Home Birth Planned - Overdue

[LuckySalem]

Hi all,

I'm currently 41 + 1 and hoping to have a home water birth.

According to my hospital they will only allow you to go Term + 12 which will take me to Tuesday.

I've had a sweep yesterday and apparently the "Presenting part (head) is still high" my notes say 3 above spine. Also in my notes on my 20wk scan (was 20+1) it was reading I was 19+6 and 19+2 depending on different measurements.

I'm absolutely petrified of having to go into hospital to be induced. What rights do I have to refuse the induction and still have a homebirth? Can I use the fact that at 20 weeks I was possibly only 19 and therefore now only actually 6 days over?

Thanks all

I was in a similar position - wanting a home birth but was only 'allowed' to go 10 days over as is the norm where I live in Belgium.

I asked for daily monitoring of the baby so that I knew everything was fine with the baby.

Ultimately, it's your body, your baby, you can do what you like, but bare in mind that sometimes inductions are medically necessary.

Who have you spoken to about this? Have you got a midwife/doctor whom you can trust?

I'm slightly worried about speaking to the midwife as when I first said I wanted a homebirth they were very against it and went through all the precautions with me. When we got to inductions I said once we get to the +12 can I be allowed to go over and straight away just got "no" and explanations about how the placenta will fail after 12 days.

that's a shame, you did to speak to someone who has accurate knowledge without scaring you.

Telling you your placenta will fail after 12 days - well in most cases, that's simply not true, although it will be true for some women. Some women can safely go 2 or 3 weeks over, it depends.

If you hange around, someone will come along with better knowledge then me.

Cheers Belgo.
I thought you could leave the placenta a little longer.
I'm planning a home birth cos the hospital is so strict about everything. They have strict timelines as to whether you are progressing fast enough and stuff like that so that is scaring me aswell.

as belgo says, women can and do go over 42 weeks, and if there is some quibble over your date , then you can use that to your advantage

you can ask for expectant management, and refuse induction... term +12 does not equal automatic placental failure. problem is not a lot of women are allowed to or want to go over 42 + , so there is not a lot of data about it!

if the head is high, then there might be a reason for that.. simply that the baby is not ready, or something else...that is preventing the baby from engaging.. is this your first? sorry if i have asked you before

www.aims.org.uk and www.homebirth.org.uk good sites for post dates homebirth support

Yeh first baby,

The thing is she's saying the head isn't engaged but after reading a book (don't know if it's any good "pregnancy for dummies") i've got all the things they're saying for an engaged head. I've got really sharp pains in my pelvis and loads of movement right over (what feels like) my pelvic bone. - Kinda feels like the baby is getting its hands between my muscle and bones. I know I should be believing the midwife and stuff but its just strange.

I'm trying to persuade baby to move, been walking and sitting on my ball but I just don't feel like there is any progress being made.

ok, well the head could well be moving down today, things change day to day at the end of pregnancy. try to stay positive... walking up and down the stairs sideways can help to open up the pelvis.. try not to lose heart and faith in your body.. lots of positive thinking and strong visualisations of how you want this baby to go. try to make some quiet time today to talk to and connect to your baby .

if you do end up in hospital for whatever reason, you do not have to have any intervention such as ARM or a drip if the onyl reason is you are not progressing according to the hospital timetable. many women do not labour to the 'normal' 1 cm per hour

Thats what I keep saying. I don't understand why hospitals have these policies!! If mum and baby are fine then leave them alone!!

I'm going for another walk today to get some gas&elec from local shop (not far but its better than nothing)

I guess i'm just feeling a little deflated as I kinda expected her to say all was fine, head down etc yesterday when she did the sweep.

stay positive . a lot can change in a day or even in a few hours

can i suggest sex and nipple stim? or will you slap me

baby will come when ready, and no amount of stress will actually help that

try not to worry too much, get a nice magazine and a cake from the shops and relax today, and if no baby, well, at least you had a nice day !

We've tried the nipple bit but not the sex bit, everytime we try we collapse in giggles and the mood is gone! lol

I'm going to pick up a snickers bar from shop while i'm there!

Cheers Lulu. I just wanted to make sure that if baby wasn't here I could ask them to hang on a little while longer. (only want a few days)

take it easy

I insisted on waiting until after 42 completed weeks before I was induced. I went in for an induction at 42+1 and what with pauses and false starts, it took four full days!!! So, my very healthy LO was born at 42+5. However, there was a little meconium in the fluid, she had more phlegm than usual, and her hands and feet were wrinkled and sort of scaly-dry. The thing is, as soon as we were in the hospital and on monitors almost constantly, all that worry about being overdue just disappeared. She was fine on the monitors, so the midwife and nurses just stopped worrying about the dates.

Induction was long, annoying and exhausting. I hope you go into labor naturally!

Hello, and sympathy with your situation. I had this with my first child. I was gutted when my midwife checked me at 40weeks and suggested, rather than my planned homebirth, booking in for a c-section at 41+ weeks!!! Thought she was the worst midwife in the world.

