Inducing labour on due date?!

[Soph95]

Hey ladies,

My last midwife appointment was Monday, 39 weeks, all fine, baby happy and healthy, kicking like a mule, low risk pregnancy, no concerns at all, yet she began to book me in for an induction on my due date!?
What?
I really don’t get this at all. Why would they want to induce me when I’m due that day. I’d understand if baby was stressed or there was something wrong but, They haven’t even let the pregnancy run it’s course.
I said no, because I was under the impression inductions were to help you, if you were late and I didn’t want to go through something so invasive when I didn’t feel it necessary.
🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ Any thoughts or experiences ladies?

Very bizarre. Was it an induction or a sweep?

She wanted to book me in for a sweep. 🤷‍♀️ Just don’t get it at all.

It’s a cultural thing in the U.K. Sweeps come with a small risk and there is no evidence they work.

A sweep isn't an induction. It's completely normal to be offered one on your due date but you're under no obligation to accept the offer.

Exactly, how can you prove labour was induced or was going to happen anyway.
I know you can’t believe everything you read, but I heard they can prolong labour, statistically led to more Complications and more women opt for epidurals.
Why do they want to intervene when women have been given birth for millions of years? Just leave nature alone. Intervene if you must, not because it’s the new cultural fashion. 🙈

I don't think a sweep is the same as an induction? My (limited) understanding is that a sweep may "get you going" if your body/the baby is pretty much ready anyway, but not if they aren't, and that while they are pretty low risk there is also very little evidence to show that they have much effect at all.

At my hospital it seems to be standard to offer one on your due date, but of course you can decline (I will be declining I think).

www.cochrane.org/CD000451/PREG_membrane-sweeping-induction-labour

A sweep is not an induction. It’s offered to women at different stages depending on local guidelines.
It separates the membranes from the cervix to release prostaglandins to see if it helps start labour. They reckon it works about 30% of the time if the woman was going to go into labour soon. It could increase risk of infection, it could cause bleeding, it could cause the start of a longer latent phase as your body has been ‘irritated’.

Decline if you wish, it isn’t a problem, but it isn’t An induction

A sweep is not an induction!

@Soph95

Exactly, how can you prove labour was induced or was going to happen anyway. I know you can’t believe everything you read, but I heard they can prolong labour, statistically led to more Complications and more women opt for epidurals. Why do they want to intervene when women have been given birth for millions of years? Just leave nature alone. Intervene if you must, not because it’s the new cultural fashion. 🙈

A sweep is not an induction and does none of those things.

@beautifulmonument @PrayingandHoping thanks for your educational, supportive comments. 🙄

@PregnantPorcupine thank you for the link. I don’t think I will be accepting any time soon. Rather hold off unless they are worried about baby or I go overdue.

Ok.... don't think what was said was unhelpful really. Clarifying a sweep is not an induction therefore you don't have to worry about any of your worries...?

I'm sad that the midwife did not go through all of it with u so that u had all the information about the difference between a sweep and an induction and the pros and cons of a sweep. 🤷‍♀️

A sweep isn’t the same thing as an induction. It’s normal and usual to be offered a sweep around your due date but you are obviously free to decline it

You can turn down every intervention.
Totally get where you’re coming from, you’re so close to the end that baby is coming anyway.
Inductions are typically booked in when you’re at or approaching 42 weeks. Where as a sweep is usually from due date. My waters did break after a sweep, and I didn’t find it particularly bad, so I will be going for it again this time. Good luck for when your little one comes x

They are two different things. You are able to decline anything you're not happy with but maybe speak to your midwife again so she can explain the difference first.

You can decline a sweep, it's totally up to you. You normally have an appointment on or around your due date when they offer them. If it's your first baby they often can't do a stretch and sweep as your cervix mightn't be ready (that's what I was told)
An induction is completely different. It is when you are admitted to hospital and they either insert gel or pessary to ripen your cervix or if your already dilated they can break your waters. If that doesn't get it going they start you on a hormone drip. Now most trusts only let you go 1 week over the due date (some let you go 2 weeks). Then they will offer you induction x

Yep, as pps said, worth finding out about the difference between a sweep and an induction before panicking! Fwiw I had 3 sweeps and they did nothing - a very far cry from an induction!

If you don't know the difference between an induction and a sweep, there might be a lot of other things about childbirth you are not aware of.

With birth just around the corner, it might be worth doing some research on the medical interventions you might be offered or need from now going forward. I'm not talking about horror stories (stay away from those).

Reasons for emergency sections, different pain relief options, forceps, venteuse, blood transfusions, etc.

I thought I was pretty clued up on everything before the birth, but even then, I was induced using a medication that i didn't know much about. I later realized I wouldn't have approved of if I had known what it actually was.

I also didn't know that it could occur that they would take blood from my daughters head during the labour. It was a medically necessary intervention but it happened quickly and I'd never heard of that before.

It's good to be clued up, not to scare yourself, but because in the chaos of childbirth you don't always have time to learn about a medical procedure and enter a debate whether you do or do not agree it.

I was completely again having a sweep in my second pregnancy. In the end I had two, one at 36+6 and another at 37+6. I was swap to avoid a section I had booked for 39 weeks.