How overdue can you go?

[lukaelmo]

Hey there,

I was induced with the dude when he was 10 days overdue... at the time I just did it because the midwives told me it was dangerous for bubba to be too overdue, but unfortunately the dude went into distress and it all ended up in an emergency c/s.

This time round (I still have aaaaages to go :laughing:) I am just wondering whether bubs will want to come out or not. The date of conception is very hazy (was BFing at the time, no period) and I don't want him coming out before he's ready.

Sooo after my very long winded blather, after 40 weeks, exactly how long can you let them cook for?

[OM]

I asked the Dr at the RBH and he said to me that they would let me go until 14 days overdue but that night if nothing was happening they would have to step in;)

[whatwasithinking]

I was always told 10 days over too.

But then again there are some people on BH who have gone longer so I really don't know.

Interesting to hear though.

[tweedledee*tweedledum]

I was under the impression they like to have the baby out by 41 weeks, sometimes it's a few days over, but generally I think 7 days after the due date is when they organise inductions.

[FourAngelKisses]

They tend to let you go 3wks overdue here.....anything over 10 days is so wrong IMO.

[lukaelmo]

I asked the Dr at the RBH and he said to me that they would let me go until 14 days overdue but that night if nothing was happening they would have to step in;)

Do you know why they can't just leave them in there until they want to come?

Although, I know that at around 36 weeks I am going to start thinking, "get out of there you little bugger :D."

[OM]

They tend to let you go 3wks overdue here

Oh, I want to come and use your hospital!;) I am jealous!:(

[KarniF00l]

I was always told 14 days (2 weeks) any further and it's apparently potentially dangerous for mum and bubs.

[MumofMadd]

My cousin had her baby last week and he was nearly 3 weeks overdue

[OM]

Do you know why they can't just leave them in there until they want to come?

The placenta starts to deteriate (sp)? and they don't want the risk of that happening.;)

[lukaelmo]

My cousin had her baby last week and he was nearly 3 weeks overdue

Did she end up getting induced, or did she go naturally?

[tickle]

From what I have read a lot of places will let you go past 10 days with monitoring of the baby and placenta. I think they do scans to keep an eye on it all.

[whatwasithinking]

The analogy they used to explain the 10 day thing was it is like cooking something in the oven - if it is overcooked it burns and shrivals.

I can't stand anything over cooked so I wouldn't want a shrivaled up baby.

Also to alot of people don't know exactly the day of conception (I never did cause I never got regular AF and I had PCOS) so they give you a 10day on either side of due date leaway. (Does that make sense). So if you go 10 days before or 10 days over up they don't get too worried (if having trouble free pregnancy). That was my hospital's thoughts anyway.

Both my pregnacies they kept changing the due dates so I didn't know whether in fact the girls were overdue or underdue or ontime.

[nemosmum]

Lukaelmo like you i was induced (at 12 days over due) because the middies/dr's told me it was unsafe.....my sonalso went into distress and needed to be given oxygen for 24 hrs after delivery (something i attribute to being induced)

So this time round im determined to go into labour naturally!

After i had my son i was talking to some middies at my work and they both went three weeks over due...they refused to be induced and just had an ultrasound to check that the baby and placenta were infact ok (which they were)

I wish i had of been told that before agreeing to be induced!

Although some one in my March 07 mummies group has told me a sure fire way to bring on labour.................Oral sex!

BUT im not sure if i would be tempted to do that:eek: :laughing:

[shed]

You can go for as overdue as you want to. Its not their baby its yours.

I would not have been induced until well after 14 days. I wouldn't have even discussed it until 14 days after. I would have just presumed bubby was a 42 weeker, which is within the realms of normal.

I knew my due date was "late" but I just let them put that because I didn't want to be bugged and scared into an induction that I didn't want.

He came "early" in the end. I am not convinced of that either since it was one day before my original due date which was the one I actually agreed with according to my cycle length and the date of conception.

We are all individuals and babies are all individual, so unless the placenta IS actually breaking down then induction according to some dodgy date worked out across the board for all women is not for me.

This is just my opinion of course, and I was willing to stick by it.

[the_queen]

I agree 100% with Shed :)

We all have unique menstrual cycles, so our gestational cycles are all unique as well.

I was induced with DD, and in hindsight I can say that I agreed to the induction because of a) scare tactics by the knOb; b) impatience because I wanted to hold my baby; c) ignorance of the facts.

With DS I was prepared to wait until he decided to be born. The baby kicks off labour and if labour is brought on artificially, obviously the baby isn't ready to come yet - hence the horribly high rate of interventions and c-sections following induction.

