Overdue

[popo]

Hi everyone,

I am new here! I was hoping to get some advice on being overdue. Right now I am at 9 days, with no real sign that baby will be out before the 42 week mark (I can always hope though). As of tomorrow I can be induced.. BUT I really really REALLY don't want to be.

As I am with a midwife (in Ontario) I have the option of going beyond the 42 week mark if I want to. But this makes me very very nervous, as I know mortality rates double after this period..As anyone gone beyond 42 weeks? I find it difficult to find people who go past 1 week much less 2.

In terms of natural induction, I have tried everything short of castor oil and accupuncture. So part of my question related to those two methods. Anyone given either a shot? Any experiences would be much appreciated.

I was also interested to know if anyone has experience with the foley catheder.

Any other "out of the norm" suggestion would be much appreciated!

Thank you!

[Rylins mama]

I went 17 days overdue and was being pushed pretty hard into induction so I went for what I felt like was safer and took castor oil. He was born about 4 hours later. It is not something I would recommend to anyone unless it really is a last option.

[AutumnAir]

My DD1 was born at 43+1 weeks (spontaneous labour) and DD2 at 43+6 weeks (also spontaneous).

With both of them I tried just about every natural induction method heard of once I got past 41 weeks. (Except the castor oil - that sounds nasty, it's not something that's easily available here, and I've heard that it can also encourage baby to pass meconium, which you don't really need since post-term babies are more likely to pass mec anyway...)

TBH, nothing worked except very seriously accepting the *certainty* that I would go into the hospital to be induced the next day.  That worked with both of them, but it's an emotionally harrowing experience!

However, I did go into spontaneous labour with both of them (both planned homebirths - first ended up a hospital transfer for malposition, second was a UC) and they were both perfectly healthy.  In fact, DD2 had *heaps* of vernix on her - so much that the MWs who saw her after couldn't believe what gestation she was (and I'd lied by a week to buy myself a bit of extra time!!)

Moral of the story:  No one will stay pregnant forever.  The vast majority of babies are born exactly when they should be born, even if it's a bit later than 'normal'.  And, think of it this way: If 40 weeks is the average gestation (which it isn't, but bear with me), then the bell curve means that as many babies are/should be born at 43 weeks as at 37 weeks.  And no one freaks out about having a baby at 37 weeks, do they?  So why should longer gestating moms be put under so much pressure?

:hug  It's not an easy position to be in.

[cappuccinosmom]

My second and third babies were born at 42 w 3 days.  I am really, really glad I waited.  They were huuuuuuge (according to the medical world, 9lb15oz and 10lb8oz).  But I went into labor sponanteously and they were both born in 4 hours, with just 15 minutes pushing.  I know that's not how everybody's late labors go, but induction would have taken those two good, uncomplicated labors from me.  Both boys were definitely not "overbaked".  They were caked with vernix, and there was no meconium in the water, nor signs of the placenta degrading. 

I don't think anyone can say what *you* should do.  I can only say that I am glad I didn't induce.  To pacify the worriers among my caregivers, after 41 weeks I went in for regular bpp/nst at the hospital.  My babies were just fine in there, and happy as can be.  I got some fear mongering from the doctors, but one of them eventually admitted that her main concern was her own liability, which bolstered my resolve to stick it out until my baby was ready, since my baby wasn't making decisions based on liability.

ETA:  I tried nipple stim. and castor oil, nothing doing.  I didn't go into labor until over a week after I tried them. 

[mylilmonkeys]

I've had three that were born 42+1d, and the rest between 40-41.  I've tried everything, and nothing much worked to induce.  Castor oil is nasty, I'm not convinced it is safe, and it hasn't worked in the couple pregnancies I tried it.  Contrary to our feelings in those last several days, they all do eventually come out!  

[MegBoz]

Are you really sure you are as 'late' as you think? Remember, pregnancy is generally counted from Last Menstrual Period - which, of course, assumes conception on cycle day 14! (i.e. you are "2 weeks pregnant" the day of conception.) if you ovulated late, that could mean you are an entire week earlier than you think! Later term ultrasound is also inaccurate for dating a pregnancy (If you had one closer to the 8 week mark, that would give you accurate dating.)

Sure, the fetal mortality rate goes up after 42 weeks, but it's still pretty low.

Do women in your family tend to gestate longer? That would ease my mind a bit too to know it's "normal" for my gene pool.

