42 weeks +2 days now- what now? when should I go for an induction?

[RosebudIncubator]

Hi,

I'm now officially overdue- DS is feeling v comfortable inside, happily fidgeting, all vitals seem fine. (Being checked daily now)
I had planned a homebirth (water birth) and am very reluctant to go in for a hospital birth. (My last labour expereince has left "some" emotional scars from the time that we transferred in to the hospital after a prolong 2nd stage)
I cannot imagine having to go through labour without being in the water (which I couldn't be if I was induced) and am really afraid of the crash labour that an induction may bring on.
How long does one let baby decide when they want to be born?
Has anyone tried successfully any herbal remedies for inducing labour?
From discussions with the community midwives in my area they would still support me with a homebirth, within reason and if all seemed fine.

are you having raspberry leaf tea/capsules? Also try pinching in between your thumb and first finger for count of 10 (linked to 'down' movement for baby apparently)

Im sorry though i dont really know about induction

Oh gosh, Rosebud, I feel for you.
I only got to 40+11,but had decided a few days before, that I would go into to be induced at 40+19 (if it had come to it). This is NOT to say what you should do, just that I personally felt like that was half way between the lower risk time period and the point when risk of stillbirth would reach a level I felt too nervous about.

I have the impression that if the first part of induction is adequate (pessary?) that you could still get a waterbirth, even in a hospital environment -- but you need to consult with your MWs about how induction tends to happen in your area.

Are you on the UK homebirth email list? Lots of support to be had there. Good luck.

Rosebud - how sure are you of your dates?

I personally would take it day by day. Daily monitoring is important, and I would use that to base my decisions on.

Have you had a sweep? Tried having sex as a way of getting labour started?

Drinking lots of RL tea. (brrr)

Not on the UK homebirth email list- how can I access it, lljkk?

Where does one find out about risk of still births? Preeclampsia symptoms are the only things that get mentioned to me, which I'm monitoring symptoms for.

My mum actually overcarried my sister to 10 months back in the 70s- circumstances of moving countries for dad's work and being summer holiday season let it go on for that long. I would hate to go that long!!! Sis is fine... if you can call a younger, pain- in- in- the- backside, sister fine.

I was induced back in March, I was slightly overdue but induced as baby had stopped moving and after numerous monitoring and scans decision was made to induce.

I was just given the gel pessaries and they started off my contractions, I was continual monitered during my labour but this was because of the reason for induction.

I did ask if it was completely necessary and they said in normal circumstances if you start off with just the gel and don't need the drip they don't tend to use continual monitoring.

It may be worth double checking with your trust that if your contractions start after just the gel that you may be able to use the water.

Angela Horning ( swoon , she's like a hero to homebirthers everywhere ) Homebirth website, includes link to email list.

Very Roughly speaking, I think the risk of stillbirth when a pregnancy goes past 42 weeks doubles, and triples if you go past 43 weeks (surely this should have been explained to you?),

But as the risk of stillbirth before 42 weeks is very small, you're only talking about doubling (or tripling) very small numbers. If you know you have a family history of long pregnancies, that may alter your own risk tolerance.

Our hospital trust insists on everyone being induced at 40+10 (I had to do gymnastics to avoid it)...

What about the other risks involved that are not still birth?

Dates- Consumation (remember date coz it was 1st time "live" after DD was born and finding out I was pregnant again ) + 266 days = 26th Sept, if we take that semen can survive 5 days before fertilising an egg then that takes me to the 1st Oct. Based on that I am "only" 5- 9 days late.
Had 2 sweeps till now. Sex every night for the past weeek.

A very mild chicken korma started things off for me.

Although I haven't been able to eat it since - looks too much like baby poo!

Oh, and further to Belgo's suggestion, my MW said doggy style is the best position to get things happening!

Good luck!

If it was me I'd do whats best for the baby and that would be getting the baby out, An increased risk of stillbirth - no matter how small- would worry me enough to get myself to the hospital and get it over and done with!

I think sex doggy style is the only possibility once you are more then nine months pregnant

I have to agree with Belgo on that one!

