How overdue would you be allowed to go?

[Anonymous]

Yeah I was AMA and my docs from a very reputable practice were like “induce” lady. We scheduled an outside induction date when I was 39w. I think it was for 40w6d but I went into labor at 39w4d. I’d totally ask a lot of questions about why I wasn’t being induced. Oh, and I had an I medicated birth for other reasons and I’d still push for the induction.

[Anonymous]

^ Also OP what do you mean you’re wondering about “overruling” her? There’s a way to ask tons of questions and arrive at an answer together. When discussing this with me, my docs were willing to take into account my POV - is your doc totally blowing you off or are you just avoiding the convo? In big cities you need to schedule in advance unless you don’t mind showing up at 3 am to start your pitocin drip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here again, I just spoke to my doc office and they are urging me to wait for my body to do this on its own, so I'll try to sit tight until my next appointment with them on Monday. Or go into labor on my own! At the end of the day I think I need to trust the person who's seen me through this pregnancy and my previous one.

You’re well within your right as a patient to discuss your concerns with your OB, OP. Did you speak to your doctor, or just a nurse? Are you at a practice that is more conservative, or one known to try and minimize interventions? Personally I find it a bit odd that at AMA they are not encouraging you to at least schedule an induction at 40 weeks.

If you are comfortable with the risks of waiting to induce, fine. But you are well within your right to discuss the risks and benefits of inducing or waiting at this point. Plenty of conservative practices would have already induced you by this point. Sometimes our bodies don’t do the right thing and interventions can avoid a bad outcome. Mother Nature is not infallible, she’s the reason birth used to be the leading cause of death for women and babies.

Thanks, I do appreciate this reminder/reinforcement. My OB is in surgery today so I couldn't speak to her, unfortunately. When I met with her earlier yesterday she suggested I'd be induced by next Thursday (so, 41+4). She's at a big hospital (Cornell - I'm in NYC) and I would say they fall somewhere in the middle. They have a birthing center with midwives but I'm not a patient there, just been seen as part of their mainstream practice. With my dd I appreciated a slightly less interventional approach as they allowed me to deliver vaginally despite my water having broken about 30 hours prior to her birth (I.e. no "24 hour rule" if things seem to be progressing).

Wow, I’m surprised they let you go past 24 hours. The reason for that is increased risk of infection. I am glad it worked out for you, but that is not the standard of care as I know it. Increasingly it seems that academic medical centers with a midwifery groups are being heavily influenced by them to reduce C sections, avoid interventions, and promote normal, physiologic birth. The problem with that, is that that philosophy is not improving outcomes, as that new CDC report just out showed. It’s actually lack of access to care and the right interventions being pushed at the right time that is causing problems.

I delivered my first at 41 weeks and I wish I had pushed for an earlier induction. I ended up with preeclampsia, a deteriorating placenta, a huge baby who needed help to be delivered, and a whole host of other problems. In hindsight, I could see my belly swelling daily and felt anxious every day I went past my due date, but I kept being told to let nature do it’s thing, and that my body knew what to do. That philosophy, for me, turned out to be wrong and harmful.

If you feel concerned at all, don’t hesitate to talk to your OB directly. I personally wish I had listened to my gut when I felt that waiting was riskier than inducing.

When I delivered my 1st kid 10+ years ago with a hospital-based OB & midwife group at a major academic medical center (not in the DC area), they let me continue to labor more than 24 hours past my water breaking because I was making progress with dilation on pitocin, and continuous monitoring showed the baby and I were continuing to do okay (no signs of distress in the baby, and no fever or other signs of infection in me). I delivered a healthy baby about 36 hours after my water broke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ Also OP what do you mean you’re wondering about “overruling” her? There’s a way to ask tons of questions and arrive at an answer together. When discussing this with me, my docs were willing to take into account my POV - is your doc totally blowing you off or are you just avoiding the convo? In big cities you need to schedule in advance unless you don’t mind showing up at 3 am to start your pitocin drip.

Doc believes there's no reason to induce me at this point based on my pregnancy and recent monitoring and wants to wait a week to see if I do it on my own. I've read things on the internet that make me uneasy about waiting but she's my doctor and I trust her. So despite general anxieties I'm not so convinced that I know better than her. And I'd probably be on here looking for reassurance about induction, had she been pushing for that. I'm just anxious at the end and waiting gives me lots of time to go down rabbit holes.