Please help! I have had an uncomplicated low risk pregnancy, and am now at 41+3. We are planning a home birth. At my post dates appointment today the monitoring confirmed my baby is doing well. The hospital will ultimately support us in whatever we choose to but made clear today that the legal liability lies with us from 42+1 should baby die. It was not a pleasant conversation. Our suggestion that we have strong evidence to suggest I am actually 40+6 today was dismissed, and we had all of this discussion with the most senior registrar on the maternity ward.
I also had a first sweep today- turns out I am 1 cm dilated- and I'm planning another at 41+5 (sunday) and 42+0 (tuesday) We've agreed to daily fetal monitoring from 42+1, plus a U/S scan on that day, should I not go into labour before then.
But we are now spooked and extremely confused:
- Should we agree to intervention at 42+1? Later? Not at all?
- If so, induction or C-section? Does anyone have any good stories about induction or would I be better off just asking for a C-section straight off? I've heard so many awful things about induction. Not least, the idea of having to labour from the off in hospital feels like absolutely the worst thing to do, worse than electing for major abdominal surgery. Is that crazy? What do others think?
- And how on earth can I now calm myself down enough to maximise my chances of going into labour? I've spent most of today crying.
Any advice extremely welcome.