Thank you for sending the link to Angela's homebirth website! That site is fantastic! Very informative. It's given DH & me lots to discuss.
As I'm showing signs of slowly getting ready to give birth- discharge & period pains-, all vitals are fine, baby moving (bit too fidgety sometimes- giving real 'Aliens' moments) we've decided to hold off on induction till Wednesday.

I had a home waterbirth at 40 +10. the consultant scared me a lot at 40 +7 when they said they wanted to induce immediately because it would pose a threat to the baby. I asked a lot of questions and there was no imminent threat. The baby was doing fine inside.

A sweep, lots of sex, curry, more raspberry leaf tea and some homoeopathy worked for me.

When DS was born, he was not too wrinkly and still had a small amount of vernix - the MW said it was very likely that he was a bit less late than thought... even though they had already moved my dates back once.

It turns out DS was just as lazy at coming out as he is on a morning.

Oh yes, sorry and at 40 +8, I agreed with the community MW about what date we would go to. We agreed to talk about it again at 40+10 and be induced at 40 +15 if needed.

I'm at 40+13 and thinking about induction for 40+16. It seems advice can vary a lot on who you talk to.

I had bizarrely contrasting conversations with two different consultants today and yesterday. Yesterday was a scaremonger, going on and on about the risk to the baby (even though scan/doppler were fine), trying to push me into an induction for today. In contrast, today's consultant was nice as pie and suggested 40+16 as a provisional induction date as the baby looked so well!

Have you heard the old wives tale about scrubbing the floor on your hands and knees to get labour started? The reasoning is that it moves the baby into a favourable position to trigger the beginning of labour. Worth a try if you can even get down to the floor at 42 weeks! 'discharge & period pains' make it sounds like it may already be on its way.

saomeone told me yesterday that she had heard smelling a new born helped, she had done and went into labour that night. I therefore sniffed her newborn (I'm due today) but so far nothing. They do smell lovely though!

So here's what happened: as I went past 42 weeks we went for daily monitoring at the Day Assessment Unit, there they monitored the heartbeat and did a Doppler to assess the umbilical cord resistance- that stayed very good throughout.
I was encouraged to book an induction- and had that pencilled in for 42+ 6.
Luckily it didn't come to induction- The first niggles started on 42+ 3 and I went into labour spontaneously on 42 + 4. I had a wonderful home waterbirth, delivering a 10lb 9oz little boy.
I don't think anything in particular started the labour off, though we tried everything. ..actually maybe the stretch & sweep offered by one of the midwives did do something to get things started.

(Prologue: unfortunately, I developed a haemorrhage post delivery, so we ended up transferring into hospital, where it took them a couple of hours to stop the stronger than normal bleed. Nothing to do with being post-term apparently, just being predisposed to it.)

Just wanted to say congratulations! what a good size...my DS1 was 10lbs 4 but I had an epidural and long delivery. Hope you are doing great now.

Well done Rosebud...CONGRATS! Hope everythings going well for you and your boy...what a good size!

Rosebud thank you so much for posting this - am now 41+2, induction booked for Tuesday when I'll be 42 weeks and your story has given me hope I'll still be able to have the natural homebirth I want, and a healthy baby to boot

seriosuly well done delivering such a huge baby boy!

GirlWithTheMouseyHair - I got a lot of inspiration from Angela's Homebirth website. It was really reassuring to read that. It also gave some good advice- such as writing to the appropriate powers in midwifery to inform them of your choice and request their continued support.
While not for everyone, as risks post term do increase, a home birth is possible. We had 2 midwives with us the whole time through labour to mitigate the risks of being post-term (as opposed to the normal practice of only having one midwife till onset of very advanced labour, when the second midwife is called in). We are also only 5 mins from the nearest hospital.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for a lovely homebirth for you! Do get back to us and let us know what happens.
... and make sure they do a good, thorough stretch and sweep (at least once) before it comes to other means of intervention (unless of course nessessary for baby's well-being!!!)

Congratulations Rosebud. I also had a straightforward home water birth and delivered my ds just over two weeks ago. As it happens I also bled a huge amount after the birth but fortunately the midwives knew to expect this as it happened after my dd2 was born as well. It was pretty scarey though. The midwives stopped the bleed with various injections. It's taken me a while to get back onto my feet, hope you are recovered!