[jessgray]

i was booked to be induced with ds1 on the thursday (would have been 10 days over) but he was born the monday (7 days over) i was booked in for the induction on my due date coz i showed no signs of labor coming anytime soon:thumbsdown:

today my middie said at my next appt (day before i am due) if i havent gone into labor before then we will do the same thing book me in for induction just incase. they dont want me to go more then 10 days over for some reason

[Areca]

DD was 10 days late and I know she was 10 days late cause I do know the day we conceived. We only tried the one time before DP went away on business so no issues with due dates there. DD came naturally. I had scans etc. to check bub at 8 days over and the doctor was keen to induce me at 12 days over. I was going to the birth centre inside the hospital and my midwife told the doctor there was no reason to induce me at 12 days (except that it's the hospital's policy) and I was to go back at 12 days over for more tests and then be induced at 14 days over (which I agreed to).

Unless tests show that my babies are in distress I won't be induced until at least 14 days overdue.

DD wasn't shriveled at birth either...she was red but that was it.

My midwife told me that I'm just someone who has longer gestation periods....anything from 38 weeks to 42 weeks is normal.

[jmb]

Your due date is to a certain extent a cultural construct. While American doctors are merrily inducing away at less than a week after 40 weeks, in Britain you are due at 41 weeks, in France, at 42 weeks. It should be possible for them to do tests to find out if the environment in the uterus is deteriorating. Ask for tests before you submit to anything as risky or invasive as induction.

I believe that the active ingredient in the gel they give you is made from Pig Sperm. Your partner's human version should have a good chance of doing the trick equally well, if he's around.

jmb

[cobysmummy]

I believe that the active ingredient in the gel they give you is made from Pig Sperm. Your partner's human version should have a good chance of doing the trick equally well, if he's around.

jmb

really??? how very interesting!! pig sperm.. who would have thought!!! i tried everything to make coby come on and nothing worked... he came a week later, naturally.. no pig sperm needed...

with this one,.... i want to be induced 1 week after if i dont go naturally... coby was cooked just right.. but i believe the labour would have been less stressful if i was on time...

[Ana Gram]

Now most people tell me that this couldn't have happened but it did. When my mother was pregnant with me, she went one month and 2 days past her due date. This was the late 70's in Darwin and I was born at the army hospital as they were still rebuilding after the cyclone. The doctor didn't make it to the birth as he was playing golf and my actual birth took about 10 minutes. That last month, I lost a couple of pounds and was a shrivelled prune. And my heart stopped and I had to be resusitated.
There does come a point were the baby should really come out as the placenta does start to disintergrate.

This is why I have trouble getting out of bed in the morning. Right from the start I didn't want to get out of bed!

[Tracie]

I wonder how different things would be if we got rid of the term "overdue" and just thought of our babies arrival as "right on time".

In other words, at the time that is right for them.

I also find it amazing that so many midwives or OBs will say to a woman that they "will not let you" or "won't allow you" to go ??? days overdue.
And I think it is even more shameful that they use language like "shrivelled up like a prune", "burnt to a crisp" etc etc when referring to a "post-dates" baby. It's scaremongering and certainly not based on evidence.

42 weeks is perfectly normal and I certainly wouldn't be considering induction until after that and ONLY if there was an indication that something wasn't quite right.

There are no maternity police, it's your body, your baby, your birth, so you never have to say yes to an induction.

Research shows clearly that the SAFEST thing you can do for your baby is to allow labour to start on it's own.

From the World Health Organization - six care practises that promote normal birth:

1) Labor begins on its own
2) Freedom of movement throughout labor
3) Continuous labor support
4) No routine interventions
5) Adopt non-supine (e.g. upright or side-lying) positions for birth
6) No separation of mother and baby after birth

from 10 Tips for a Normal Birth from Lamaze International:

3. Don’t request or agree to induction of labor unless there’s a medical indication. Allowing your body to go into labor on its own is usually the best sign that your baby is ready to be born. Allow your labor to fi nd its own pace and rhythm. Don’t focus on the clock and don’t use Pitocin to speed up your labor without medical indication.

[FourAngelKisses]

hhmmm......not sure if you read this part of the post above yours, but it is a perfect example of why I would never want to go overdue. Thank goodness I didn't go overdue with my first or he would have ended up around 13lbs.


That last month, I lost a couple of pounds and was a shrivelled prune. And my heart stopped and I had to be resusitated.

[OM]

Now most people tell me that this couldn't have happened but it did.

I read a great article at the beginning of this year about '10 month mama's' unfortunately the site it was on is now gone:( or I would have posted the link for you;) But it had really interesting stories about many mother's who naturally went to 10 months gestation or longer, for all there kids.

There was even a story about a lady who went to I think from memory around 12 months gestation as she was stuck in a war zone and didn't feel safe to give birth yet as soon as she left the war zone she gave birth to a healthy baby!

