(when) would you through in the towel??

[lightsandshapes]

I am 42 + 3 with my first baby. Had a sweep yesterday and have been doing expectant management. All scans and ctg scans have come back fine. I have been diagnosed with a slight excess of amniotic fluid. Baby happy and active and estimated weight now of about 9lbs! I know about risks with placenta etc, as well as risks of induction (i.e. no risk free option!)

Spoke to the consultant yesterday who said it might be time to 'throw in the towel' and book for an induction. They have provisionally done this for Wednesday, but they said I can cancel if I want to. I really want to go into natural labour and am wondering if I am just a '10 month mama' and trust my body to take its time or let them intervene?

What have you done / would you do??? I would really appreciate experiences on this one asap!!

oops, I meant 'throw' in the towel... clearly this is all getting to me!!

Personally I have decided that I will not be induced again, I was induced with dd1 and the pain was unbearable and I need an epidural, dd2's birth was not induced and was much much easier and quicker.

Forgot to add I needed no pain relief for dd2.

good luck :)

Oooh, lift something heavy! I lifted dd1 (a big 6 yo) from her bunk bed as she was being sick and carried her to the bathroom and went straight into labour!

Dd2 was 9lb 7oz and she just slipped right out, is it your first?

Ooh I am watching with interest, 10 days over today - have proposed induction booked for Friday - said I'd rather wait and see - got consultant appointment tomorrow to discuss risks - I'd definitely prefer to give myself over the weekend.

Wish I'd been able to have another seep between last midwife appt (Thurs) and tomorrow.

yes MrsRhettButler - it's my first! Ooh, must try some heay lifting then ;)

I wouldn't be induced again. DS was 42 +2 and it was extremely painful. I ended up having an epidural which slowed things down and caused ds to become distressed leading to emcs. I'm planning a vbac this time but if i go over i will refuse induction in favour of planned c section.
Sorry, not trying to scare you.

Sorry to hijack but is it possible to refuse induction in favour of CS? this will be my first... I have had surgery which is the same as a CS (but without the baby!) so know the recovery and risks etc.

If there is no specific reason they feel the baby should be delivered now, I would be tempted to keep going - the consultant would surely tell you if they feel the risks of hanging on are too high vs risk of induction?

I went to 40+11 with DD1 and 40+8 with DD2 and would have gone on longer with both if needed. I was on meds for increased BP with DD2 so policy was induction at 40+0 but docs were happy with scans/monitoring and happy to let me continue.

I had 3 x acupuncture sessions which I think led to a v fast labour with DD2 but don't think it really brought labour on. I would have started having sweeps but the MW said they only work if you're basically ready to go and as there's the risk of infection/breaking waters I wasn't keen to have that too soon.

I know there are risks and cases where there has been a bad outcome, but as the due date is such an arbitrary/estimated date I wasn't keen to go for induction only for that reason.

It's a tough decision to make though and ultimately no guarantees whichever way you go. Hopefully the sweep will have had some effect and your baby will make an appearance soon - good luck!

My god you're amazing to have gone for so long! I begged to be induced at 41+3, and had my ds1 with an epidural. With ds2 I arranged for induction at 40+2, as I knew I would have another big baby. He came two days early, and fast. No time for drugs.
The longer you wait, the larger your baby is likely to be. Induction isn't fabulous ( I found labour pains were intense right from the start, the epidural kicking in was bliss) but giving birth is tough regardless of what you do. If I were you I would go for induction. But I hope that it all happens before Wed. Although ds1 birth was tough and scary, I would have gone through it all over again. Keep your mind on the prize at the end! Good luck

lightsandshapes did they scan you recently, is that how you found you have a slight excess of amniotic fluid? If they scanned you, were they able to say what position the baby is in? Sometimes inductions are a bit crap because it turns out the baby was not in the right position, head facing up or whatever. Sometimes inductions go really well and it only takes one pessary to get things going.

Weight estimates from scans can be v inaccurate as you probably already know. One of mine was nearly 2lb out . If you don't feel strongly one way or another, why not make a plan to have another sweep on Weds and if you don't go into labour then go for induction.

