorrow.

Funny enough I asked the midwife why eating curry was advised. She said that the heat and spices were supposed to give you the runs which irritates the uterus. Not very scientific, but hey, anything's worth a go.

Been walking a couple of miles every day.

Rhubarb & custard? I hate to ask, but why?

[Seeline]

I swear by fresh pineapple (DD eventually arrived at 41+5)

[Nabster]

I heard rhubarb helped. I had some on Sat and Sun and went into labour Sun night.

[Clure]

I went 12 days over and had to be induced, I wished I'd had courage to hold off a couple more days as labour was traumatic for both me and baby. The other advice to get things moving is nipple twiddling (I kid you not!) and sex - both get the oxytocin flowing
Good luck

[BonzoDoodah]

Ask what the risk is if you don't get induced. Then you can make a decision based on the risk of waiting. If the placenta is healthy and baby happy then go with what you feel is right. No-one can force you to have intervention and if there's nothing wrong with you or the baby then I can't see why you would. The baby will come soon enough I'm sure.

[killerkitty]

Considering how traumatic induction is for most people, it's amazing how many women accept it. The medical establishment sure has done a good job on scaring us all witless on this higher risk of stillbirth. I quote updated NICE guidelines on induction of labour:

?Although the risks of fetal compromise and stillbirth rise steeply after 42 weeks, this rise is from a low baseline. Consequently, only a comparatively small proportion of that population is at particular risk. Because there is no way to precisely identify those pregnancies, delivery currently has to be recommended to all such women. If there were better methods of predicting complications in an individual pregnancy, induction of labour could be more
precisely directed towards those at particular risk.?

So if we're dealing with risk here, does anyone know what the fetal death rate is for assisted deliveries which end in emergency CS? Surely that would be a better comparison?

[killerkitty]

Bump

[WhatFreshHellIsThis]

I sympathise with you on the dates front - I KNOW when I conceived this baby, there is no doubt (sex not a frequent occurrence, sadly...) and yet they keep changing my due date every time I have another scan.

Because of course I'm not intelligent enough to know when I had sex.

DS was induced and my gut feeling is that if conditions aren't favourable, it ain't going to work. But there are many reasons why your cervix may not be favourable - the obstetrician who delivered DS said that the placenta had started to deteriorate (he was em CS in the end at 40 + 17) and his head was at an angle, so maybe he would have been one of the stillbirth statistics if we hadn't gone for the induction.

He was also quite a lightweight, so wasn't pressing on the cervix enough or in the right way.

Not sure how much this helps, but thought I would share.

[pooka]

Sex sex sex.

[irishmama]

killerkitty 3 out of 4 of my pregnanies were induced . I went 14 days over with my last baby . Believe me i tried everything possible to get things started but to no avail. After going into labour naturally with my third baby (10) days overdue i must say i did find the induced births much harder to cope with. I had several sweeps then the gel pessary. Every woman reacts differently but for me the pains come on so fast and furious it can be very overwhelming. You can feel under enormous pressure to have an induction. With my 2nd baby i was only one week over i told the consulation that i didnt want induction and he so much as said it was my fault if something happened to the baby! Good luck hope all goes way p.s keep an open mind for pain relief .I had epidural for first time with number 4 wish i'd had it for all of them!

[LGoodLife]

I had 7 days then the next was 10 days then the next was 15 days late, so I'm stopping there. I think exercise (walking) helps speed them up once the labour starts - I didn't lie down unless they were actually poking or prodding me. Good luck when it comes.

[lowrib]

"Can it really be true that one in five women are unable to go into labour?"

The one in five doesn't just come from women who are unable to go into labour - they also use induction to hurry up the labour once it has actually started naturally.

For example although I went into labour naturally, they induced me once my waters had broken (before any contractions unfortunately) as I had previously tested positive for Strep B, and they didn't want my DS hanging about inside once my waters had gone, due to infection risk.

Just thought I'd answer that bit, although not much help to you now!

FWIW I agree with BonzoDoodah "Ask what the risk is if you don't get induced. Then you can make a decision based on the risk of waiting."

Also agree with pooka "Sex sex sex"

[killerkitty]

Thanks for all your messages. Am being scanned in the morning and placenta checked, so will make a more informed decision from there. Interestingly a doctor friend has recommended that I accept a pessary induction early next week but if it doesn't work then she says I should insist on an elective CS rather than go down the syntocinon drip route, especially as my cervix isn't ?favourable? and my waters would need to be broken.

[lowrib]

Good luck for tomorrow

[pmac]

Best of luck killerkitty. Interesting advice from your doctor friend. My cervix wasn't 'favourable' when I was induced, and I ended up having an emergency cesearean after full labour, so may be worth getting a second opinion on this. I'd insist on seeing a consultant as, in my experience, they give much more balanced advice

[kalo12]

killerkitty, let us know how you get on.

lots of walking

[Hawkmoth]

My cervix wasn't favourable, but I went 8 hours from pessary to delivery... just one pessary. Everyone's different. Plus because they told me the prostin pains would be so bad I had the added bonus of not knowing I was in labour until I needed to push!