Has anyone gone overdue and refused induction?

[ImDoingLaundry]

Just that really! Has anyone had a natural childbirth over 42 weeks without being induced?

I'll be 42 weeks tomorrow and the plan is to call the hospital in the morning and ask what time they want me in to be induced.
This is dc2, same experience with my first. Induced at 42 weeks and he came at 42+3.
It was such a horrible experience and I hated every minute.
At my last antenatal appointment his head was still bobbing around high up and I wasn't dilated. Still absolutely no sign of him coming and we've tried everything.

Having a (minor) freak out now about having the same experience again, and really considering calling tomorrow and saying thanks but I don't want to be induced. Keen to hear anyone's stories if they have any.

What was bad about your last induction? I have just been induced at 12 days over, it didn't go the way I planned and I had everything thrown at me but had an epidural which helped A LOT. It's your choice to be induced but do remember if you end up getting induced even later they will just ramp up the drip + you don't want issues with your placenta not working as well.

You can refuse and ask for daily monitoring. You cannot be compelled to go to hospital and be induced. Talk to your MW - if he or she is approachable. A word of warming - don't allow the MW to give you a sweep if you think that they do not approve of your refusal to have an induction. IME, the MW will "accidently" break your waters and force you into one. bitter experience

OP have a careful think about the risks if you just say no. I would imagine they would just leave people to have the baby naturally, if that was completely without risk (that would be a lot easier for the hospital).
Maybe ask to speak to someone about the reasons for induction, the potential risks of not inducing, and ways to avoid the that ngs you hated last time?

I did. No problem, just had some extra monitoring until she decided to come on her own.

Sthitch, there wasn't really any defining one moment that made it a bad experience. The antenatal staff were wonderful and supportive and really couldn't have done more. They don't use the drip often in my trust, so no experience of that (yet).

I had 4 pessaries which caused intense pain without much result over 48 hours. Then my waters were broken and contractions started instantly, and came every 2 minutes for the next 12 hours. I had a reaction to one of the drugs and was completely out of control and loopy for so I don't remember much of the rest. DS was born in another 7 hours after 2 hours of pushing. They took me down for a c-section (I don't remember this) but were able to get him out using forceps. I remember him not crying for a while and I was quite hysterical. After birth I struggled with breastfeeding and I really felt there wasn't something quite right with DS. The postnatal staff fobbed me off and made me feel like I was a clueless FTM. Although not relevant to the induction, it turns out he had a serious defect that should have been picked up at birth.

Toads, that's awful! What a horrible midwife my regular midwife is on leave, so I've been seeing different ones at the unit for sweeps every other day. 8 "sweeps" later and my cervix isn't open all the way through. Not sure they'd even be able to get in there to break my waters!

I'm aware of risks (e.g placenta breaking down etc) and have talked through with various professionals. They don't seem unhappy for me to refuse induction, and they offer daily monitoring if I do. Understandably, there's just not enough research about to guide women on this 😔

Thanks for your input ladies. I've been awake since 3.30, and trying to not get worked up. Is it acceptable for me to have cake this early?

Never too early for cake.

Remember any decision you make today can be changed at any point - depending on new information that you receive and then process. So if for now you decide that you want to decline being induced you can change your mind as soon as you want to.

If we are having difficulty making a decision it's usually because we need more information to enable us to make the right choice in the circumstances.

My trust did use the drip. I said fine but on condition I have an epidural first. Which they did. Pessary was hopeless. I refused to let them break my waters - Didn't like the registrar who was a pig.

Bearing in mind your history I'm surprised you haven't asked for a caesarean. Why don't you?

Hope your baby is ok now and good luck.

It sounds like you're just not quite ready yet.

IMO they rush to induce far too unnecessarily in order to keep to a predefined schedule.
I believe the 'dating' system is often wrong and woman are induced when they would go into labour naturally if given a little bit longer to cook.

Obviously there are cases where labour should, but does not spontaneously start and should be assisted, but I believe there are clear signs when that is the case.

You are well within your rights to refuse induction, they will instead monitor you and baby closely and do regular ultrasounds to check on the placenta, it is perfectly safe for women to do this am I really wish the option was offered more often.... but of course it take more time, work and money to do it so why would they.

