Induction concerns

[Esther0011]

Hello!

I am aged 40 and 38 weeks+5 days pregnant.

Despite no complications (blood pressure low, good fetal growth rate, baby in good position), my obstetrician is keen to induce me on my due date because I am in the 40+ category.

This is making me really anxious when I previously wasn't anxious at all (wasn't anxious about the pain or covid). The idea of the extra time spent in hospital doesn't thrill me and using synthetic hormones / balloon to force the baby out seems a bit extreme when there is no medical problem and intuitively don't that the birth is immiment. It feels like a box ticking exercise which will result in extra stress for me and potentially baby as well.

I'm getting a sweep on Wed to try and get things going and hopefully avoid the induction. If that doesn't work then I'm considering asking the obs to delay the induction for a few days...but finding it difficult to go against medical advice.

Has anyone else ever delayed an induction that was advised by an obstetrician? How did it go?

[Popbee]

Hi Esther.

I also had healthy pregnancy and even though my midwife have told me about induction, it can’t be forced. As I said I had no medical reasons to do so. So I had 3 sweeps but unfortunately had to book myself for induction at 42 weeks and 2 days later it finally worked and my healthy baby boy was born. He had some extra time to grow though😆 Even when I rang hospital the day before 42 weeks they said they advice induction but would monitor past 42 weeks if I would choose to do so. However when my son was born I asked to have a look at placenta and my midwife said that in few days it would start failing to deliver oxygen so next time I won’t wait till 42 weeks for definite. On the plus side it took only pessaries and tablet to get things going so was pretty good.

Maybe ask next time you speak to them. Best of luck xxx

[Esther0011 in reply to Popbee]

Thank you! It's good to hear a positive story of induction. 🙂 Reminds me that I might be apending a disproportionate amount of time worrying about it!

[KayCan]

Hi there, I delayed for a week. My consultant wanted to induce me on my due date, and i went to the hospital and totally freaked out. It was the day after the 'no partner's' rule had been announced, so spent 2 hours in hospital crying my eyes out and then decided that I wasn't doing it so rang my husband to pick me up. Unfortunately for me, a week later and nothing had happened naturally so ended up with an induction anyway (I had gotten my head around the fact I would be alone by this point) due to me having high BP at my last consultant appt, which failed and had a C section. My wish was to have a planned section on the Tuesday and my daughter was born on the Monday by emergency section. In hindsight I wish I had listened to my own body/head and put my foot down with my wishes.

That said, I feel that I followed all instructions given (in the end lol) and I gave it my best shot and couldn't do any more.

It is really difficult to go against medical advice as the assumption is that they know better, but for me I know if I had a planned section when I wanted one then I would have been alot calmer/not sleep deprived after 3 nights on a noisy ward and a night of trying to labour.

I'd just have a chat with them and see what they say but I would go with your intuition as to what you think is best for you and your baby 👶 xx

[Esther0011 in reply to KayCan]

Oh dear, that sounds really stressful, especially with the additional pressure of no visitors.

If I do go ahead with it then I'll be taking all my home comforts with me including earplugs to block out all that noise then hopefully just close my eyes and pretend to be in my own bed. It won't be the same though!

[KayCan in reply to Esther0011]

The midwives are fantastic though and if it wasn't for them I'd have really struggled. Once I got my head around the fact that I'd be on my own for at most a few days it was actually really nice to be cared for a few days. They will really look after you.

[Esther0011 in reply to KayCan]

That's a good way of thinking about it. I'm totally in the mindset of thinking hospital = stress but that doesn't have to be the case.

[KayCan in reply to Esther0011]

It really doesn't. Good luck 👍

[franathy]

I agree that it is silly they have this blanket policy the second you turn 40... I'm 39 and induction has not once been mentioned due to my age, so I fail to see how it suddenly becomes necessary just because you are a few months older. My consultant did however advise induction at 39 weeks due to IVF pregnancy, which again I'm not convinced about. My midwife agrees with me that it's not necessary (maybe once I'm overdue but not at 39 weeks) and I have declined induction at 39 weeks. So I would say just stick to what you want, it's your body/baby/birth and you are in charge! Good luck xx

[Esther0011 in reply to franathy]

Thank you! Good to hear I'm not the only person who thinks this way!🙂

The lack of a medical reason makes it feel a bit like age shaming...but it is super hard to go against medical advice.

My pregnancy was also an IVF however the obs didn't mention that, the only thing she seemed to care about was my age.

Congratulations on your successful IVF and good luck with the birth!

[franathy in reply to Esther0011]

Well that just proves how crazy it is then; we are both IVF pregnancies around the same age and yours wants to induce for your age but isn't bothered about the IVF, mine the total opposite. Maybe have a chat to your midwife about it? They will give you extra monitoring if you choose not to be induced to make sure everything's OK. Thanks and good luck to you too, I'm sure we will both be fine xx

[Esther0011 in reply to franathy]

Haha you're right it's mad!

I feel there is a lot that they don't know so they end up taking precautions, which I can understand but it would be nice if they looked at the bigger picture. A stressed Mum to be isn't great for the baby either!

You're right about the midwife, I spoke to her last week - she told me I could be induced as an outpatient if everything looked ok, whereas the obstetrician had told me I had to go on the antenatal ward and made it sound like this was the only option! I've got a sweep this afternoon so I'll ask the midwife more about monitoring.

Honestly still can't quite believe I'm about to give birth after all those years of intertility, feels like a miracle! 😲

[franathy in reply to Esther0011]

Haha that's exactly how I feel, weird isn't it.

To be honest I'm still not sure what I'll do if I get to 40 weeks and nothing's happened (re: induction or not).

Will you do a birth announcement on the fertility forum? I'd love to know how you get on, seems our situations are quite similar. I'm 37 + 2 so just behind you! x

[Esther0011 in reply to franathy]

I don't know what I'll do at 40 weeks either and it's only a week away for me haha! It will depend how I feel - at the moment it intuitively feels too soon, but a lot can change in a week so maybe I will feel differently in time. Fingers crossed I will drop a sprog before then and this ridiculous decision will be taken away from me!

You are right there are a few similarities. I'll definitely let you know how I get on....either on the fertility forum or I'll send you a pm 😉