35 weeks and large baby

[haidri]

Hi lovelies, I went in for reduced movements & after scans and testing. They’ve told me I should try to induce my natural labour by 37 weeks as baby is above average percentile.

Has anyone been in this position? Where do I begin in terms of inducing labour naturally [ive already been having dates and pineapples]

@haidri what is baby weight?

Not to scare you but there was a tragic case on the news yesterday about a poor young mother who died following birth due to having a large baby and because she wasn't induced until over 41 weeks when really she should have had one at 37-38 weeks

Take the induction especially if you have reduced movements

Highly unlikely you'd be able to bring on Labour naturally at 37 weeks

Can you talk to your midwife at your next appointment?

You can’t induce a labour if baby is not ready to come out! Speak to your midnight for clarification x

• midwife!

Today's day 2 of no movements so I'm going back in and apparently doctors going to make a plan of some sort. Perhaps daily monitoring of some sort.. a bit impractical considering it's covid but I guess it has to be done

Hello! I was induced due to a larger baby just before 39 weeks. I just made sure I had had enough scans to make an informed decision. It can be riskier to wait, maybe try hand expressing and I asked for an early sweep (day before induction). There's no immediate right or wrong answer (which doesn't help), but just embrace whichever route you choose to do!

Turns out they've booked me for a 37wk scan but if the scan shows continuous growth on the larger side then they'll artificially induce. To avoid this, I'm thinking to naturally induce by 37 weeks because the child isn't going to magically lose weight are they 🤦🏻‍♀️

They'll be doing another scan to confirm the original scan. We had growth scans at 35, 37 and 39 weeks.

Week 35 showed baby to measuring less than the 10th percentile, week 37 showed about 50th percentile, the consultant said we couldn't be sure which scan was accurate or if baby had grown. Re-run scanned at 39 weeks which showed baby to be less than 10th percentile, which raised the question, was scan 2 accurate and had baby stopped growing or had it just over estimated?

It was all a whirlwind after that (that was Tuesday evening), was booked in for induction on the Wednesday morning and baby born Thursday morning. She was 5g heavier than the week 39 growth scan.

I really didn't know what to expect with the induction (gel) but it really wasn't that bad.

What percentile are they saying the baby is? Estimation of size from scans is notoriously inaccurate and can vary by as much as a pound or more. Ask them if they have stats on how accurate their growth scan sizes are (my hospital displays this in the corridor of the scan dept-last time I saw it they were congratulating themselves on being around 10% off from birth weight-that had come down from 20%….
If inducing because of reduced movements then that is a different story but based on size alone please be fully aware of the uncertainty around size and the risks associated with induction.

I’ve had 2 babies >9.5lb when my bump was measuring around average-its not an exact science (they were very straightforward labours)

Are you diabetic or other medical complications? Size is not an indication alone to induce at 37 weeks

Totally agree with @Narwhalsh

If no other concerns (I.e GD or other clinical reason), it’s not in the NICE guidelines to induce purely for a larger baby. If you’re experiencing reduced movements then of course that’s different and I would 100% induce as there’s a clinical reason. Just use your EBRAN/BRAIN and make sure you have all the info and are aware of all your options. Good luck! X

Also, what percentile is baby measuring? You say above average so do you mean above the 50th percentile or out of the “normal range” (over the 100th percentile)?

Things that may (or may not) bring on labour that I’ve heard about: sex, walking, curb walking, cleaning on all 4’s, bouncing on birthing ball, expressing (but not before 36/37wks). But just be careful if you’re 35 weeks as that’s technically pre-term

Other than GBS, I've no complications with this pregnancy. They suddenly said baby is of large gestational age & that it was in the best of my interest to get induced.

I attended my midwife appointment today and she didn't seem hopeful in my body's ability whatsoever! I mentioned if I could bring on my own labour naturally by 37 weeks with natural remedies like eating dates, walking etc — but she was like you can try however it's very unlikely that you'll be able to naturally induce before our induction date.

Felt sort of demotivated but I'm not giving up

I agree with her- natural induction methods only work if you were going to go into labour then anyway. Your body isn’t either ready or or isn’t. And likewise, induction at 37 weeks often fails as the body just isn’t ready.
Don’t mean to be so negative. You don’t have a planned induction yet so I’d just carry on as normal.
Scans are notoriously inaccurate which is why it’s important for you to be scanned again. Good luck

Growth scans are notoriously inaccurate so and a "big baby" (how big are they estimating? Mine will be almost 9lb if I go over 40w) and does not indicate an induction at 37w.

Difficult as it may be (I've been there), try not to make decisions based on fear mongering by HCPs or the media (the girl who died had a PPT after an EMCS and if she'd been induced, her risk of CS and PPT would have been at least double that of spontaneous labour...v misleading story typical of sensationalist media). Trust your body and your instincts x

@haidri what happened in the end, did you have a big baby and did you go ahead with the early induction?