My positive induction story at 42+ weeks (with epidural)
In this blog I share my positive induction birth story at 42 weeks and 2 days pregnant with epidural. I share my experience with a postterm pregnancy and my tips on how you can perceive your birth as positive even when things don’t work out as planned.
42 weeks and 2 days pregnant
First things first: Why did I choose to wait for an induction for so long? In the Netherlands where I live inductions are made at 42 weeks with uncomplicated pregnancies. From 41 weeks on you can choose to have an induction without a medical reason. First we planned on following this recommendation.
When it came to the point that I should be induced I decided to wait two more days. That way I could give my body time to prepare for birth on its own. To this day I am unsure if the due date should have been a little later. My cycles were very regular and longer than 28 days. I was surprised that the due date was picked so early.
Is it safe to wait until 42 weeks to get induced?
To add a disclaimer at this point: I am no medical professional. Make sure to consult your care provider about your personal situation.
A study evaluated the risks of stillbirth in loger pregnancies. Where you have a risk for stillbirth of 0.06% at 41 weeks your risk increases to 0.11% at 42 weeks. Even if that sounds scary, the risk stays very small either way.
Stillbirths aren’t the only risk when it comes to the length of your pregnancy. Infant death is another great risk to consider. The same research suggests that infant death rates are highest (among full term pregnancies) with 37 weeks. They are lowest with 39 weeks. They increase slightly with every week up to 42 weeks, but again the differences there are very very small.
Because inductions in most countries are recommended no later than 42 weeks there is very little data for longer pregnancies. In the time of my grandmother there were no ultrasounds to determine the due date. Therefore no one knew exactly if their calculations were right. If the baby didn’t come you simply waited until it did. From this time I know stories of women being pregnant for over 43 weeks! Something that rarely happens in the western world today. But even with ultrasounds, due dates are an estimate. That’s why there is such a large window where babies are born.
Can I decide to not induce when my care provider recommends me to?
The simple answer to this questions is: Yes, you can. Inductions are not always conducted with a medical reason. Think about reasons like ‘a big baby’. I even heard stories of care providers wanting the baby to be born bore their vacations. Ask for the reasons for an induction and also for the risk if you decide to wait a little longer. Good care providers will be willing to provide you numbers that you can use to base your decision making on. Inductions are as everything a personal decision. No one can make you do anything if it comes to your birth.
Of course if you have a medical reason for induction your baby or you might be at risk if you do nothing. But induction carries its own risks too. According to a study where they observed more than 450 thousand briths in 15 year time they found that there were several risks to induction. Baby’s born through induction had a bigger risk on birth trauma (f.e. broken bones), respiratory issues and even the need of resuscitation. Moms were more likely to experience instrumental birth, episiotomy, asked more often for an epidural and had more often heavy postpartum bleeding.
Was it easy for us to wait 42+2 before getting induced?
Of course it was not easy at all! No one likes to be a round wale for so long. The last weeks of my pregnancy were nerve racking. When we were at 40 or even 41 two weeks people asked us every day if the baby was here. Pro tip if you are at the other end of this: never do this to expecting parents, just please don’t ask! My poor husband had to answer again and again that baby was not here yet and that he would let people know. The funny thing about those annoying well meant questions was that they got more and more quiet the further we got. No one dared to ask for a fourth of fifth time so far away from our due date.
Another struggle was that we expected our baby right at the end of 2023. So even if it only was 2.5 weeks after the due date it felt like the due date was far away somewhere in a past year (which it was lol). It seemed as if the whole village, our church, family and even friends of family were holding their breath, waiting on our baby to be born.
We went to the hospital almost every day leading up to the induction in order to make sure that baby was still doing well. That was inconvenient but gave me the certainty that everything was alright, so we actually never worried too much about our baby not being safe in my womb.
Contractions prior to labor
Since week 32 I had bracks and hicks contractions pretty often. From week 39 on I had real contractions every now and then. I even had false labor twice with contractions every 5 minutes for some ours just for it to stop again. We all were so sure that baby would come soon. But she didn’t.