Anyway, I had a lovely registrar who monitored the blood flow in the cord and the state of the placenta, and said I could still go for a homebirth at 42 weeks. Went into labour at 42 weeks, but the midwives couldn't feel the head as it was so high, and after a 24 hours agreed to go into hospital. The labour continued but the baby began to show signs of distress - they wanted to monitor her blood oxygen levels but still couldn't reach the head! They were very worried about the fact that the cord could go lower than her head and get trapped (cord prolapse) and secondly that the placenta was old. More distress on the monitor and I went for a CS which was fine, after all my fears.

I hope you'll have the birth you want, would just like you to be aware that the babies head might be high for a reason (mine was looking the wrong way, and I have a small pelvis.) Birth may be fine even then, and a lot can happen in afew days, but keep an open mind - the main thing is a healthy baby at the end of it. (And don't diss an experienced midwives opinion out of hand )

PS. That last line sounded like I was talking to you - I really meant it in terms of my experience. I met her again when I was expecting my 2nd and we had a laugh about it. I asked her how she knew it was going to turn out like that, and she said she 'just knew' - I guess that's experience for you.

OP asked about her "rights".
Basically, it's your body and "they" have no rights over it at all. You can refuse induction, and you can just wait it out and phone up the delivery suite whenever labour happens and inform them that it's time for them to send a pair of MWs out.
They have a legal obligation to send someone out.

Now, that may not be the best outcome. You might research the risks of going past 42 weeks and decide you'd rather not chance it. Or they could bluntly inform you they're short-staffed and they don't know when the MWs would reach you, in which cases you might choose to go to hospital for the birth.

But the choices are YOURS, you have the right to choose what you do. Do not think for a moment "they" can make you do a thing. It's not about what they "allow" you to do, it's about what you choose to do in response to their advice.

Grrrrrrrr.....
And I'm one of the relatively tame, conventional and docile homebirthers out there, too. You really should get onto the homebirthuk email list (yahoogroups) to find plenty of ladies who can give you mega support and insight on these issues.

Peanutbutterkid, Please note that the hospital has a duty to care for you and to send someone out, but that does not have to be a midwife, it can be an ambulance to collect you! The law is not as nice and supportive as many home birthers think it is or as it should be. The only thing they are not allowed to do is to leave you to it. Of course many will send a midwife.

I am sorry, I really want to encourage Lucky (and she knows it I hope ) but we need to be clear about the actual rules.

There are a few other older threads on this subject, LuckySalem. Would you like me to post a link to them. I'm not putting them up now as they do give fairly mixed messages, and you may just want to think positive for now

Just to say aswell induction isn't always a truely awful experience!! i had a hb planned but went for induction at 40+12, i don't regret it. in mnay ways it was better than my lbour with ds, my first born for reasons i can go into if you wish!!

I've got a few problems with being hospital and induced.

I don't like hospitals (big wuss I know) and the strictness they put on you (maybe i'm a rebel )

I don't want to be stuck in hospital for days, I want to be at home with my DP and LO. (Hospital rules are if hos delivery then I have to stay in 2 days)

I REALLY want a waterbirth (its my main aim for pain relief) and no guarantees I can have that.

There are such strict, you have to be this far on after this long contracting etc that I don't want to have to worry about.

I keep reading that if you have a hospital birth you're more likely to have intervention (apparently for the reason above about strict times)

Which hospital is it? sounds very strict, and i am surprised, TBH
you do not have to stay in for 2 days if your birth is straightforward, if oyu give birth at home, midwives don;t stay for 2 days, you can discharge yourself

It's in north wales.

I know i can technically discharge myself and refuse intervention and the likes but I'm not a strong person and I know nothing about giving birth to know if they're saying it cos baby is at risk or if its just cos they're precious timescales and guidelines aren't being followed. IYKWIM.

I find it really silly that when you give birth. Dad is sent away and sometimes you and baby are split up. It's something me and DP feel really strongly about (maybe stupidly)

not stupid at all

it is natural and normal to want to be a family unit at a time like this

indications that the baby is in distress are things like foetal heart rate not recovering well after contractions, thick meconium in the fluid .... i would think that you can do a really clear birth preferences, and emphasise you want no intervention if baby and you are tolerating labour well, and do not wish for intervention purely because of a time scale.....

intervention has its place, no doubt about that, but should not be done as a matter of course becasue labour is taking longer than it 'should'

I guess I'll change my birth plan from the nice quiet homebirth one to a medically sound one then in preparation cos i'm prob gonna end up in hospital.

DP won't let me argue dates cos baby is at risk. He listened to the MW say 12 days and after that the cord fails and is now insistent that the baby is born on Tuesday at the latest cos after that he believes the baby will die.

I'll make him do it with me and then he can be the strict guy who insists what I want is done. (although I know he won't be if a MW or doc says baby is at risk, whether or not it is)

don't change your birth plan

do an extra one !

shame your DH now feels that this is a matter of life and death

some women need to cook their babies for 42 + weeks... definitely some mumsnetters and doulas i know go over but a long while

a normal full term pregnancy is anywhere from 37 - 42 weeks..

go over by a long while !