Experiences of pregnancy going beyond 42 weeks?

[WhatIsPink]

Anyone who have gone over 42 weeks? I’m currently 41+4, while first child was born 41+6 and then second 41+4. Although very likely this one will come out in the next few days, but if not, wanted to hear anyone’s experience who actually went over 42 weeks, both how to discuss either the hospital and also research on the safety. Hospital is big on induction which I’m not too keen but 42 weeks is a mark which does get me a bit worried.

No. You are distorting and misrepresenting 'facts' to suit your narrative and create a link that induction poses a higher risk to maternal mental health than a dead baby.

The irony of you saying I am scaremongering when you are actively pushing that induction is more dangerous and risks mothers killing their babies.

It very much reads to me as you coercing women into not being induced.

It was 18 years ago now, but my first baby was 42+2, just because that was when the midwife decided I needed induction (I wasn't keen on it, but wouldn't have gone against medical advice had it been suggested earlier). I'd been on the verge of labour for days but it just wasn't kicking off, so I was induced via prostaglandin pessary.

Nearly 8 hours of uncomplicated but intense labour later (gas and air, and a dose of pethidine) and I had a very healthy baby with zero complications, and not even any tears. It was actually an incredibly positive, pretty much ideal labour, though I was scared of induction beforehand.

I'd go for induction at 42 weeks at the latest, if I were you.

What random statements have I shared

May I just ask, are you a medical professional? Scientist? Doctor? Midwife? Surgeon? Have you been through an induction and had the experience of one? Or do you look at what you just go off what you see on the internet and think you are correct with everything you read?
I will always trust science and medical professionals over what I read on the internet.

So postdates is the reason most or even all babies are stillborn? That sounds untrue

This always blows my mind a bit, all that matters is a healthy live baby. C section/inductions, it shouldn’t matter - just do anything you can to ensure your baby is healthy. The risk of still birth is real, and the absolute worst case scenario, but going over 42 weeks is not something I would risk.

In my area they would not let us go over 41 weeks any more. Hospitals always seem keen to push inductions etc, because they see the worst case scenarios, and they are doing anything they can to make sure people leave the hospital with a live baby.

Look up what Melanie the Midwife says about this.

That isn’t what I said

I had two babies at 35 weeks and two at 43 weeks.

All babies were absolutely fine and are adults now.

I'm also a midwife myself (now retired).

So do they tie you down and force induction at 41 weeks? Or discharge you from their care and leave you without a maternity provider. How do they enforce this "not letting"?

"If babies aren’t left in utero past 42 weeks, 0% of them will be stillborn."

Yes… that’s what I said. You can’t be stillborn at 42+ weeks, if you aren’t in utero by then.

@Lexibletheflexible
of course not, people always have a choice - but they are the experts and they want to do everything in their power to make sure these horrible things don’t happen. To ignore them and do what you want is risking your health, babies health and a positive outcome - they don’t want to intervene for no reason.

First 2 were induced. All good. Quite big babies.

Not reading the thread
GO to the hospital for an induction if that is what the obstetricians are telling you to do.

One of the worst things I ever read in terms of 'if only' was an account in the Guardian where a woman had refused an induction for her overdue baby because she wanted it to be natural, encouraged by the hippy antenatal group she was part of. To cut a long story short, the little mite was too weak and the placenta degraded for him to survive delivery. She was telling her story to tell others not to make the same mistake.

I had induction and c-section for both of mine - very glad I did.

But you can be born healthily at 42 weeks plus. You can also be born by an unnecessary induction that harms you and your mother in other ways because you'd have been fine awaiting spontaneous labour like the vast majorty of babies born after 42 weeks.

This is why maternal informed choice is so important and not coercion or fear mongering

Sometimes their reasoning isn't based on quality research though. I once read that less than a third of the recommendations made by American OBGYNS is based on solid research and more likely to be their personal preference.

Hence why in America, people have vaginal examinations from as early as 36 weeks to check their cervical progress despite it having no evidential value

The risk of being born fine at 43 weeks isn’t a risk though, the risk of dying is the risk. There’s a difference between informed choice, and anti induction because Lexi is happy for some babies to die because others won’t, and lexi thinks you may murder your baby anyway if birth leaves you with damage so it’s better off risking stillbirth. That’s not informed choice it’s just silly.

Discuss the risks of a prolonged pregnancy(beyond 42 weeks) to you and your baby with your midwife/obstetrician. My sister had a pregnancy that went beyond 42 weeks against medical advice it ended with placental insufficiency causing lack of oxygen to the baby.

Hardly a great source. She has a very specific agenda and is not a medical doctor. I don’t know any medical doctor that would agree with her views. The free birthing movement is dangerous. Of course some low risk pregnancies are suitable for a home birth but people like her pushing this agenda has resulted in many preventable deaths and birth injuries both mothers and babies.

The point is that I'm not anti anything for anyone else. I'm for people making informed choices

If that were true, you wouldn’t have said half the crap you have on this thread. You are clearly pushing your own agenda here, and it is not informed choice.

Well a dead baby can't want anything, and toddlers often choose ice-cream for dinner, so I'm not sure that's a good decision making pathway.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/pregnancy/5581048-experiences-of-pregnancy-going-beyond-42-weeks?reply=154901863&utm_campaign=reply&utm_medium=share

This was my first post here