What I did to induce labor before 42 weeks
Honestly I feel like I did it all. Here is a list of things that I did to get labor going before 42 weeks:
- Eating dates (Fun facts, I ate 4 kg of dates from 37 to 42 weeks!)
- Drinking the tea’s… All of them
- Making walks
- Taking rest
- We even did the thing (at 42 weeks!!)
- Nipple stimulation
- Miles circuit
- Membrane sweep (which didn’t work due to no dilation)
- All kinds of exercises including the one were you hang with your head down from your sofa
- Limiting sugar intake from 37 weeks unwards
- Taking warm baths
- …
Let’s state the obvious: nothing worked for me. If you remain sitting there with your huge belly and there are 100 comments under the youtube video of everybody that went into labor immediately after doing this or that, know: you are not alone.
My positive induction story: the morning of the induction
We finally decided to go in for an induction at 42 weeks and 2 days. In the morning of the induction I woke up at 6 a.m. with mild contractions every 5 minutes. We decided to go to the hospital anyways because even if the contractions continued they could have been false labor again.
We packed everything into the car and left our home knowing that we would return with the three of us. I can remember being so nervous about forgetting something or coming too late for absolutely no reason. Obviously they had everything at hand we needed for our birth and in all the weeks we waited for it to happen we prepared well enough to take all things we wanted with us.
My positive induction story: from 0 to 3 cm dilation balloon
After listening to our babies hart beat for a while the induction started with the foley balloon. This is a tiny balloon they insert into your womb in order to manually bring pressure unto your cervix to start contractions. It was around 10 a.m. that they placed the balloon. I immediately had regular contractions every 4 to 5 minutes that were actually doing something. A little after 12 a.m. the balloon could be taken out and I was dilated to 3 cm! I worked through the contractions in the bath tub and it actually felt pretty nice that it was progressing so good.
My positive induction story: breaking the water
We waited some hours but even if I continued having contractions every 4 minutes they were not strong enough to further efface or dilate my cervix. The midwife suggested to break my waters. I asked to wait a little and finally my husband and I agreed to do it around 2.30 p.m. Unfortunately it didn’t have an effect on effacement or dilation. My OB-GYN told me afterwards that the chances are pretty low that breaking your waters will do much in your first labor. However she said that you have good chances that it works in your second or subsequent labors.
Since my baby had pooped into the amniotic fluid (which is very common at 42 weeks into your pregnancy) losing amniotic fluid constantly was not a breeze for sure. The midwife also didn’t let me go into the bath tub anymore due to infection risks, even though my contraction pain increased due to the water breaking.
All in all I would do it again for my second birth but probably not for my first, knowing what I know now.
My positive induction story: oxytocin
The whole afternoon and evening I had contractions every 3 to 4 minutes I could not talk through but they unfortunately did not change anything about my cervix. At 8.30 the midwife (another one from the night shift) started the oxytocin. At first my contractions increased and I reached 4 cm within the next hour but afterwards nothing happened.
My positive induction story: the epidural
At 10 p.m. I informed about my possibilities for pain management. At this point I was exhausted and in a lot of pain. I think it was not so much that I could not handle the pain but more that it seemed so useless to feel that way without a change in effacement and dilation. Because I wanted to have an as natural as possible labor we decided to wait a little longer. As nothing happened to my cervix at 12 p.m. I asked to get an epidural.
At first I was very sad that I needed the epidural because I wanted a natural labor so badly. I knew the possible risks of an epidural and was afraid that after it more and more interventions would be necessary due to its possible complications. Looking back it definitely was a very good choice in our specific situation to get the epidural.
At 1.30 a.m. I finally got the epidural and o boy what did I feel good. My husband and I have to laugh about the change I went through within a few minutes. I was so happy that the pain of the contractions went away that I said all kind of silly stuff to the doctor and nurse that gave me the epidural like: you must love your job, or which kind of education did you follow to come here, sounds really interesting? We had a nice chat and I even got a water ice right there in the anesthesiology.
My positive induction story: 10 cm!
