39 weeks is the minimum for full term delivery now?

[atomic sagebrush]

While I agree that inducing early is not a good thing at all I do also want everyone to rest easy because the baby can continue to develop AFTER they are born.

[Mrs_P]

Mrs P, will they let you do a trial labor?? They let me with my low lying placenta and I was able to have him vaginally altho I did start to hemorrage at 6 CM dilated luckily it went very quick from that point. They really did not want to do a section on me anyway because my placenta was in the front so they'd have had to cut through it, but still, I hope they are able to let you at least have a trial labor.

I'm not sure yet, i really don't want a section but am quite worried about going natural to. My doc said as long as she can get her head down in the next 2 weeks we can try natural, in the hope that i will labor quick and she will come out before it detaches - that bit seemed a bit worrying

How bad was the bleed for you? Its that bit that worries me most as if it gets bad they have said i will end up with an emergency section. I am one of these weird women that actually enjoy labor, my last was really easy and i wanted a water birth this time (i had bleeding with my last and ended up being high risk so was banned from the pool)

[Pandora1]

I have always wondered how doctors could feel it was safe to induce without life threatening problems. I have heard this happening so much. Glad to see they are revising this practice.

[atomic sagebrush]

I'm not sure yet, i really don't want a section but am quite worried about going natural to. My doc said as long as she can get her head down in the next 2 weeks we can try natural, in the hope that i will labor quick and she will come out before it detaches - that bit seemed a bit worrying

How bad was the bleed for you? Its that bit that worries me most as if it gets bad they have said i will end up with an emergency section. I am one of these weird women that actually enjoy labor, my last was really easy and i wanted a water birth this time (i had bleeding with my last and ended up being high risk so was banned from the pool)

He didn't tell me, I think he didn't want me to know really, but I didn't require a transfusion. My husbandsaid they brought what looked like blood in and then didn't use it, but I'm not really sure if that was true or if he saw something else. I was very faint for a few months after that though. I started bleeding at 6 cm but luckily I go quickly from there and as the head moved down, it put pressure on the wound and kept it from bleeding too awfully much, from what I've heard that is generally what happens - by the time the bleeding starts, the baby's head is there to staunch the flow. (nature is weird yet clever)

I enjoy labor too, I totally understand just waht you mean. and prayers.

[Mum23boys]

Here in the UK in wet susex they wont do planned c sections now before 39 weeks for this exact reason im guessing and they wont induce before 39 weeks either unless there is a real medical emergency

[missmegrn]

I was induced (pitocin) at 37w6d for various medical reasons. DD1 was induced (pitocin) as well, but she was over 40 wks. She had meconium in her fluid. She was a big baby at 8 lb 10 oz, 21 inches. She also got stuck in the birth canal and almost landed me a c-section. She ended up being a vaginal birth with shoulder dystocia, which was okay after 1 week. Anyway, dd2 had a 2 vessel cord. At 37 weeks her activity level was not as much and NSTs were not as reactive as they should be. I also had PIH (preg induced hypertension) with no preeclampsia. For fear that 1 more week inutero might land me a c-section due to her possibly being bigger or her activity level decreased some more, or my PIH got worse, I decided to get induced early. Good thing I did because she ended up being 8 lb 10.5 oz and 21 in long, with may have been problematic had I gone further. Being induced early is definately a personal decision in which risk and benefits should be considered.

[meeks32]

Agree that this is a very complex issue in which all aspects need to be considered. Sometimes articles like this can do more scare mongering than good. I agree if there are no medical reasons of course it's better to wait for 39 weeks but I also agree with atomic, babies develop outside of the womb as well, it's not like things stop just because they were born.

I have a slightly different issue with induction timing. I believe women shouldn't be allowed to go so far over. In Australia we are allowed to go 12 days over before they begin induction with gel, then if that doesn't work overnight they break the waters, if that doesn't work within the day they use oxytocin. So by then you are 13+ days over. I know a lot of babies that had horrendous births and ongoing complications from going this far over and don't believe it should be allowed. However we CAN'T choose to be induced early without medical reason. So with these babies going over if everything appears normal, they keep you going. I went into labour 12 days over with ds1, my labour was 48hrs. 30 hrs in my waters broke and had meconium in them, but they let me go another 18hrs before an emergency caesarian that went terribly. He has milk protein allergy and behavioural issues and I'm convinced its because I was so far over. Another friend had a stillborn after a similar labour and being 12 days over. I researched it a lot at the time and there was evidence that going too far over can cause complications like the placenta not functioning optimally etc.

Interestingly, I had ds2 via Caesarian for medical reasons at 38 weeks and he was the same size as ds1 , healthy, amazing eater and alert and is completely normal with no allergies or behavioural problems.