Finally, you can also go get NST/AFI plus do detailed kick counts to reassure you. I would be OK personally with going beyond 42 weeks - especially if I had any doubts about my actual dates. (I went to 41W 4D, one membrane sweep kicked off labor 2 hours later & he was born 6 hours after that - first baby.)

[MyFullHouse]

I chose to induce at 41w6d with my 4th baby.

While the increased risks of 42w+ were on my mind, I went more on gut feeling than statistics.  We were VERY confident in my dates, and I spent those last few days thinking it really was time for him to be born, and put my foot down on that last day.

I still can't tell you whether it was the right or wrong decision.  The induction was rough on him.  He also turned out to be one of my smaller babies - a few ounces larger than one of my 40w babies, and a pound and a half lighter than my 41w baby.

I don't have any regrets, but I do have unanswerable questions.

It's such a highly personal decision.  I wish you all the best in making it!

[AustinMom]

I was willing to wait till baby was coming, as long as it was before 46 weeks ;)  I went into labor at 42+6?  And she was born on the 43 mark.  I highly suggest you look at the REAL studies on this topic.  Obstetric myths vs. research realities is a great read by Henci Goer.  Basically there are a lot of 'if's'  IF you have your conception date EXACT, and IF you go past the date that is said to be 40 weeks gestaion, and IF you do there is a 50% chance you baby will actually be post-term.  IF your baby is really postterm, there is a SMALL SMALL SMALL chance he/she is post-mature, and IF your baby is post-mature, there is a SMALL SMALL chance your baby will have issues. 

It's obviously ideal for our babies to be born before 42 weeks, as that is safer, as long as they are coming on their own before 42 weeks.  When you hit 42 weeks, you have to decide to induce your baby/body or wait for baby/body and when studied neither one is better than the other.  Obviously if you want a natural birth it would be better wait. 

[mamaofprincesses]

I've had one at 42 weeks 2 days, and one at 41 weeks 3 days. In both cases, I really think part of the "problem" (problem for me, as I wanted my baby!) was the posterior positioning both had. DD2 (who was 16 days late) never turned, and DS1 turned two days before I went into labor. Next time you see your provider, ask what position the baby is in . . . if baby is lying posterior, there are moves you can try to encourage him or her to move into a more optimal position. There's a site called spinningbabies.com that has a lot of suggestions. Walking through IKEA for four hours got DS to turn :). I also used a lot of Evening Primrose oil to try to get my cervix ready. And if you know a good acupuncturist, I've heard that can do the trick. . .

[Aka mommy]

Originally Posted by mamaofprincesses 

I've had one at 42 weeks 2 days, and one at 41 weeks 3 days. In both cases, I really think part of the "problem" (problem for me, as I wanted my baby!) was the posterior positioning both had. DD2 (who was 16 days late) never turned, and DS1 turned two days before I went into labor. Next time you see your provider, ask what position the baby is in . . . if baby is lying posterior, there are moves you can try to encourage him or her to move into a more optimal position. There's a site called spinningbabies.com that has a lot of suggestions. Walking through IKEA for four hours got DS to turn :). I also used a lot of Evening Primrose oil to try to get my cervix ready. And if you know a good acupuncturist, I've heard that can do the trick. . .

Yes about the positioning. I really think that if i had let my first babies go as long as they wanted without trying to light a fire to get them out, I wouldn't have had to go through posterior births. DD#1 we induced at 40w5d because, well i didn't know better and my OB said i had to. She was posterior and it was a harrowing 39 hour delivery which i wont go into the specifics. DD#2 i begged my mw's to naturally induce me at 40weeks, i was miserable from her having dropped down to 0 station at 36 weeks and now i can safely say i was a baby, because that was nothing compared to an unmedicated posterior birth with a nuchal hand lol! #3 came of it's own accord, but wasnt my genetic material and came out positioned just find. DS was born 41w3d and he is the only one (aside from my surrogacy) where i didn't do a darn thing to stimulate labor (not even nipple stim) because i was adamant that this birth would go as needed and i'd let my body do it's thing in hopes of a painfree and easy birth. And i hit the jackpot. Every night was misery and i thought i'd go nuts or give into natural induction the next day, but thankfully my edd was different for my mw's than what i knew it was from conception and i didn't bother to ever correct them, so i wasn't pressured by anyone. DS came when he wanted, and it was the most spectacular, painfree, natural birth ever. He was NOT posterior!
 

[Evergreen]

To tell you the truth, when I was 9 days overdue with each of my kids I had no signs of going into labor any time soon but it was eriously only 24 hours after remarking that nothing was happening with Ava that productive contractions started.

