Family history of going "past due"?

[Monkey Keeper]

Since I am now past my EDD, there's lots of talk about everyone's birth history. Interestingly, we're finding that going "late" is really common in my family as well as DH's.

For those of you who are long(er) gestators, does it seem to run in your family or that of your partner? Is this something that has been studied??

For me:

Mom--2nd pg, 42w
Maternal Grandmother--2nd pg, 42w
Mother-in-law--1st pg, 42w; 2nd pg, 43w (induced); 3rd pg, 41w

My mom did have one pre-EDD baby, and my mother-in-law's 4th was born on his EDD.

[AnneCordelia]

My MIL went ontime but my own family tends to go late.

My grandmother carried 4 pregnancies to 42-44 weeks.
My mother carried twins to 38 weeks, and 3 other pregnancies to 42-44 weeks.
I've carried my other 3 pregnancies between 40-42 weeks.

[lunarlady]

My first DD was 5 days early, second was 9 days late.

My brother was 18 days past due (and would have been induced later that day!). I was born a week early.

DH and his siblings were all born within a couple days of their due dates.

So there doesn't seem to be a pattern to my family's gestation times.

[mmaramba]

Just a guess, but I'd think most women who birthed before inductions were de rigueur went at least a week "late" with at least one of their pregnancies. What's the stat for the average un-induced FTM? 41 weeks, 5 days?

I'm sure there are women here whose mothers had all their pre-1980 babies before 40w, etc., but I'd guess that the vast majority of us have a family history that includes at least a few "late" babies. If we imagined 41w or so as the actual midpoint, we'd see more of a bell curve around that. Just my guess.

[Storm Bride]

My numbers are messed up, because I had some scheduled sections, and one of them was with no hint of labour, but:

DS1 - spontaneous labour at 38w, 4d (c-section the next day)
DD1 - scheduled c/s at 39w, 2d...not even the slightest trace of labour yet, though (not a single noticeable contraction, no dilation, etc.)
DS2 - scheduled c/s at 41w, 5d - went into labour the night before
DS3 (Aaron) - spontaneous labour at...hmm...lots of prodromal labour therre, and it's hard to say exactly when, but I first noticed contractions at 41w, 4d or so.
DD2 - scheduled c/s at 39w, 6d...had my first noticeable contraction about an hour or two before that, and a hint of blood tinged mucous.

So, the only one that I really went into labour "early" with was ds1. He had a different father than my other children. DH, who is the father of the other four, is one of four boys, all of whom were born between 42 and 43 weeks gestation. I don't know about my family history, because my mom had c-sections, too. My ex (ds1's father) was also born by c/s, but his mom had gone into labour more or less "on schedule".

I definitely think family history has something to do with it. That only makes sense to me. We all mature at slightly different rates, and it makes sense that would start in utero...and that there could be a genetic component, yk? Interestingly enough - at least to me - my four babies with dh were also much larger than ds1. DS1 was 7lb. 12oz. DD2, the smallest of my babies with dh, was 9lb. 15oz. DH and his brothers were all between 9 and 10 lbs...my ex and I were both 7lb. 12oz.

[WifeofAnt]

Originally Posted by mmaramba

Just a guess, but I'd think most women who birthed before inductions were de rigueur went at least a week "late" with at least one of their pregnancies. What's the stat for the average un-induced FTM? 41 weeks, 5 days?

I think 41w1d or 41w3d. There is another (practically unused) formula that is a little more accurate. It actually adds something like 10 days for first time moms.

[mmaramba]

Originally Posted by WifeofAnt

I think 41w1d or 41w3d. There is another (practically unused) formula that is a little more accurate. It actually adds something like 10 days for first time moms.

Oh, yes, that's right! I was thinking 41w1d.

[blessedwithboys]

The only family history I know is my mother and my sisters.

My mother had three babies. I was at least 42 wks, as was the middle child, but my youngest sister was a good three weeks "late". (OT, but my mother had almost no prenatal care, was almost 40yo, and continued every bad vice she had through the pg, but when her labor started, my sister came 20 mins after the first contraction, on the kitchen floor, in a totally unplanned UC, and was perfectly healthy!)