[jess_live_die]

i was told i was only aloud to carry over 7days but lucky they both came early yay

[Tracie]

hhmmm......not sure if you read this part of the post above yours, but it is a perfect example of why I would never want to go overdue. Thank goodness I didn't go overdue with my first or he would have ended up around 13lbs.

I did read it angel_kisses and I would still stand by what I said....thankfully, Chellegoth and her mum had assistance on hand and all turned out OK.

But who is to know that if her mum was induced that this would have still been the case?

Birth activist Doris Haire describes the effects of Pitocin on the baby:

The situation is analogous to holding an infant under the surface of the water, allowing the infant to come to the surface to gasp for air, but not to breathe.

If Chellegoth was having a difficult time with a normal, natural labour, then adding syntocinon to the picture could very well have been the WORST thing that they could do and the outcome could have been dramatically different???

Induction is not necessarily the answer, and in fact, the process brings with it more harm than good when you compare with a labour that is allowed to start and continue on it's own.

[shed]

Not to mention that its supposed to be more painful, so I would never agree to that coz I'm a wimp.

[jordy&steph'smumma]

I went 18 days over with my 1st and then was induced......silly dr stuffed up my dates as she was pregnant at the same time and ended up having her baby on the same day.
Lucky I went to a different dr and they found her stuff up or he would prob still be in there now lol (6 years later???:laughing: )

dd was 1 weeks over and came on her own.
ds2 (12 weeks old) was 10 days over and induced also. Natural is so much better. They were gunna leave him in 2 bake a little longer but decided to do and ultrasound to see if the fluid around him was still high enough (5) it was 4.5 so they booked me in to be induced the next day.

If everything is okay and has been though out your pregnancy and you say you want to wait a while longer im sure they would let you (at least they would here ) as they only induced me because my fluid was low.

Kylie

[Seekrit]

Not to mention that its supposed to be more painful, so I would never agree to that coz I'm a wimp.

:laughing: I thought to myself that I didn't want to be induced because "I've heard that it hurts heaps."

After I'd had Cobes I thought about it... I didn't have anything else to compare it to and, quite frankly, I think it would hurt either way! :p

The hospital told me I could go 11 days over before they induce me.. I would have welcomed it. Although knowing what I know now, I'm not sure if I would.

As it was, Cobey was 7 days overdue as per my original date... when he was born - 1 day before his 'due date' he had all the markings of an overdue baby. I'm glad that i went via that latest date so I had no one talking me into being induced, and so I didn't have the anxiety of going 'overdue'.

Anyhoo, I'm just babbling stuff now :p

Oh, and I should note, I was 3 weeks overdue before I made my appearance - naturally. I wasn't big or anything, only 7lb 1oz... but I was very long!! (57cm)

[Jamily]

Now most people tell me that this couldn't have happened but it did. When my mother was pregnant with me, she went one month and 2 days past her due date. This was the late 70's in Darwin and I was born at the army hospital as they were still rebuilding after the cyclone. The doctor didn't make it to the birth as he was playing golf and my actual birth took about 10 minutes. That last month, I lost a couple of pounds and was a shrivelled prune. And my heart stopped and I had to be resusitated.
There does come a point were the baby should really come out as the placenta does start to disintergrate.

This is why I have trouble getting out of bed in the morning. Right from the start I didn't want to get out of bed!

This is almost an identical story to my birth. Mum was actually over 3 weeks past her EDD before she went into labour with me. She is absolutely sure of her conception date as my Dad was in the army and away on exercise just after my conception (dont' worry I look just like me DAd so no worries there about it being someone else :laughing: ). Like Chellegoth I was a very small baby taking into account my due date and was absolutely black due to a lack of oxygen. I was resusitated twice and in special care for over a month.

However, when it came to my own baby I didn't want to be induced too early (intervention usually leads to more intervention) so I asked to be monitored from 41 weeks - I went into the hospital every 3 days to have bubs heartbeat recorded on an ecg for 20 mins. I went into natural, spontaneous labour with my DD at 10 days past my EDD (having been due for an induction the following day).

The hosptial and I discussed induction at length and they admitted that they could not force me into anything - there is no 'law' to make you have one, just recommendations. We compromised on an induction at 11 days as opposed to their standard 10 and I am sooo glad we did. I wanted a drug free intervention birth and got my wish - however, I wouldn't have compromised the health of my baby for one second.

Good luck :)

[Ana Gram]

She is absolutely sure of her conception date as my Dad was in the army and away on exercise just after my conception


Mine too. Very easy to be sure of dates when dad isn't there for 6 weeks after wards!

[luvmybabe]

Hi my Ob would not let me go over more than 4 days, she wanted to induce me at 38 weeks as she thought that baby wasnt getting enough through the plecenta and nto growing.. but she di say that she never lets her paitents go over 5 days regardless...
Good luck and I hope your little chook is ready to come out!