I was in the same position as you, baby seemed nowhere close to being ready to come, I was being pushed for an induction, quite forcefully, but I stuck to my guns and I went over two weeks further over due before I went into labour naturally... and as a result had a short easy labour.
My placenta and everything else were perfectly fine until I went into labour, there was no problems at all.

the MWs where horrendous to me though and I ended up having a miserable time throughout because they didn't agree with me and wrote all over my notes that I was difficult and 'refused to engage'

I should also add that I'm a doctor so I was fully aware that what I was doing and that I was perfectly within my rights and perfectly safe. despite the MWs options otherwise

I had my dc naturally at 18 days overdue. I had daily monitoring for the last week and there were no concerns at all about the health of the baby or the placenta. I had a home birth, easy labour and delivery.
I had been expecting an argument about induction but actually the hospital were completely fine with it and very supportive.
I had been meant to be induced at 16 days over but the hospital was so busy they couldn't fit us in and while waiting my waters broke at home so we just stayed there.

I want to avoid induction. At the trust I'm booked with you can avoid it and have regular checks including scans till you labour spontaneously.

I haven't done this myself, but I know someone that went 16 days over by refusing to be induced. She was totally fine, but compromised at letting them do some monitoring.

My experience of expectant monitoring wasn't great. To cover themselves from a legal perspective they spent a lot of time telling me that they recommended I have an induction and that I would be the one who had to live with my decision if something went wrong. This is clearly categorically untrue, as even at 43 weeks they could still make a mistake that would be their fault and not mine.

As you say, there really isn't any good evidence to help you decide what to do. The risk of stillbirth in the 42nd week is about the same as the risk of stillbirth in the 38th week, and that risk is very small. If you have no other risk factors (baby growing to centile, good baby movement on scans, good fluid levels, good umbilical Doppler, no blood pressure issues, etc) then it's even lower.

It didn't feel like that. I felt so alone. It was like they had told me it would be my fault if my baby died then left me to it.

I couldn't manage to get them to make proper appointments for my monitoring, and no one seemed to know when I was supposed to come in (my notes said daily monitoring but the midwife on the day assessment unit was bizarrely resistant to booking me in each day).

The consultant who specialised in post dates was good (although I didn't get booked in to see them until I was already 42+4) and they didn't try to force me into an induction, but everyone else really tried to bully me into it. It was awful. The registrar working under the consultant even lied to me about the risks of induction.

In the end, DD did come on her own without medical interventions at nearly 43 weeks. I'm very glad I waited in retrospect but it was an absolutely horrific week. I'm fairly sure she was so late in part because my stress levels were through the roof and swamping any oxytocin that might have been there.

I was 2 weeks over with all my babies. For dc4 they broke my waters. It was an intense birth but I just wanted her out. She wasn't engaging and it felt like she never would. I didn't want to take any risks. Good luck!

Oh! it's really too late. Really hate to wait in the last days. I am lucky to have my baby before my due date. She same after 39 week. Even I was no need to wait. It was just sudden for me. I was expecting it one week later. One morning, I found brownish discharge. I thought the time came. I asked to my aunt. She said wait for some hours then went to hospital. At night, I went to hospital and asked them when I would be able to delivery. They done blood test and check vaginal if I could deliver normal. They waited to start labor pain. When it started they again check If it could be a normal delivery but it was not. They called doctor for c-section. I never had any BP issue or stress during my whole time.

My MiL went to 43 weeks without an induction... 3 times. Babies were just determined not to come out. Granted this was 28 years ago but still. One happens to be my husband so I'm expecting my baby to be the same. Hopefully though he'll take after me and be early.im glad to see you can refuse if you want as I've been a but apprehensive about this myself.

I hadn't realised there was any choice about being induced til this thread, I must admit - my consultant just told me it had to happen. To be fair, I was really uncomfortable, and produced a 10lb baby when I was below average sized, so it may have been for the best, to avoid any scenes from 'alien' occurring !

Induction is ALWAYS the woman's decision and hers alone, no matter how it is "offered". That's because no one can do anything to your body without your permission. To do so would be a serious assault/battery and would be illegal.

Many people decline induction at 42 weeks. AIMS has a useful book on decisions around induction: aims.org.uk/pubs.htm#inducingLabour

Hi everyone, sorry for the late reply but thought I'd just update!

I was induced in the end as despite my nerves, I just couldn't wait to meet him any longer. It was a much better experience than it was with DC1.
I was given the 24 hour pessary at 4pm, then labour started 1am with mild cramping. Around 6am it really stepped up a notch and was examined, still 1cm. By 7am I was 7cm, wheeled down to delivery suite. 9.30am my waters broke.
At 10.20am he burst into the world facing the wrong way (back to back) after 10 minutes of pushing. I didn't need any pain relief other than gas and air. He was born 8lbs exactly and with a full head of dark hair. We're all besotted with him, especially DC1, who smothers him with kisses

I'm so happy it was so much easier this time around, and that I didn't need the epidural as I could move around easily shortly afterwards.

Baby boy is now 18 days old, and completely perfect.

Thank you so much for all your replies

Congratulations op!