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Earliest i can be induced is 11 days after due date!?
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Anonymous
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I am 39 weeks, 3 days. Today at my 39 week appt, I was given a paper with my induction date on it and attending physician. This date is 11 days after my due date. I asked if this was the earliest I could be induced and I was told, yes, b/c each doctor only does inductions on one day per week, and apparently I was "assigned" this doctor, not really sure how that process works.
Should I ask if another doctor is available to do it sooner? I don't mind being a little bit late, but I am very uncomfortable already...Also, having had a 2nd trimester loss last year, I have been pregnant for 14 months with a 2 month break between pregnancies, so I am very anxious to have a healthy baby in my arms...maybe more so than I would be otherwise. I realize that babies are late, and due dates are not set in stone...should I just accept this as one of those life lessons that things do not go always go as planned? Or should I be more assertive about wanting to be induced sooner? Is this a common practice with OB's? TIA! |
Anonymous
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There was a very similar thread recently - you can probably search for it. I think it's fairly typical not to be induced until about 10 or so days past due. I don't know if your history makes an earlier induction medically necessary. However, it sounds like the date was set randomly based on your doctor's schedule. If you are willing to go with another doctor in the practice, perhaps they would let you do it sooner. However, please bear in mind that inducing when your body isn't ready increases the chances of a c-section.
Good luck! |
Anonymous
| If I were in your shoes, I would absolutely not accept that. I also had a very late loss in my first pregnancy (28 weeks) and I know for a fact that my doctor would not let me go past 40 weeks. My doctor believes there are too many risks of cord accidents...and considering what you and I have been through already, I'd be sure not to have to go way past your due date. Definitely stand up for yourself. Make it ugly if you have to. (Of course if you are not dilated at all, I don't think pitocin is possible because what is the point of contractions if your uterus is not ready? I don't think they do it.) |
Anonymous
| Please see the other post on this. Your due "date" is actually a rough estimate of how long you've progressed in your pregnancy, and you should be prepared for the baby to come 2 weeks earlier to 2 weeks later than that and it still be a normal gestation. Also, many doctors want to avoid a c-section if there's still a chance of you delivering safely without one. (Of course, they'd prefer that you have a scheduled C than an unplanned one after pushing, but that's a different story.) |
Anonymous
| Induction sucks. Avoid it if you can. |
Anonymous
Why would you say this? Are you purposely trying to make the OP more nervous than she already is? OP, unfortunately, I had to wait until 42 weeks to be induced with my 2nd son. They did a stress test to make sure everything was OK, and I just had to wait it out. As for the actual induction, mine went fine. I went into the hospital at 7:30am, was hooked up and getting pitocin by about 8:30 and was in active labor about 3 hours after that. I had an epidural, and my son was born at 3:00pm after only a few pushes. The induction went absolutely fine! |
Anonymous
Not always true. |
Anonymous
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OP here...I realize people have had good and bad experiences with induction. And I am willing to go late for a number of good reasons (i.e. my cervix isn't dilated, body not ready, my cycles is longer, I ovulated later which is true). So I am not wedded to the due date per se, but 11 days after the due date seemed long to me. And because I have not had any ultrasound since the end of the second trimester, I am feeling pretty anxious about the baby...
If I agree to wait can I legitimately request an ultrasound to check on the baby? Does having extra anxiety get me anything? If the doctors say no, what can I do then? The pregancy has gone smoothly thus far, and it is not considered high risk despite my earlier loss. |
Anonymous
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I don't know what is standard. My docs induced me 5 days after due date (I had a C section b/c my baby was VERY large and I am not). They would have let me know 10 days past due date but I was very uncomfortable and wanted to do it earlier.
Have you asked the doctor? Maybe they'd do it earlier. Oh, and induction was not bad in my situation. |
Anonymous
Try to gently be a little more persistent with the OB scheduler -- and if that fails, talk to your doctor about your concerns. Chances are that you will go into labor before this becomes an issue. If I were in your shoes, I would not feel comfortable with going 11 days past my due date. The placenta can start to deteriorate if it gets too old -- so you would need to have a stress test and be closely monitored. Plus, babies put on a bunch of weight quickly at the very end of the pregnancy -- something to consider if you are trying for a vaginal delivery. Don't be scared of being induced -- both my sister and I were induced and we had very easy vaginal deliveries. My c-section was a whole different ball of wax 
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Anonymous
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OP, you should be able to request and get an ultrasound. Whether your dr would be willing to indicate in as "medically necessary" is another matter (it may or may not matter for insurance purposes). Hopefully, that would put your mind at ease.
As far as longer cycles etc - did your dr not do an early dating ultrasound? I think that's becoming pretty standard. The early u/s is generally fairly accurate and many (most?) OBs would adjust your due date if the u/s indicates a date that is significantly different than what LMP would indicate. When you are this far along, things can change very quickly and you can go from nothing to full labor in a matter of hours. So hopefully that will happen to you and you won't even have to worry about induction. Good luck. |
Anonymous
| To OP, I know loads of people who have been induced. I would not worry about it at all. All the other advice I read from the posters looks really good. You should always push for what you believe in. You are considering the health and safety of your child. Any anxiety you have is NORMAL and HEALTHY. |
Anonymous
| If it were me, I wouldn't want to be induced. It makes a c-section more likely if you're body isn't ready. And most first time moms go into labor naturally an average of 8 days after their due date. So 11 days isn't that long. But I would ask for a bio-physical profile, not just a sonogram, if you're nervous, and I would be pretty persistent. You can do it at a maternal fetal medicine specialist or other high risk specialist. It's a very thorough and in-depth sonogram, checks oxygen levels, and all kinds of other things to make sure baby is okay and placenta is still doing its job. I had one just because baby was big for size. It's not unusual to get them after the due date. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Thank you to everyone who responded. I hadn't heard of the biophysical profile and will consider it (and have a maternal fetal specialist I like already). I will give it a few more days and see where I'm at, then speak with the doctor if I am still feeling unsettled. I like my OB practice and don't really have a concern about speaking up...I knew women could be up to 2 weeks late naturally, but I think I had assumed that if it went to induction, the patient and doctor together would determine a "good" induction date. I was surprised to have no input.
And of course, ever since I first posted, I have been having intermittent contractions, so perhaps things are moving in the right direction... |