38.5 weeks no progress, should people be bringing up induction?

[Anonymous]

You ARE making progress:

1. Baby is head-down and in position -- this will apply additional pressure to your cervix and encourage it to open.
2. You're almost completely effaced -- your cervix needs to thin before it can dilate.
3. Your uterus' engine is getting warmed up and ready for the big show -- all those BH are what's making you thin out, and every contrax you have now is one less you have to have in active labor.
4. All this and you're not even at the midpoint of your baby's likely arrival window -- your due date isn't the expiration date of your placenta, merely the halfway mark in a "due month" that stretches from 38 to 42 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Not the OP, but you all are making me feel so much better. I'm due today, no real sign of baby, and am terrified of an induction, which I had to schedule at my most recent appt. Please keep the encouragement coming!

[Anonymous]

OP here, they made me schedule an induction today at my appointment. I was bummed just because there were only two doctors I wanted to avoid -- McKanders and Reiter, and low and behold those were my only choices for that week (because of the weekend). I was so excited because I thought i had lost my plug this morning and was having some bloody show too Oh well, getting induced isn't the end of the world.

[Anonymous]

OP - I bet you go into labor before your induction. When did they schedule it for? I'm guessing you only have a few days left before labor starts, especially if you had some positive signs today! Best wishes!

[Anonymous]

I don't know McKanders, but if you're going for nice or touchy feely, try to avoid Reiter. His "dry sense of humor" really deflated the joyous atmosphere of my L&D the first time and most of the nurses at Sibley seem to detest him.

[Anonymous]

OP here, they scheduled it for when I'm 41 weeks exactly. I could have had it scheduled a little later in the week but they were all booked up. McKanders alway struck me a incompetent, she told me to really cut back my calorie intake at my first appointment and that kind of bugged me.

[Anonymous]

They can't schedule you for later than 41 weeks b/c they are "booked up"??? I'm a PP and current RHJ patient and that would piss me off. If you don't like either of them, insist on scheduling the induction for later. Tell them you feel uncomfortable doing it at 41 weeks and want an induction at closer to 42 weeks. You will likely go before that anyways, but I would be seriously pissed if they told me it was 41 weeks or nothing b/c of scheduling issues.

[Anonymous]

i also have rjh and am due this month. not that i can plan the day of the week i go into labor, but am very curious what days each dr is at sibley. osmun is there fridays, which would be great, but i too would like to avoid mckanders and reiter. i am sure they are both competent drs, but they have not been as responsive to my particular wishes as osmun.

[Anonymous]

with my first pregnancy, i was told i "had to be" induced at 41 weeks. at 41 weeks, i asked for medical evidence that my baby was in danger, and they couldn't provide any. so i told them i was not willing to be induced, and they really couldn't argue with me. i went into labor on my own at 41 weeks 6 days. i know it often feels like you have to do what a provider says, but it was my body and baby and i felt it was safer to wait for labor to begin on its own, so i did. i didn't want a cesarean resulting from a failed induction, and i wanted to have a natural birth and knew induction contractions might be more intense. plus i just really believed that my baby would be healthiest if allowed to come when she was ready, and that my labor would go most smoothly (and it did go very smoothly). and my second pregnancy, i found a provider who was comfortable waiting until 42 weeks at least before inducing, so that i didn't have to be worried about it again. i believe pregnancy should come to an end on its own, not when a provider says it's time. i think it's ridiculous that doctors make women and babies work around their schedules ... it should matter most what women want, and what is healthiest for their babies, not the doctor's schedule. of course if a woman knows the risks of induction and still wants one, i support that choice, but providers telling women they "have to" be induced even when there's no medical evidence to support it seems very irresponsible.

[Anonymous]

PP, did your original provider still deliver the baby? Also, would you have waited past 42 weeks (if the baby seemed fine, of course)?

Just gathering info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They can't schedule you for later than 41 weeks b/c they are "booked up"??? I'm a PP and current RHJ patient and that would piss me off. If you don't like either of them, insist on scheduling the induction for later. Tell them you feel uncomfortable doing it at 41 weeks and want an induction at closer to 42 weeks. You will likely go before that anyways, but I would be seriously pissed if they told me it was 41 weeks or nothing b/c of scheduling issues.

If anyone tried to tell me that, then I would say GREAT -- Nothing!!! No need to induce, period. The baby will come when it is ready.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, did your original provider still deliver the baby? Also, would you have waited past 42 weeks (if the baby seemed fine, of course)?

Just gathering info.

I am not the PP, but had a similar experience. I didn't deliver until 41 weeks 6 days. My OB didn't mention induction at my 41 week appointment, and I didn't bring it up. I felt healthy, the baby was active and healthy, and there was no medical need to induce. At 42 weeks, my provider typically suggests an induction, but is willing to allow a pregnancy to go on if a non-stress test shows good results. I would absolutely have waited past 42 weeks if I had needed to. I wanted to avoid unnecessary procedures. I ended up having a very uneventful, 8-hour, natural labor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i also have rjh and am due this month. not that i can plan the day of the week i go into labor, but am very curious what days each dr is at sibley. osmun is there fridays, which would be great, but i too would like to avoid mckanders and reiter. i am sure they are both competent drs, but they have not been as responsive to my particular wishes as osmun.

OP here. For the week they offered me, Loveland is on Monday, Reiter on Tuesday, and McKanders in on Friday. I would have liked Osmun, he's a little quiet but was much nicer than a lot of the other doctors. Loveland was really booked up, as was Reiter. They didn't want me to wait past Tuesday.

[Anonymous]

At my 40 w appt, with no visible progress being made, we discussed when we would induce, if we had to. We scheduled it then for 42w,1 d (normally he goes to 42w tops, but we discussed the issue, and because of holidays and weekends it was either 41w4day or 42w1d and I wanted to go as long as possible., ,). I had to have another ultrasound at 41w to make sure all was good, which it was, and it had been an otherwise uneventful, healthy pregnancy so no reason to induce before then. In the end, my water broke at 41w, 5 days, but I still didn't go into labor (wasnt at all dilated or effaced) so I had to be induced that day anyway with the doc on call (who was great, even though I'd never met him). If I were you, schedule it now, but for as late as possible. and if you have any thoughts/hopes about going med free, you'd rather avoid induction if possible--pitocin induced contractions are tough.

[Anonymous]

Don't let the fact that there is a scheduled day make you feel rushed if you aren't ready when that day comes. Ask for your Bishop score as you get closer. If you don't have a good score, which they can give you in the office the day before you would have to go to the hospital, and there are no signs of fetal distress, don't get induced.