My 1st baby was born at 42wks exactly, but I was induced with no hint of cervical ripening. My ds2 was born at 42+3 after a spontaneous labor.

One of my sisters had three children, all born in the 41.5-42wk ballpark. The first two were induced, so she probably would have gone well past 42wks.

My baby sister had her dc1 just after 40 wks, by induction. She is almost due now with her dc2 and is planning to use natural techniques to try to avoid going too far over 40wks, to try to ensure a VBAC.

[Schae]

Me
DS - 2 days overdue
Currently 5 days overdue lol

My Mom
Older Sister: 3 weeks over
Me: 3 weeks over
Younger Sister: 2 weeks over

Not sure about MIL.

[PrincessWinnie]

My mom went nearly 2 weeks late, my MIL was about 2.5 weeks late.

My DS was born 2.5 weeks early, my water broke suddenly one night but I was showing NO signs of early labor. I was only about 50% effaced and only fingertip dialated.

[MaddieMay]

I was three days overdue with DS.

My mom delivered one on due date, the other two weeks early.
My MIL delivered one child two weeks early and the other a couple days early.

I'm VBACing with this pregnancy and would love to not be too overdue as the hospital is a pain in the rear about that here.

[mmaramba]

Actually, this is interesting...

I was born about 17 minutes after my due date. My brother was 2 days before, but induced for sort of questionable reasons (must have been more or less ready, though, because it was a 6-8 hour vaginal birth). So both approximately 40 weeks... But then again, my mom had 28-day cycles.

I'm not sure about my grandmothers-- I should ask them. I'm about the oldest grandkid on both sides (so I was around for the birth of my cousins) and I can't recall any of my aunts or cousins having babies outside the 39-41 week window.

MIL's first was maybe 4-6 weeks early-- she's the "preemie" and they had about zero expectations for her because of it. The other three, including DH, I'm pretty sure were in that 39-41 week range.

I just assume I'll go to 42 weeks-- seems easier if I set my expectations that way, give people a 42-week "due date," etc. But if it's at all based on family history, I'll probably be meeting my baby by 41 at the latest.

[AlexisT]

There's another issue here, and it has to do with how due dates are calculated.

If you assume that a woman has a 28 day cycle and ovulates on CD14, which is how the calculator works, you calculate an incorrect EDD for a lot of women. In many cases, the women were never overdue: their EDD was wrong. If you could go back and calculate the right date, things might change.

I would also bet that in some cases, it's not that being overdue runs in your family; it's late ovulation that does.

[EdnaMarie]

With me, it runs on the mom's side, and I've always heard that it comes through the mother. Grandma did 41.5 weeks, aunties almost all did 41.5 weeks. Me too. My sister was early but she had some really strenuous activity before going into labor.

[MegBoz]

Originally Posted by mmaramba

Just a guess, but I'd think most women who birthed before inductions were de rigueur went at least a week "late" with at least one of their pregnancies. What's the stat for the average un-induced FTM? 41 weeks, 5 days?

41W1D for FTM - but that's white women. Other ethnic backgrounds were slightly shorter for FTMs (but still over 40W on average.) that's according to Mittendorf's meta-analysis done in the 1990s.

Actually my MIL & sister had premies with their first (MIL's 1st was a seriously early premie, sister went into labor at 35W, they stopped it, then did deliver at 36W.) Mom & Grandmom were right around due dates for their respective 3 and 2 babies. Add this data to the fact that women who exercise through their pregnancies tend to give birth earlier, (I'm a fitness instructor) and I thought for sure I'd deliver around 38 or 39W at the latest.

Man, what a DUMB thing to set myself up for. Yeah, 40W rolled around, I was impatient & already felt 'late' (even though I knew of Mittendorf's research, so, intellectually, I wasn't worried.) 41W rolled around, I was freaking out. Finally got my membranes stripped at 41W4D & he was born within hours.

