40 Week Midwife Appointment

[tb4122]

I have my 40 week appointment this afternoon. According to my dating scan I'm 40+4 today. According to my cycle tracking I'm 40+0 or even 39+6 but I can't imagine anyone is going to take any notice of that...

Is it likely that the focus of my appointments from here on out is going to be discussions on induction now that I'm "overdue"? The midwife said last time that she would offer me a sweep today but I don't really want one at this point. I think where I am they "let" you go to 40+12. But if the dates are in fact 5 days "out" then they will be pushing induction when I'm only 41 weeks.

I know I can push back on induction... but as a FTM I'm feeling the pressure. It's making me a bit stressed which obviously isn't the ideal thing for the right hormones to put me into labour.

I wouldn’t worry too much, they’ll likely arrange another appointment for a weeks time.

If you want a sweep they’ll probably offer one but you can always decline.

I’d just repeat that you’d like to give yourself more time and not make any decisions yet. Not many babies come on their due date anyway!

I was offered a sweep and accepted, and then the plan was for another appt in a weeks time. We didn't discuss induction at the 40 week appt... that was a bridge to be crossed at the 41st week appt if I still hadn't had the baby. Went into labour at 40+4 as it happened.

Scan dates override your cycle dates as they can differ from what you believe. The entire point of the dating scan is to check the size of the baby which is supposed to not be variable at that stage and therefore accurate.

A sweep isn't induction, it can just kick things off if you're close. They can't force you though, so just decline if that's what you want.

I was offered one at 40 weeks in a very no pressure way but declined. Had one at 41 weeks though as I was told that the evidence we have is that the placenta starts to stop doing its job at 41+5. Unfortunately, that sweep didn't work but the one at 41+5 on the day had my daughter out before my midwife had finished her shift! They were happy to let me try to go naturally until it became a greater risk to the baby.

Your scan is more accurate than your dates.
you can decline sweep, you can decline induction. But more than likely you’ll go into labour in the next 12 days anyway

This is all reassuring to know. I guess I just find my midwife quite cold and clinical, she's not very chatty, much less particularly reassuring or comforting. Not easy to have a chat with about any concerns really. I got terrible anxiety as a result of Covid in the summer and expressed concern over giving birth (I was genuinely convinced at the time that I would die, I feel fine now) and she said "well, at least you're not giving birth in a third world country or a desert". And that was it.

Hopefully there won't be any pressure today and hopefully baby will have made his appearance by next week...

I went over with both my babies, 40 +10 with ds, 40+12 with dd. With ds they told me at my 40 week appointment that if things hadn't started by 40+10 they'd book an induction for me by 40+12. A it was I started slow labour at 40+5, but it took another 5 days for him to show up. I had sweeps at 40 weeks, 40+7 and I think 40+9 (a lot of that slow labour period is a bit of a haze in memory!)

With dd I had my 41 week appointment and there was no sign she was coming so they booked an induction appointment for me at 40 +13. She came along spontaneously the day before the appointment. I had a sweep at 40 and 40+7.

All the sweeps were optional, and I read up on the success levels for sweeps, I think something like 1 in 8 is considered effective, but it's hard to say as you're due to go into labour at that point anyway, so who can say if it's actually effective or not. By that point I was willing to try anything to get the babies out!

Sweeps are entirely optional. And some midwives are gentle with them (ineffective), some are communicative about what’s going on up there (useful to know if you’ve actually started dilating!), and some treat your vagina like a violent glove puppet (and get PALS complaints made about them). I’d say if you don’t like, trust or gel with your midwife, avoid like the plague. The baby is going to come out at some point in the next fortnight-and-a-bit anyway, at which point there may well be many hands up your foof – enjoy the time when there isn’t, imo.

@stuntbubbles I think that's actually the issue, the fact that I don't gel with my midwife makes me less likely to want to go ahead with a sweep. Obviously it is still a slightly odd concept to think about anyone other than your partner putting their hands in your nether regions, but a lack of particular bond with that person does make a difference. As you say, perhaps best to avoid until absolutely necessary. I don't want to have an ineffectual sweep (if you're going in there, at least do enough to make a difference!) but "violent glove puppet"- also no.....!

I read midwife's post on instagram, that there's too much panic and doctors&midwifes insist too early on sweep or induction. Your baby will come out anyway, you still have time.

Midwife was totally happy not to do a sweep today but has booked my induction for 42+1 if baby hasn't made his appearance by then. I was a bit surprised to be being booked in but she said it's better to be on the list now and not need it than for there not to be space. She initially tried to book for 42+5 but that day and the next two were already full. I'm still a bit undecided as to whether I would rather have an ELCS than an induction but apparently I can discuss this at the time. Midwife recommended seeing whether my body reacts well to the pessary and if nothing is happening then I can discuss c section rather than progressing with further induction methods. I'm just worried that once I'm on the induction "pathway" I won't be able to get off it. My worst nightmare is 3 days of failed induction ending in a c section... I'd rather take a bit of control of the situation and opt for a c section.

