How long past my due date will they let me go?

[Anonymous]

I really don’t want to be induced!

[Anonymous]

If you are close to your due date, this should be a conversation you've already had with your care provider. What did they say?

At my OB practice, I was told that they would schedule an induction for me for 40+1 because I was 38 years old. At that time, my body was not looking favorable for induction (no dilation, not much effaced, baby still very high up). They did an ultrasound to check fluid levels and they were good. My OB said that they would move the induction to 41+1 because there was no medical reason not to. The induction at 41+1 was fine. It took 11 hours and was complication-free.

My first baby was born spontaneously at 41+3. My practice at that time would've been comfortable letting me go to 41+6 provided there was no medical reason to induce before then. I was also nearly 10 years younger so there were no AMA concerns. I doubt my current practice would've been comfortable with going that long.

Ultimately, they cannot force you to be induced, but you should listen to the medical justifications for induction. If you have a good relationship with your care provider, you should be able to have a conversation about the pros and cons of different timing of inductions. If you are not able to have that conversation, it sounds like you need a new care provider.

[Anonymous]

How old are you? At my age I wasn't allowed to go past my due date.

[Anonymous]

Depends entirely on your practice. Mine will let me go to 42 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Why are you afraid of an induction, OP? There is a lot you can do to start labor on its own. Like acupuncture, for one. But if you don’t go into labor on your own, an induction is important and needed. There’s a lot of fear mongering about it as an “intervention” but it’s much better to induce than the alternative—having a baby who is gaining weight rapidly and can be too big to birth vaginally, having a placenta at the end of it’s life that may not be working well, decreasing amniotic fluid, rapidly rising stillbirth risk, increased risk of preeclampsia and other complications, etc.

[Anonymous]

I had my kids at age 27, 30, and 33 with 3 different OBs (due to moving). It seemed they all wanted to induce at 41 weeks - but I went into labor on my own before then.

[Anonymous]

Exact same question a week ago: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/804824.page

Positive induction stories: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/805435.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Exact same question a week ago: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/804824.page

Positive induction stories: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/805435.page

I'm the OP of the first link above. I ended up getting too anxious about going well past 41 weeks, and when I called my doc office last Friday the OB on call told me to come in to be induced that day (so, 40+6)! She was obviously a lot more conservative than my regular OB. Baby ended up being born totally healthy at 41 weeks. I'm glad I ended up being induced -- it was straightforward and easy, as was my first baby who was induced after my water broke with no contractions. But to answer this OP's question, it clearly varies doctor by doctor. Mine would have been fine letting me go to 41+6 despite my being 36yo (almost 37).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exact same question a week ago: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/804824.page

Positive induction stories: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/805435.page

I'm the OP of the first link above. I ended up getting too anxious about going well past 41 weeks, and when I called my doc office last Friday the OB on call told me to come in to be induced that day (so, 40+6)! She was obviously a lot more conservative than my regular OB. Baby ended up being born totally healthy at 41 weeks. I'm glad I ended up being induced -- it was straightforward and easy, as was my first baby who was induced after my water broke with no contractions. But to answer this OP's question, it clearly varies doctor by doctor. Mine would have been fine letting me go to 41+6 despite my being 36yo (almost 37).

Thanks for reporting back! I was thinking of you and hoping for the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exact same question a week ago: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/804824.page

Positive induction stories: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/805435.page

I'm the OP of the first link above. I ended up getting too anxious about going well past 41 weeks, and when I called my doc office last Friday the OB on call told me to come in to be induced that day (so, 40+6)! She was obviously a lot more conservative than my regular OB. Baby ended up being born totally healthy at 41 weeks. I'm glad I ended up being induced -- it was straightforward and easy, as was my first baby who was induced after my water broke with no contractions. But to answer this OP's question, it clearly varies doctor by doctor. Mine would have been fine letting me go to 41+6 despite my being 36yo (almost 37).

Thanks for reporting back! I was thinking of you and hoping for the best.

Thanks for the update, OP. I replied a few times to your thread about how different OBs have different levels of conservatism in their practice, but ultimately as the parent YOU have to live with the outcome of their decisions. So glad things went smoothly and you are both well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you afraid of an induction, OP? There is a lot you can do to start labor on its own. Like acupuncture, for one. But if you don’t go into labor on your own, an induction is important and needed. There’s a lot of fear mongering about it as an “intervention” but it’s much better to induce than the alternative—having a baby who is gaining weight rapidly and can be too big to birth vaginally, having a placenta at the end of it’s life that may not be working well, decreasing amniotic fluid, rapidly rising stillbirth risk, increased risk of preeclampsia and other complications, etc.

Nothing drives the point home than more fear mongering!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends entirely on your practice. Mine will let me go to 42 weeks.

This.. but it depends on the amount of amniotic fluid in there. They will induce or schedule an emergency if the fluid is too low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you afraid of an induction, OP? There is a lot you can do to start labor on its own. Like acupuncture, for one. But if you don’t go into labor on your own, an induction is important and needed. There’s a lot of fear mongering about it as an “intervention” but it’s much better to induce than the alternative—having a baby who is gaining weight rapidly and can be too big to birth vaginally, having a placenta at the end of it’s life that may not be working well, decreasing amniotic fluid, rapidly rising stillbirth risk, increased risk of preeclampsia and other complications, etc.

Nothing drives the point home than more fear mongering!

Being honest about risks is not fear mongering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you afraid of an induction, OP? There is a lot you can do to start labor on its own. Like acupuncture, for one. But if you don’t go into labor on your own, an induction is important and needed. There’s a lot of fear mongering about it as an “intervention” but it’s much better to induce than the alternative—having a baby who is gaining weight rapidly and can be too big to birth vaginally, having a placenta at the end of it’s life that may not be working well, decreasing amniotic fluid, rapidly rising stillbirth risk, increased risk of preeclampsia and other complications, etc.

Nothing drives the point home than more fear mongering!

Being honest about risks is not fear mongering.

If they were real risks, yes. Risks that are either greatly exaggerated or entirely made up to coerce women to induce are indeed fear mongering (see "baby too big to birth vaginally", "rapidly rising stillbirth risk", "placenta at the end of its life").

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you afraid of an induction, OP? There is a lot you can do to start labor on its own. Like acupuncture, for one. But if you don’t go into labor on your own, an induction is important and needed. There’s a lot of fear mongering about it as an “intervention” but it’s much better to induce than the alternative—having a baby who is gaining weight rapidly and can be too big to birth vaginally, having a placenta at the end of it’s life that may not be working well, decreasing amniotic fluid, rapidly rising stillbirth risk, increased risk of preeclampsia and other complications, etc.

Nothing drives the point home than more fear mongering!

Being honest about risks is not fear mongering.

If they were real risks, yes. Risks that are either greatly exaggerated or entirely made up to coerce women to induce are indeed fear mongering (see "baby too big to birth vaginally", "rapidly rising stillbirth risk", "placenta at the end of its life").

If you are going to tell me that there is not a rising risk of stillbirth, preeclampsia, and fetal weight gain the later a pregnancy goes and that these are made up risks, then you are not even worth responding to because you are ignoring science and evidence. Feel free to go freebirth your baby, because your ignorance of modern day obstetrics is frankly, insulting to anyone who has done a base level of research on these topics.

You sounds like that poster on an older thread who kept citing articles on the evidence based birth website, and refused to acknowledge the author’s profound bias and understanding of how to accurately understand evidence.