[Quinalla]

Do your research on the true risks, verify your conception date, and don't worry about if there are any signs that your baby will be coming soon. I was maybe 1cm, 50% effaced at my last OB appointment and 5 days later I delivered. You body can get ready quite quickly if it chooses to (or at least "hide" that it is getting ready), so definitely stay hopeful. No one can tell you what to do, but the best thing for me was to get fully informed on the risks vs. benefits of all my options and make peace with the right decision for me. Maybe you can decide that you will go to 42 weeks and if there is no baby, you will reevaluate, that sort of thing.

[cyclamen]

My DD was born at 41w 1d.  I took EPO the night before.  She was very healthy! 

I also agree it may be a position thing.  I spent a lot of times on my hands and knees in the last few weeks because I was worried about position, and I labored hard on my hands and knees for about 6 hrs.  It was the only comfortable position.  I allowed an AROM at 10cm but I think I should have waited a bit more because she was born with a nuchal hand and that meant I had to push for 2+ hours.  (I can't remember exactly how long but I think they broke my water sometime between 6 and 8, and she was born a little after 10).  I wasn't pushing the whole time, but I was pushing for a lot of it.  I don't know if she was posterior or not, I'm guessing not or it would have hurt alot more, right?  But dang it was hard to get her squishy little head out with that hand in the way.  I remembered my friend whose baby came flying out in two pushes and thought, "What gives?"  Should have stuck my butt up in the air when I was fully dilated and she wasn't descending instead of getting AROM.

Anyhow, get on your hands and knees mama and jiggle jiggle jiggle!

[starrlamia]

due dates are estimates and can be off by 1-2 weeks. If you dont want to be induced and there is no actual clinical indication (ie fetal distress etc etc) then dont let them induce you. New studies show that it is perfectly safe to go 42 weeks as long as you are receiving proper check ups and care.

[Aka mommy]

Originally Posted by cyclamen 

My DD was born at 41w 1d.  I took EPO the night before.  She was very healthy! 

I also agree it may be a position thing.  I spent a lot of times on my hands and knees in the last few weeks because I was worried about position, and I labored hard on my hands and knees for about 6 hrs.  It was the only comfortable position.  I allowed an AROM at 10cm but I think I should have waited a bit more because she was born with a nuchal hand and that meant I had to push for 2+ hours.  (I can't remember exactly how long but I think they broke my water sometime between 6 and 8, and she was born a little after 10).  I wasn't pushing the whole time, but I was pushing for a lot of it.  I don't know if she was posterior or not, I'm guessing not or it would have hurt alot more, right?  But dang it was hard to get her squishy little head out with that hand in the way.  I remembered my friend whose baby came flying out in two pushes and thought, "What gives?"  Should have stuck my butt up in the air when I was fully dilated and she wasn't descending instead of getting AROM.

Anyhow, get on your hands and knees mama and jiggle jiggle jiggle!

To the bold, it depends. My dd was born posterior with a nuchal hand but i had an ecstatic birth with her. Pushing felt so amazingly good i can't even begin to describe it. But i had back labor with her. She did come out in less then 5 minutes.

I have had 3 back labors and 1 non back labor, all i can attribute to it is the 1 that wasn't back labor, my water didnt break until he was crowning. And ironically pushing him out was not nearly as ecstatic as my dd. I was rather annoyed and just wanted the little booger to come out already (but he was less then 2 pushes, but it felt like an eternity lol) but i did have a pain free labor with him. I really think there are sooo many contributing factors to pain that it all plays in.

 

[donutmolly]

My 3rd was born at 42 weeks (after my 1st were born within days of my EDD, so I didn't think I was a long-gestating gal) -- my care provider is a HB MW, and was very relaxed about induction -- no pressure at all for medical induction, but I, like you, did not feel that labor was at all imminent.  I was going into the local NCB-friendly hospital for monitoring by 41 +4, and even though they were great, I still was very stressed about what might happen if the on call docs decided that my readings looked iffy.  After a discussion with my MW, I decided to try the Castor oil (which I never, never imagined using)  I had heard all sorts of negative things, but she was totally surprised and felt it was extremely effective and safe.  I started taking it at 8am, and baby was born by 3am the next morning.  My body seems to handle bowel issues pretty well, so I didn't find the effects particularly uncomfortable.  And it definitely started up contractions for me.  It was my longest labor yet (although still not particularly long, 7 hours) and my guess is that she was not ideally positioned well, which is why I had not gone into labor previously.