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.

I’d rather take my chances with being a few weeks early than a few weeks overdue

I was very anti induction and I did feel pushed in to it as I was older. They wanted to induce me bang on 40 weeks.

I wanted to hold out because I had a longer menstrual cycle and thus never believed the due date I'd been given. So in my head I decided to accept induction at 42 weeks. I went in to spontaneous labour at 41+5, which corresponded much better with when I thought I'd conceived.

I was also determined to go through labour drug free. Ended up needing spinal and forceps.

Having been through it once, I'd say

• my birth plan was a total waste of paper.
• there's a reason why women used to die in childbirth.
• I'd accept induction unless there was a strong reason to think the due date the hospital had given me was wrong.
• I'd beg them for a spinal asap 😂 Drug free was overrated!

Scans estimating birth weights are notoriously inaccurate

I’m aware of this and knew this at the time as well, which is why as he was thankfully born healthy I never gave his low weight a second thought and I never questioned that I never heard back about the outcome after they assessed my placenta ….that was until my current pregnancy when they had on my record that the placenta from son was failing which is why they want to keep a close eye on me in this pregnancy. They told me if my son wasn’t born when he was then it could have been a very different outcome which was shocking to hear, like I say, especially considering we had only had a scan a few days before which showed no cause for concern.

No not all placentas fail but the concern is how do you tell. Daily CTG's are a snapshot in time and cannot tell you the health of the placenta. My placenta at 41+2 was horribly calcified and turning black and I was low risk and had no concerns on movement etc. I'd had a growth scan at 40 weeks due to concerns around polyhydramnios (didnt have it) and that showed my placenta was fine then. I was lucky that I had laboured spontaneously and didn't go until my induction date of 41+5 as the team said it may have completely failed between now and then.

We can do our best to avoid it by not taking unnecessary risks, like going over 42 weeks.

Thanks for everyone who replied and there was some fierce debate on whether induction is the way to go.

I’ve finally delivered at 42+2. I did agree to an induction at 42 weeks, balancing the risk of stillborn with gestation period.

i had a very lovely chat with this consultant and consultant midwife at 41+6, who gave me all the objective facts without pressuring me to go for an induction or wait which i was very grateful for.

although I understand most people may want to be on the safer side to deliver before 42 weeks. It is also reasonable to say it is nothing wrong with slightly longer gestation. For me, my first two kids always proved that I have longer gestation period by genetics. Still born is a risk but placenta failure remains very low and my placenta was still in very good shape when i delivered after 42 weeks. If anything, it was functioning too well, as I had a very chubby baby!

on the induction side, although I went for it, it didn’t really work on me. After nearly 48 hours fairly strong contractions, I was not dilating and was offered another round of induction tablets or a c section. Interestingly, then I think my natural labour started while i was deciding what to do, and suddenly I dilated from 1cm to give birth to a healthy baby in one hour! (CRAZY!)

so to me, the induction failed and gave me quite a bit unnecessarily pain and potential more harm of a c section than let the nature take its own course. Although I understand not everyone would agree with me, I do feel it’s important to give woman the objective facts and empower the woman to choose her path. I was grateful for the consultant who gave me those information and let me choose without scaremongering me into an induction. I’m glad I tired but if there is a next time, unless there’s a specific risk, I probably would wait until my body decides it’s time.

Again thanks for everyone’s comments!

Congratulations! Glad you were spared the c section after the 48 hours of induction.

Congratulations! Glad your baby is here safe and sound. Not really anything to do with your "natural labour period" kicking in though - I was induced at 38 weeks and delivered in 40 mins once it kicked off.

It is interesting as everyone I know who had home births and went past 42 weeks was fine. Do it is just who you ask ajd where.

I had mine at 42 weeks induced due to ICP onset at 41.weeks which is not normal for ICP. Was finem placenta was healthy. Waters were healthy no Meconium.

Of course there will be many women who were fine - it’s not like 42 weeks is a strict cut off line.

The point is the risk of something going wrong increases by quite a bit, and do women really want to gamble on their baby’s life just for the sake of having this experience that many women don’t have even when they’re not induced / haven’t gone over 42 weeks.

Yes it’s great that women are being heard more when it comes to childbirth choices, but it should not be at the risk of the baby’s life.

Survivor bias is a thing.

Congratulations on your healthy baby.

But...

Your chance of a stillbirth past 42 weeks is about 0.3% or 3 in 1000.

That is near enough the same odds as:
Having identical twins (~0.35%)
Being ambidextrous (~0.3%)
Sharing a birthday with a friend (~0.27%)

Now I know loooooads of non identical twins and singletons, people who are left handed, the only person with that birthday........ but they're not THAT rare, are they? I know two sets of identical twins just in my youngest's friendship circle.

I walked through fire to have both of my children, through IVF and baby loss and years of infertility, medications and reactions and hospitalisations, surgeries and more procedures than I can count. My single and only requirement for their births was that they lived and were uninjured, followed by the same for me. It is very difficult with that background not to be a little wide eyed at people casually recommending what is a risk. Small, yes, thank goodness. But would you (the more general you, rather than you specifically, OP) be glad you took the risk if you were one of the 3 in 1000?

Exactly this. Most people will be fine. Some people won’t. You decide your level of risk.

I was advised (in my first successful pregnancy) that I shouldn’t go past 37 weeks as I have APS. I changed hospitals in my second successful pregnancy due to a house move. They didn’t deliver at 37 weeks for APS but I insisted on it. Both times my placenta was showing signs of deterioration. 37 weeks.

I could have quite easily gone with the second hospital’s view that the risk of going past 37 weeks, for me, was low. Very glad I didn’t though. Glad I knew I had APS as not everyone who has it knows they have it.