41+5, that should say.

@tb4122 I just wanted to say that not all inductions are terrible. I was like you with my first, didn't want to be be induced, had heard bad stories from NCT group who had already gone in. I was induced at 41+10. Went in and had a tablet or something but in me, nothing happened. 24 hours later I'd had some mild period cramps in the afternoon but that was it. They did the next step (which I think was another tablet) and a sweep. This was at 9pm. But 10pm I was having contractions, by 1am I was in a bath getting cleaned up as baby was out.

I was very fortunate to end up with such a quick birth, and maybe baby was about to make his way out anyway, but induction doesn't always mean days of labour

@LeftTheWashingOut thank you for sharing a positive induction story. Hopefully we'll be on the move before next weekend but if not then at least I know it doesn't necessarily mean days of unproductive pain.

Also wanted to add inductions aren't all that terrible. Mine did take a little while to get going (and no pain during the induction) but then once my waters were broken she was here in a couple of hours. I definitely would never ever choose a section over an induction, where you will have weeks of pain and recovery once baby is here and could impact breast feeding etc.

One of my concerns is that where I am if you're a first timer (which I am) you get the pessary first and then they see if they can break your waters but if they break your waters the policy is that they put you on the drip at the same time. They won't wait to see if breaking them moves things along, it's the drip straight away.

It was the same with my first where I'd put myself at 38 weeks when I was 40 weeks according to midwives and scans etc. this was a concern to but as it happened I went into labour the day after my due date! Read up as much as you can and be as informed as possible is my advice before accepting any kind of induction ❤️

A sweep absolutely is a form of induction so not sure where pp has got it from that it isn't. I'm 39 weeks and yesterday my midwife tried casually booking me in for a sweep next week, no discussion or question. I said I didnt want one so she's booked me in for another when I'm 41 weeks which I'll be declining if baby isn't here. If I get to 42 weeks I'll consider induction then but would rather go for extra monitoring as I really don't want to be induced!

Due dates are just guess dates set by doctors. Your baby will come when ready - plenty have their babies at 42 weeks or later.
mother countries don’t use 40 wks as standard - eg in France it’s 41 weeks. You can decline but do your research so you feel comfortable doing so.

How is it going @tb4122?

I wish I had your patience @rickandmorts! I don't want an induction or sweeps but am soo done. Every day is disappointing.

🤣 Oh god I hear you there. I just really have my heart set on a home birth and if I get induced that will start the cascade of intervention and I know I'll end up in hospital! I've booked reflexology for next Wednesday and acupuncture for next Thursday so 🤞 that does something. How are you feeling?

I've booked a home-birth too which makes me extra anxious! Like why isn't LO here yet, my first didn't make it to due date, having said that I got really bad braxton hicks last week and thought perhaps it was time to call in, and they said they had no midwives available for a home birth (was a weekend). That's put me on edge now too as they've always had midwives where I am.

@rickandmorts and @greenerfingers Hi ladies I had a Homebirth with my DS in 2021 (first and so far only!) he was born at 40+8. The Homebirth team in my area made it very clear that they would still attend a home birth regardless of how over due I got.

I think I had a sweep at 40+6. It felt like my body had been gearing up a bit and I was interested to know what my cervix was up to. As it happened I was already 1 or 2 cm dilated so it was really easy for them to do the sweep and it wasn’t particularly unpleasant. I’m not sure if it brought DS’s birth date forward at all but I was encouraged knowing that my body was definitely up to something 😂

The home birth midwives in my area did all of the pregnancy visits at home to so the sweep was also at home which I think helped a lot with how I found it.

Best of luck! Soon you’ll be having new born cuddles with your little ones 💕

Aww I'm glad it went well for you @PinkPlantCase ! I had a sweep at 39+1 and I was 2-3cm and baby's head was 2/5th engaged but nothing happened other than more discharge. I'll probably try another sweep soon. Where I am they'll go up to 41 weeks I think but with the nurse strikes soon I'm worried there'll be no one available.

Hi everyone, thanks for all the replies. Baby boy is here, born on Friday.

I had my 40 week (40+4) appointment on Wednesday, declined the sweep but was booked for induction on 4th December in case of a lack of space. That evening I had some contractions that I thought were stronger than Braxton Hicks but they went away. In the morning I awoke to what I thought might be my waters broken and lost a lot of mucus plug but nothing else came of it so I went to get checked out. The assessment unit was busy so I waited an hour and by the time they were going to check me my waters had definitely broken. So I got booked in for induction the following morning if nothing else had happened. Contractions started for real at about 8:30pm, we went in with them at every 4 minutes at about 12:30 and baby boy was born, in the pool in the birthing centre at 17:12 on Friday.