At least this time I'm EXPECTING to wait around to the 41W-42W timeframe so it hopefully won't be such a painful wait!

Originally Posted by AlexisT

I would also bet that in some cases, it's not that being overdue runs in your family; it's late ovulation that does.

Oh yes, interesting point! Although if the women in the family all ovulated late regularly then they would also regularly have cycles longer than 28D, so they'd at least have some clue about it - even if they weren't charting cycles.

[AutumnAir]

Yup, seems to work for me too.

My mum's mum:
My mum - born via C-sec at about 40 weeks in Canada because they thought she would be too 'big'. (My gran's fairly petite). Mum was about 5 lb at birth.
My aunt - born at 46 weeks VBAC back in Ireland - about 6 lb. They 'let' her go so long because they were convinced that she had her dates wrong, but she *knew* for sure when she got pregnant.

My dad's mum:
4 kids all born about 42 weeks - she couldn't remember for sure.

My mum:
Me - born at 42 weeks, was due to be induced later that day.
My brother - induced at 41 weeks.

Me:
DD1 - 43+1 weeks
DD2 - 43+6 weeks

Both my babies were biggish but not huge (8lb 13 & 9lb 8) with some dry peeling skin and longish nails, but also lots of vernix. Both perfectly healthy at birth.

Interestingly, I don't have long cycles - in fact the opposite. I had very long heavy periods as a teen, lasting up to 10 days and coming about every 3 weeks. After going on BC for 10 years, and since coming off it my cycles have been longer and lighter, but still averaging about 24-5 days - so I'm not sure how late I'd have to be ovulating for my EDD to be *that* far wrong. Plus with both babies I'm pretty sure to the day when I conceived.

It might possibly be thyroid related. My dad's mum had hypothyroidism diagnosed in later life, my mum now has some symptoms of it, and I'm convinced that I'm hypo, though haven't been able to get a diagnosis yet.

[babyjelly]

hmm...we don't seem to have much of a pattern in my family, but I only know history on one side.
maternal gma- birthed her first at 44w, my mom. mom was peel-y and gma says that "she looked like she had globs of Crisco on her". Gmas next three babies came progressively earlier, with her fourth coming at 34w, and then her fifth was born at 37 or 38 ish.
my mom had me at 37w, her next at 38, and her last on her edd.
Mom's sister was induced with her first two for ridiculous reasons at 38w0, c/s with #2, erc for number three at 37w.
I had a spontaneous labor with all three of mine- 37w0, 37w1d, and 38w4d. pregnant again and Due end of January
Posted via Mobile Device
eta...I have pretty normal length cycles but with a short luteal phase, and have always lied about my lmp to line up wth when I know I conceived. Mom and gma were both sure of conception to within a couple of days.

[AlexisT]

Meg: PCOS runs in families, and it can create unpredictable cycles. Calculating due dates for women with irregular cycles used to be a nightmare; many women had absolutely no idea when they ovulated. Goodness knows I didn't when my periods were that bad.

And while women who had long cycles were aware of that fact, many of them probably didn't know that EDD is calculated with the assumption that you have a textbook cycle. I remember reading somewhere that the average gestation got closer to 40 weeks once you actually had accurate due dates to begin with--either a known ovulation date or a sufficiently early u/s.

[smeep]

My mom has 5 kids and I know for sure 4 of us were born 41-43w, though for some reason I'm thinking my little sister was 37-38w (I keep meaning to ask but of course I never think of it at a convenient moment). My big sister was induced at 40w but we fully expected her to go at least another week. My son was born 41w4d. This one I'm not even entertaining the idea of him/her showing until 41w (I kept telling myself 42w with DS so I knew if I went past that it wouldn't annoy me so much, and funny enough I was freaking out when I went into labour at 41w3d because I thought I had more time!).

[Adamsmama]

I think my mom was ontime will all but me ... I was 18 days over. One of sisters has a history of going at 39w ... and the other to 41.5-42.