I'd lie or say you don't know. I ovulated on day 44 when I conceived, and telling the truth about my LMP was kind of a nightmare. At my fist scan I measured exactly where I was supposed to be based on my ovulation date, and the heart rate was strong, but I was still brought into a little room and told to be cautious and expect a possible miscarriage because I was so far behind. I was not behind at all! When they put in the CRL measurement the gestational age was exactly what I expected down to the day, but the doctor refused to believe I was tracking accurately. It was infuriating and very stressful. She finally took my word for it after making me go for another scan a week later, which measured consistently with the first. I think it's important to be honest with doctors, but I really regret ever telling them my LMP.

They based my due date off my first ultrasound. I was the opposite- I tend to ovulate a bit early. So it made sense that the baby was measuring a few days “ahead.”

Anonymous wrote:Is everyone lying to avoid induction "too early"?

I almost went the other way and lied to avoid going too late. I've heard of too many bad outcomes at 41 and 42 weeks to be comfortable with it.

In my case the context was a planned c-section, YMMV.

I have a short cycle and had to fight hard to get my due date moved up toward the end based on the cycle dates I knew and the dating ultrasound (scheduled C-section with a sideways baby). It is so true that this formula assumes that women have no idea what is happening in their bodies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can always refuse the pressure to induce and stat this as your reason. That you know you are only 39.5 weeks, not 40 weeks or whatever.

No one is forcing you to show up for an induction you don't want.

Exactly. Why would you lie about your dates when you could give them the real data and be an agent in your own health care decision-making?

Because it can be exhausting to explain the date discrepancy with every scan, screening, appointment, etc.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Very happy to report I was finally able to schedule my first appt and it includes a “confirmation scan”! I did fudge my LMP by 4 days before I knew that the appt includes a scan. I feel ok about “lying” in this instance. We’ll see what the scan says.

P.S. To those who have suggested I say I don’t know what my LMP is, I cannot do that—I feel like it communicates to the doctor that I don’t know my body and am not empowered, when I really want my doc to respect me and my knowledge of my body!

The doc doesn’t care, frankly. If the doc respected your knowledge, you wouldn’t feel the need to lie in the first place.

Anonymous wrote:You can always refuse the pressure to induce and stat this as your reason. That you know you are only 39.5 weeks, not 40 weeks or whatever.

No one is forcing you to show up for an induction you don't want.

Exactly. Why would you lie about your dates when you could give them the real data and be an agent in your own health care decision-making?

Anonymous wrote:You can always refuse the pressure to induce and stat this as your reason. That you know you are only 39.5 weeks, not 40 weeks or whatever.

No one is forcing you to show up for an induction you don't want.

Except that your OB can refuse to keep you as a patient and then you are SOL, delivering with someone you’ve never met who doesn’t have your whole prenatal history. That seems pretty stupid when she can talk about it upfront.

You can always refuse the pressure to induce and stat this as your reason. That you know you are only 39.5 weeks, not 40 weeks or whatever.

No one is forcing you to show up for an induction you don't want.

So interesting how different practices work. GW physicians only go by the dating scan (the first US around 9/10 weeks), and total disregarded my LMP even though I was pretty sure when I conceived (was away from spouse before and after).

I'm glad they've agreed to give you a dating scan, but I would really push to have your primary OB be someone who respects and understands your reluctance to being induced.

So funny...I have been debating doing this exact same thing. This is my fifth baby. They always come a week late and the OBs always want to induce and bug me about it. I almost always ovulate on day 19 so I am going to also lie about my LMP.

OP here. Very happy to report I was finally able to schedule my first appt and it includes a “confirmation scan”! I did fudge my LMP by 4 days before I knew that the appt includes a scan. I feel ok about “lying” in this instance. We’ll see what the scan says.

P.S. To those who have suggested I say I don’t know what my LMP is, I cannot do that—I feel like it communicates to the doctor that I don’t know my body and am not empowered, when I really want my doc to respect me and my knowledge of my body!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is everyone lying to avoid induction "too early"?

I almost went the other way and lied to avoid going too late. I've heard of too many bad outcomes at 41 and 42 weeks to be comfortable with it.

In my case the context was a planned c-section, YMMV.

I didn't care about induction date and was happy as a clam to be induced at 41 weeks based on ovulation which would have been when they would have induced me based on LMP (would have been 42 weeks). I DID care about all the tests showing stuff was "wrong" with my baby when it was just that my dating based on LMP was wrong and all the associated stress and tears over worrying about my child only to be told "LOL, j/k you're good."

this! didn't even think about induction - i didn't want to consistently be told my baby was measuring behind and any worry/stress or extra tests that would come with that

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t you just tell them you’re not going to induce, end of story? I’ve never been pressured to induce but is it really that bad?

I've been induced 2x. It's not my choice. But it is scary to go against medical advice. My first induction I remember sobbing the entire weekend before my induction, but I was okay with the second one where they let me go until 42 weeks. I just cook my little babies extra long I guess. Inductions aren't bad, but if you wanted to go med free, it's very, very difficult. I was induced for almost 40 hours, whereas if you go into labor naturally you can labor at home much more comfortably.

I understand there are other valid medical reasons to induce, but if you know for a fact your provider dated the pregnancy wrong and are now being pressured to induce at 41 weeks when you are actually only 40 weeks, then could you not put your foot down and tell them you're not doing it for another week? It's a medical procedure and they shouldn't be giving patients this much crap about it.