Approaching the End :)

Hi all,

I thought it was time for an update, I will be 38 weeks tomorrow and things are going well so far. My bg’s are stable at the moment, fluids are normal, and baby girls movement is also normal. This pregnancy has been challenging to say the very least but thank God things are progressing nicely.
I do have one question for you mommies out there. The doctor wants to induce me at 39 weeks even though I am not having issues and the baby’s size is normal. A part of me wants to get this show on the road so sure why not get induced, but I also want to go through the natural progression of labor. My sister was induced and it slowed down her dilation and she ended up needing a cesarean. I amworried this could happen to me. My question is should I fight and wait to see if baby comes on her own or should I just let them induce me? I haven’t gotten a good answer as to why they want to induce me other than they induce diabetics at 39 weeks to prevent complications, but I might be lucky and not have any, oh what to do…

Congrats to you!!! You’ve almost made it! Im not as far along as you but just had this discussion with my doctor…he said the

Oops…he said the placenta of diabetics tends to deteriorate earlier than non-diabetics (and thats it is unrelated to BG control, he said it’s for reasons they can’t pinpoint yet). They mentioning inducing me at 38 weeks…eek…I can’t say I was wanting to go that route either. Keep us updated on how it goes!!

Congrats on being so close! It seems like doctors really vary on when they want to induce diabetics. Some say 38 weeks, others 39 and for me, our doctor said 40 weeks- we never got there and had to induce at 37 weeks due to complications. I think the problem with questions like this is that everyone's experiences are really different. Some people get induced and their bodies respond well, others not so much. Perhaps you could simply ask for a week extension- would they be willing to wait until 40 weeks to induce b/c you'd really like to go through the natural labor process? I found that I was going a bit crazy with trying to control thing and make sure the birth was perfect, that I had to just trust my doctor... Looking back on everything, I don't think I could have changed or would have wanted to change much except be more vocal in what I wanted during the actual labor and everything that followed...Good luck in finding the happy medium!

Thanks for the update! Wow, you are SOOO close! Glad to hear that you and your baby girl are both doing well!

I think that many of us faced induction or scheduled c-sections. I agree with you that our babies should get a say for when they are ready. However, I thought that having the c-section right after completing the 38th week was too early, but my OB-GYN insisted that she saw "signs" that it was time and proceeded. There were no major problems, but several small signs (extreme insulin sensitivity and trouble keeping my blood sugars up, one ultrasound that showed high amniotic fluid, and one NST that seems a bit slower than earlier, but still passed). These factor led to the decision to have a c-section the next day (mine was not scheduled in advance, but we took it day by day at the end). It turned out that our little one was REALLY ready. He had no vernix left and had already pooped meconium into the amniotic fluid.

This experience made me less focused on making it to the magic 40 weeks and I am thankful that I trusted my OB-GYN and didn't push her to wait. I did not go into labor naturally before then, even though it seems that our son was ready to come out. BUT I did go into labor the morning of the c-section. So I guess we should trust the doctors, but also trust our babies/bodies to know when to start labor.

So I agree with your hesitations about induction, but I also would trust the doctor to some degree and know that there could be good reason to induce labor.

You could also try to naturally induce labor (though it is questionable whether these work or not) or ask for gentle methods to induce labor (i.e. not just pitocin). Wanting to go into labor can sometimes induce labor itself.

Good luck and keep us posted when you can!

Good luck, hope it all goes well!

I was also to be induced at 38 weeks but I developed severe pre-eclampsia at 34 weeks 1 day and had to have an emergency c-section.