Trying to avoid induction

Nobody knows the OP better than the OP herself, pregnant women are not unthinking objects. Some women want natural births, some want every intervention going, and the point is that choice is offered, and not being told ‘we need to do this’ and ‘we don’t recommend that’ - the choice ultimately is the woman’s.

I don’t know what country you’re in, but here in the UK the NHS has recently produced new guidelines for maternity services, due to poor outcomes, so I think it’s prudent to be aware that the experts don’t always know best. What makes you think 200-300 years of modern medicine knows better than hundreds and thousands of years of evolutionary design?

Why would anyone on MN know better than the OPs medical team! Being induced is not the end of the world and it’s important that medical advice is followed. The op doesn’t necessarily know best and no one is induced for the fun of it.

Not all inductions are awful! There's plenty of threads about successful induction births.

No one can give you a guaranteed method to induce birth naturally so echo PP's suggestion about asking the risks of being induced vs waiting for natural labour. You could end up with a 3-day labour following natural onset!

I had 2 induced births and do regret not asking more questions in advance about induction methods each time, so I suggest ask lots of questions about methods, time lapsed after starting induction before moving to next method, how long they'll leave you in active labour or failing to progress before moving to assisted or c-section. Ask if methods used will vary depending if you're already dilated when you arrive, staff/bed availability.

For first I had hormone pessary for about 18 hours, spent on antenatal ward, that was enough to start labour and baby arrived quickly with no further interventions.

I drank lots of raspberry red leaf tea in last few weeks, no idea if that made any difference.

OP has gestational diabetes, she should NOT be eating 7-9 dates!!

What kind of induction are they going to do, @Teeganselina? My trust did the balloon catheter, which is a more "natural" way than anything hormonal or chemical. It worked, but I ended up with an emcs due to baby going footling breech randomly.

I was told that eating 7-9 dates per day from 36/37 weeks onwards can help your body prepare for labour. I did this during my second pregnancy and my son was born at 39+1 after I had a sweep that morning (first sweep).

Also to add, you are fully within your rights to just decline induction. Ask them to explain the risks associated for you and baby with and without induction, so you can decide what is right for you.

I had inductions and all was well.
Sex is the only thing that got me started ( my waters broke) but I had no useful contractions without petocin (sp?)

In my opinion stretches and sweeps are an unnatural way to induce childbirth. The baby is the one that begins the start of labour when they are ready. Also remember when your midwife says ‘we will ALLOW this’ it is not your midwife’s decision, it is YOURS! By all means follow their advice if you want to, but if you don’t, then don’t feel pressure to go along with things, thinking you have no choice. As a starting point I would recommend joining some Facebook groups on natural childbirth. There is a wealth of information in them.

@Teeganselina In my day it was eat a spicy curry! Is that allowed for you?