Will I go into labour? 42 weeks declining induction?

[Dontwantinduction]

Hi everyone,

I am 42 weeks tomorrow and midwife has told me that I really need to consider an induction.

I’ve heard so many negative stories regarding inductions and really wanted it to all just start to happen! Question is… will it happen? Does labour always eventually come by itself? Or do I just need to give in and go for the induction?

At this point you really risk your placenta not working properly.

I gave birth at exactly 42 weeks after failed induction and emcs and my son was struggling due to my placenta not fully functioning.

In my first labour the pessaries started things up for me and I didnt need any further intervention. In the second, they broke my waters and it didnt work so they gave me the drip but my body also took over from that

* Trigger warning*

I had a terrible induction. However my Dsis worked in emergency gynae theatre. As she said, pulling out a starved and dead baby is much worse (and she’s never been the same since). The induction is the lesser evil.

IF you can be monitored, scanned, your placenta checked, blood flow, then you might be ok. The body withdraws the placenta, be aware what that means to your baby.

No experience of going overdue but I had two inductions. My first was like yours. With my second one the pessary worked and breaking my waters put me into labour, I didn't need the drip that time. From waters breaking to delivery was less than 5 hours that time, bet different experience.

I would definitely go for an induction at 42 weeks though, the placenta can stop working. I know it's scary because of your first experience but the second experience won't necessary be the same or even similar. Good luck!

Op are you against a c section? At this late, baby could be big and it may well end there anyway. You can opt for elective c section over induction. You definitely have a choice here but no some babies don’t come naturally unfortunately

I would take the induction. I have known a couple of mums have devastating outcomes when they’ve went too far overdue.

Same, had my waters broken twice out of the 3 I had. They were the best labours I had. If you had kids before you are probably slightly dilated by this point, the likelihood of not needing to be induced can be reduced.

This ^ I wanted induced at 41, but they left me until 42, due to that being the cut off. MW forgot, and booked it in late too
😡I think most areas do it for 41 now? It was terrifying waiting!

I was so scared because my placenta was front facing coupled with an overly laid back baby (never changed as a child), meaning I couldn't feel much movement at all!

Op I wouldn't take the risk, and inductions have a better success rate the further you are a long. All births carry risks, no matter what you go for. I say that after 2 inductions.

I had an induced Vbac, no pain relief, just a bit of meditation. All ok (a few stitches)

I was inducted using the balloon method, no drugs required, it just kick started everything off and that was at 36 weeks.

Just to add to this post.

I'm a Midwife who also now specialises in investigations when things go wrong and part of my role is to do with investigations into stillbirths.

I would just advise anyone reading this and looking for experiences and advice that yes, monitoring with scans and placenta checks when you go past 42 weeks can be an option (provided you have no other risk factors) BUT it only confirms that all is well at that moment in time, and does not prevent stillbirth from happening.

I will say its heartening to see the general advice here is to go for the induction - we've seen a bit of an increase this year in stillbirths at full term (not always post dates) and there are a lot of "influencers" out there who are very anti-induction and we have seen women swayed by this into declining induction - although I do also appreciate that maternity services have a lot to answer for in terms of making women feel safe and listened to.

My first child was induced at 41 + 6. I'd had a stretch and sweep two days before and nothing happened. Then I had two lots of the prostaglandin pessary - still nothing. Eventually they broke my water, and finally when he absolutely wasn't budging, they started me on the syntocin drip. That got things going good and proper. As PPs have said, I'd go on medical advice rather than stories. Good luck!

I saw this too. She was a nurse if I’m not mistaken and wouldn’t listen to advice from people in her videos before as she knew best.

I was booked for a sweep at 40 weeks when the day before my waters randomly broke but no contractions, went in to hospital and they immediately gave me a pessary which brought on really strong contractions back to back. I didn’t have a drip, so it can happen!

I had spontaneous labour and still had to have a section under GA so it really doesn’t work like that

I wouldn't risk it, I'd do the induction or a c section asap.

I've had 4 inductions 3 different kinds. 1st just broke waters. No complications. 2nd was pessary no complications. 3rd and 4th was drip as they just didn't want to shift. Got epidural both times with drip before they started it. No complications. Inductions do not always end in interventions and complications. Will say never felt my last two due to epi.

My second was induced at 41+3. (First was early so a bit of a suprise). Broke my waters and was born 20 minutes later. Easiest birth! Induction is not always a bad experience.

I was induced at 42 weeks with both of mine. No horror stories just a normal labour.

To help your decision making you could ask your health professional what is the % risk of harm according to evidence based research, as an alternative to having to rely on horror stories. Below is a link to NHS NICE research and guidelines.
Normal gestation in France is 41 weeks.
Have you heard of ‘cascade of interventions’?
https://www.nice.org.uk/search?q=Induction+of+labour&ndt=Research+recommendations
Disclaimer: induction at 41+2 and cs 3 days later.

I had the pessary with my 2nd at 41+5. My cervix was too tight to break the waters. Had the pessary, went for a walk around and something to eat. Baby arrived safely a few hours later. Way better birth than my first. Good luck. 🤞🏻

3 inductions here, all great labours and births, none were the same however, so try not to worry that it will be a repeat of your first. Good luck! 💐 👩‍🍼

If it’s any comfort, like you my first was induced and it was a dreadful very long and painful experience so keen to avoid it again. My second also went over and I did end up being induced but it was a completely different experience - the whole thing was done and dusted in five hours from waters breaking to delivery and I was back home that night. Please listen to medical advice and just focus on getting baby out and into your arms - my best mate wasn’t so lucky and lost her DD at 42+5

I was induced with no. 2. I wasn’t overdue but they were concerned about my BP. It was fine.

I went over 42 weeks with my third. It’s fine to decline an induction- just ask for regular checks. Our systems run by average stats but we are individuals- it’s not automatically unsafe to go over so long as you are being monitored.