Inducing on due date

[RAFWife12]

My DH is away on military tour, and will be home for just 2 weeks around due date (expected to get home 2 days before). I really want him to be around for the birth and get as much time with baby after before he has to leave again. Obviously I know I may deliver early, and there isn't anything I can do about that. But I don't want to have to go to 42 weeks, then be induced anyway and DH has had to leave.
Has anyone else requested to be induced on due date and been able to go ahead with it? I know chances are induction could fail, and I may have to end up with a c-section, but that's a risk I am happy to take. Same thing could happen if I go to 42 weeks and then I wouldn't have support of DH.
I tried to talk to my midwife about it, but she was not really willing to discuss it. I don't know if that's because I'll actually be delivering in a different NHS trust. Haven't met the midwives where I'll be delivering yet.

Hello RAFwife
I really feel for you DH is in the merchant navy and took his paternity leave from my due date. When i broached the subject with my community midwife at around 38 weeks she would not entertain my getting induced any earlier (or at the very least my due date) - her helpful advice was "he'll just need to take the time off". Well, DD appeared with the help of induction 2 weeks overdue and he ended up getting further time off, but for weeks leading up to the birth both of us were extremely anxious about how things would go. I do appreciate that it probably won't be as easy for your DH to get extra leave. It's a worry that you do not need on top of an already stressful time in your lives. I would suggest going back to your midwife reiterating the point - if you get nowhere, or feel its no use or she's unapproachable about it, then I would advise perhaps speaking to her senior or supervisor of midwives at the hospital where you will be giving birth. If they try to tell you it's not a reason for induction then I'm sorry, but other people seem to get induced for less - tell them you need the support of your DH and its impacting on you emotionally.
Good luck OP - I hope to hear of a happy outcome for you xxx

Thanks for your response. For DH, more time off is not an option! He gets 2 weeks R&R and that is it, he's then gone for another 2-3 months.
How did your induction go when you were 2 weeks overdue?

Would you consider booking in for an ELCS anyway?

See point 1.2.5.1 in this document - this might cover you:

www.nhs.uk/Planners/pregnancycareplanner/Documents/NICE_induction_of_labour.pdf

Thanks TheDoctineOfSnatch! That is our circumstances exactly. I will print that off.
I had considered an ELCS, but I think that would be more difficult to argue for than induction. Plus, if there is a chance I could do vaginal birth I'd like to try.

Yeah I thought your DH would be very restricted with time off - being away for 2-3 months whilst you are at home with the baby will be hard enough (not meaning to sound doom and gloom OP just saying that if you emphasise that when you present your case for early induction it will hopefully go in your favour, rather than just a case of them thinking you want it for your own convenience, which they clearly thought was the case with me ). Also if you were to require an unforeseen CS how would you be expected to cope at home without DH's support? Again, don't hold back with them.
The guidelines that doctrine kindly put on are really helpful, I wish I had known about them. I would like to think that your situation merits earlier induction.

My induction, in the grand scheme of things, went ok (as in no need for assisted delivery or CS) but I became unwell with the prostaglandins and they had to monitor me for pretty much all of my first-stage. My waters had to be broken and the drip started, but small mercies as it meant things sped up (when I was admitted for induction they told me it could take up to a week! DD was born 9 hours later). I got home 18 hours after she was born.
Let us know how you get on, really hoping you get it sorted xxx

I discussed this with my midwife as well, and ended up getting a c section. I also used a due date calculator to find out I was due on the 15th, which was exactly when I gave birth.

travinski - was yours an elective c-section or emergency? I know my ovulation date, so worked out my due date based on this (1/8/14). My midwife then insisted I was due on 26/7/14 based on last period. My 12 week scan confirmed the due date I had from ovulation and is now the one midwives are going with!

You and your baby's health is the most important thing.

Why increase the risks to both of you?

Not worth it IMO.

How would you both feel if something went wrong?

Weatherall

There is an increased risk of C section but OP accepts that.

If it is important to her to have DH there, who says that there isn't an increased risk of eg PND if this isn't possible? Risk calculations are usually a balance of risks. NICE guidelines seem to make provision for this situation and wouldn't do so if it was strongly contra indicated.

Weatherall - I have researched this in depth. I know there are increased risks of intervention if I go ahead with an induction, this is true at 40 weeks or 42 weeks. Actually slightly lower at 40 weeks than 42 weeks. However, being stressed during labour also increases risks of intervention. So it is a case of being induced but more relaxed with DH there, or stressed (and possibly induced) without DH there.
There is also increased risk of PND with being stressed during labour. I will already be at higher risk of this purely due to the fact DH has to leave again.
There are risks associated with birth whenever/however a mother goes into labour.
My question was - has anyone been in similar circumstances and been able to go ahead with an induction on due date. Not does anyone else think I should go ahead with this plan.

They probably prefer later induction as more likely to work more quickly ie baby's head engaged cervix already opening etc. if the cervix is still high etc. seeing on tv it sometimes does take days to induce

I asked to be induced on my due date last time and I was.. it was the quickest labour ever.. I quite enjoyed it.

But I had polyhydramnios and was so fucked off with the whole thing by then so they were fine about it... not that I gave any choice, I think I looked quite snarly by then.

All you can do is ask.. good luck.

naty - research I have done actually identifies weeks 40-41 as being lowest risk for induction, however I think they prefer later as most people go into labour naturally. Obviously natural labour is the ideal.
If DH wasn't having to go away again so shortly after due date I wouldn't want induction at all - I'd want it all to happen naturally. However DH does have to leave. Both of us want him to be home for birth and have time to bond with baby before he has to leave.

I could see it being lower risk as i expect the further overdue you go the bigger the baby gets and more likely to get stuck. I think if i was 2 weeks overdue i would have needed a CS.
7lb 10 baby a day early.