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May 2012 Moms
rebeccabyron
member
Why Dr's induce after 41 wks.
rebeccabyron
member
So this post is not to scold any of you who have posted about not wanting to be induced after your due date, I completely understand wanting your body and baby to come out when it's ready. I am writing this just to give you all a little insight into just how dangerous it can be, from a nurse's perspective. This is not to scare any of you, but just be forewarned that it is a very sad story, so please do not continue on if this is not something you want to read. I am an critical care RN and one of our duties is to take turns responding to Code Blues in the hospital. One day we had a code while I was working, thank God it was not my turn on the code team, but another pregnant nurse I was working with that day did. When she returned she was crying her eyes out for hours. There had been a newborn who had coded in the OB after a C-Section. This mother was only 8 days past her due date, so she was 41 weeks 1 day. She had had a normal pregnancy, no medical conditions and normal NSTs and biophysical profiles so her Dr allowed her to go over her due date. When she reached 1 day after the 41 weeks, her Dr induced her. Baby suddenly developed fetal distress and they rushed her back for a section. Upon delivering baby, they discovered immediately that baby had meconium everywhere, in it's mouth and lungs which caused it go into respiratory arrest and was not breathing. (Meconium is the baby's first stool and usually occurs outside of the womb after baby is born. Occasionally baby does this before being delivered and it is a potentially fatal occurance. Sometimes the baby has no adverse effects from this, but it is a VERY major concern when going over your due date, since baby is more developed and changes of them having this first stool are increased greatly). Unfortunately the baby did not survive. I live in a very small community and had actually gone to high school with this girl for a few years. I was completely devestated. I always had the mentality that my baby would come when it was ready and that I would never allow my Dr to induce me just because I was over a week past my due date. This experience completely changed my point of view. Again, I am not trying to scare any of you that this is going to happen if you go 1 day over 41 weeks, that is not my intention. I know that this was not the norm. I just wanted to share this story with you all so that when your Dr does insist on you being induced after 41 weeks, it may help you cope with the situation and trust your Dr, instead of feeling like "It's my body, I should be able to have this baby when I want." My due date is Saturday and I've already scheduled my induction for 41 weeks in case I don't have this baby. Although the LAST thing I want is an induction, I can't seem to get that poor girls experience out of my mind and I don't want to take even the smallest risk! Once again, sorry if this was a very upsetting story for you, just hoping that it gives people a little piece of mind who are being induced that don't want to be. That being said, good luck to all you ladies and I will keep you all in my prayers that you deliver healthy and happy babies!! 
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Why Dr's induce after 41 wks.
Seriously - this could happen at any time - not just when you're overdue. Just because something happens WHEN you are overdue, does not means it happens BECAUSE you are overdue.
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10
Yes, and like I said, I understand that this is not the norm. And it is one of those scary complications that can occur before a baby is due as well. My intention was not to scare people, but just to help people who are being induced because of going over their due date. Give them a little bit of insight into the Dr's reasoning for doing what they do. I know it made me feel better about the possibility of being induced, because I knew all of the facts. I think a lot of women don't know all of the risks associated with going past their due dates and I just wanted people to realize that there are big risks involved. That being said, there are risks involved with everything! Inductions, epidurals, medications, etc. I totally understand that.
Agreed.
While more common in babies that are overdue, it can happen at any time, with or without stress. And it's not uncommon. Plenty of babies survive meconium aspirations. I'm one of them, as is my 22 year old sister, and my 5 year old niece. I was delivered just before 43w (The Netherlands), my sister at 39+6, and my niece at 36+6.
My OB explained it to me as potential deterioration of the placenta. That's why the NSTs. In older mom's, like me, it occurs sooner, between 40-41w. I used to think that 42w was an Ok max until I started researching it, both through OBs and Midwives. They all agree that 40-41w, 39-40 in AMA moms, is a good time to induce. Some will let you go past 41, but its rare to get to 42 anymore. I filed it under OK, I know baby is fully cooked, and I'd rather be safe than not. I'm a atural birth soap boxer, so that should say something!
Meconium and distress can also occur due to the stress of induction. Pitocin does not cause a normal labor pattern in many people, it's like super labor. Just because this happened to someone post-dates doesn't mean it happened BECAUSE she was post dates.
Im an ER nurse, and see awful things too, so I know it can be distressing, but let's not try to freak everyone out here, ok?
This is a great example of why doctors induce at 41 weeks. When something awful happens it sticks out in our minds, and since how likely we think something is is directly correlated to how quickly we can imagine it, when something scary happens we can imagine it vividly and thus quickly and thus feel it is very likely to happen in the future. Whether or not it was due to the baby being past their estimated due date, if the doc thinks it is that then that also seems far more risky than it actually is. So doctors see a scary situation like this and feel like it's disporportionally likely to happen again in the future and start inducing when they shouldn't.
Meconium can happen at any gestational age, though it is more likely as pregnancy continues. It is also usually not fatal. Further, induction itself is more likely what caused the distress during labor, that has been shown to raise rates of distress. Not being able to breathe in-utero wouldn't likely have caused distress during labor, since baby is still breathing through the umbilical cord. This is a horribly sad story, but a rare occurrence that was almost certainly due to things other than being past EDD. Using it to scare people into accepting inductions when everyone is testing healthy is not logical.
What it comes down to is, it IS the woman's body and her baby, and she SHOULD be able to decide. Doctors may strongly advise that a mom induce at 41 weeks if that is best in their opinion, and some moms like you may want to. That is your right. But not inducing is also a mother's right. Doctors are not perfect nor gods, there is more than one potential "right" decision in most medical situations, and the mom should get to pick which right decision she makes for herself and her child.
First of all, let me say my daughter was born at 41 weeks 3 days. Meconeum was present as well.
The woman you spoke of in this story WAS induced and like MANY inductions, ended up in a c-section. When I delivered naturally, they told me to stop pushing after her head was out (before the body was out) so that they could clear the passageways of the meconeum. A baby doesnt typically take their first breath until up to 10 seconds after being born, and after umbilical cord is cut, because their lungs are deflated and filled with amniotic fluid. Moral of the story, sounds like this doctor slash modern medicine is what really jeopardized this baby. As he induced her, the baby went into fetal distress because of the pitocin, he rushed her to have a c section, cut the cord whisked the baby away to a table to check stats WITHOUT clearing passageways first. Just my guess....
https://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2007754,00.html
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002395.htm
J+E ~ 08/25/2007 DD#1 ~ 05/11/2010 DD#2 ~ 09/25/2013 DD#3 ~ 06/09/2016 Baby #4 Due ~ 01/16/2023