How safe is expectant management?

[PussinJimmyChoos]

Am 39 weeks with DC2 this week. Am hoping baby will be on time and I will not need to be induced due to a previous em cs

I'm not that keen on induction as I think if the body is not ready for it, it can just lead to a cascade of intervention and most likely result in another c section

However, a lot of the baby literature seems very negative about waiting past 41 weeks - risk of infection, placenta not nourishing baby, risk of still born etc

Obviously would never put baby at risk but given that due dates can be out by +/- two weeks to start with, surely expectant management is not that bad??

I suppose it depends on how accurate you think you are with dates (I am hopeless, was weeks out with DS1 but my friend knows practically to the minute) and also given the amount and frequency of monitoring surely they could detect any issues before they became critical? A lot of places won't induce (with a drip) after a CS anyway. Mine is letting me have one prostin but that doesn't work it will be a ELCS on due date due to GD.

I was worried about this, as pregnancies last well beyond 40 weeks in my maternal family and hey presto DD was 2 weeks late. I was pointed to some very good websites which dispell many of the myths surrounding post-term berths - unfortunately I can't remember any of them now Hopefully someone better informed than me will be along shortly. But remember it is your body, and as long as the baby isn't showing any signs of distress when they monitor (which they will if you go over 42 - which is unlikely anyway!), they can't force you to have an induction.

I'm not quite at this stage yet but found this really interesting reading:

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/01/pregnant-for-10-months