Have you had any show / any dilation at all?

In your position (with favourable scans etc) I would hang on.

I will not be induced again (if I get to 42+ then I will agree to CS if scans show issues with placenta/fluid levels but not to induction after last time)

DH asked me how far past 42 weeks I'd be willing to go - he was when I said that I'd wait as long as it takes. He said he would start getting 'twitchy' and that wouldn't be good for me for him to be twitchy (he can be a grumpy old man at the best of times).

I refrained from telling him that undue pressure to make me undergo a medical procedure (or series of them) that I do not want could well make me rather twitchy with my fist in the direction of his bollocks.

The NHS procedure of booking an induction appointment which you can cancel when you have told them it's not what you want seems ridiculous to me, if a woman says 'no ta' then the appointment could be used be someone who does want it.

Anyway, rantypants off. If you want to hang on, and all continues to be well, then hang on. Feeling stressed if you are being pressured into a procedure you don't want can stave off labour anyway, so the consultant suggesting you 'throw in the towel' next week could be counter-productive and stop you labouring naturally anyway.

re: the longer you wait the bigger your baby will be is actually bollocks (for me anyway with proposed induction just a day shy of 42 weeks) - as you can see from this graph

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Weight_vs_gestational_Age.jpg

the birth weight levels off after 42 weeks- the proposed date has already let me get about as big as its going to get.

And the middle of this range is still just over 7lbs (3250g) - so yes you my be under or over this irrespective of gestational age, and baby will be increasing (according to the graph) from 38 weeks to 42 weeks.

I think that for me personally it would depend on what position the baby is in and whether there were any signs of labour. With DD I went to 42+1 but then agreed to an induction which actually finished up as a c-section due to failure to progress. It was fine and I don't have any particularly bad feelings about what happened but based on:

1. both my mum and auntie went overdue then had failed inductions leading to c-sections,
2. baby was very high (wedged up under my ribs somewhere)
3. I had 2 sweeps but the doctor said that I showed absolutely no signs of going into labour and he doubted the sweep would work,
4. baby was managing fine according to checks

I sort of wish that I had turned down the induction. I think that if there are signs that the labour is starting maybe the induction speeds it up but in my case I don't think the induction had a chance - my body just wasn't going to go into labour properly. In the end 2 days of the gel then pessary had no effect so I was put on the drip for 14 hours and ended up 2cm dilated before the consultant said the labour wasn't going to go anywhere and suggested a c-section. As I say it was fine but the induction felt a bit pointless and I think I'd refuse it again unless my body showed some signs of being ready IYSWIM.

It's not actually a choice I'll have to make again as after the c-section the doctors have a ton of rules for my next labour including no inductions.

Hope your labour starts soon so you don't have to worry about it!!!

Light,

I think only you can make this decision. So far you have a few negative induction stories which are not necessarily the norm.

My induction (with drip and epidural) was so smooth and my baby popped out pain free within 5 hrs....AND i was being induced at 39 weeks for medical reasons.

It was an amazing labour and i would not have changed any aspect of it.

My only advice is if you do go down the drip route that you ask for an epidural at the same time......if only because you go into full-blown contractions with no build-up which can be very painful.

Looks like I'm booked in for an induction at 42 weeks plus 6 days (tomorrow). Felt under -bit lot of pressure from midwives, even though the ctg scans are fine. Feel really stressed about this. DP has come down with a head cold at just the wrong time and so I'm worried that he won't be there for me properly. Mum is down, but there's nothing like your DP being there for you....

I'm miss au naturel normally - I don't even take a paracetamol..... am I compromising my principles???????

Your induction will probably be a breeze as you must surely be close to being ready anyway!

Can you call and say you'll come the next day though (if you want to of course). It's just that if there is no medical reason to do it, then why do it?

And you know that no well evolutioned baby comes out of their own acccord when the mother is stressed as it indicates that the outside environment isn't safe yet.

Hi Starlight - I know all this but am worried about risks of stillbirth after 43 weeks (I would have to really fight to get them to leave me alone)!

I think they said my bishop's score was 4..... no idea what that means!!! will google!