At 2 a.m. I was up in the labor and delivery department again and already dilated to 5 cm. I needed a little higher dose of oxytocin because my contractions got a little weaker due to the epidural but I am very grateful that this was the only intervention that was necessary for the rest of my labor. My own and my baby’s vitals stayed stable and my contractions didn’t weaken after that.
Even if I didn’t feel the pain of the contractions I could feel the pressure and the very frequent movement of my baby. Therefore I couldn’t sleep but at least I got some rest. At around 4.30 a.m. I really felt like that baby was about to drop out of me. I was even unsure (and I still am to this day) if I pooped myself there. Since the pressure was high I called the midwife and they told me that it probably would still take a while until I got to 10 cm. But low and behold, they measured it and I was ready to push.
My positive induction story: pushing
They lowered the dose of the epidural to a minimum in order for me to feel the contractions and we waited almost an hour until I felt the contractions clearly and could push effectively.
I ended up pushing for 1.5 hours until baby girls was here. Even though the epidural wore off a little and I felt the contractions clearly it was very exiting that I was finally able to push. The end was in sight!
The midwife told me to push at my back, holding my legs up. It didn’t feel good for me also knowing that this is the worst labor position of all. After a few pushes I turned on all 4s and pushed for 20 minutes in this position. Finally I layed on my side. That was the position my baby was born in and was definitely the most productive of all for me.
Somewhere towards the end I heard that the heartbeat of baby was not as stable as it used to be. They called the doctor but fortunately baby girl was born before they needed to use any instruments to help me bring her to the world.
At 7 a.m. to the dot our daughter Hannah was born. We had a beautiful golden hour with her that was about 2.5 hours long due to the night shift changing to the dayshift at that time. After that time baby girl was weight and I was stitched.
Labor positions that helped me a lot with an induction
For me the birth ball really worked wonders to deal with labor pain. My husband motivated me to change position every 30 minutes or so. I labored on all 4s, laying on my side to rest, standing, walking and sitting on the birth ball.
In my early labor I was in the bath tub which helped me a lot. I also tried to take a shower later on but that was just not the thing for me. I followed the advice to not lay on your back in labor even after I got the epidural. In my birth class I learned about the peanut brith ball. I requested one and they helped me to lay on the side with that ball between my legs making sure to be open and don’t work against gravity.
Our birth plan vs. reality
My husband and I planned for a natural home birth with as little interventions as possible. We ended up going into the hospital, getting induced and having an epidural. So I think it is not an understatement if I say that things didn’t exactly went as planned. Here are my tips to make a birth plan that actually helps you no matter which birth you end up having.
- Write a birth plan that has sections for different scenarios (home, hospital, instrumental birth, c-section)
- Write down things you actually can control rather than things you can’t control (as little people as possible in the room vs vaginal birth)
- You cannot plan birth, don’t have unrealistic expectations
Make sure that your care provider actually receives your birth plan when you go to a hospital to give birth. That may sound obvious but many birth plans never make it to the midwifes and doctors! Share your plan with your partner as well. Make sure that you are on one page before your birth. That way your birth partner will be able to advocate for your wishes even if you are not able to do that yourself.
Tips on how to look back positively on your birth
Even though my birth was very different from what we had in mind I feel like I have a very positive induction story. I attribute this to two main factors:
- My birth plan and my expectations were adjusted to different scenarios
- My husband and I educated ourselves prior to birth which made us able to feel as we would choose things rather than things happen to us
There was no specific section in my birth plan for an induction. But in case that we would have to go to the hospital I wrote several things down for this specific setting. One of them was that I wanted as little cervical checks as possible. The midwifes therefore always asked me first if I was okey with a cervical check or if I wanted to wait a little longer rather than just doing it. Even those little things made me feel that people listened to us and respected our preferences even if birth went differently than planned.
Because I educated myself on birth and (as the days went closer to the induction) about induction as well I knew what I could expect. When interventions came up my husband and I were aware of their function and we felt like we made choices rather than something was being done to us. I think the level of perceived control in a situation really influences your perceived satisfaction. Or in other words: if you feel like you choose yourself, you are more happy with the outcome.
So my tips for you are:
- Make your up your mind and expectations for different scenarios rather than one scenario
- Educate yourself and your birth partner in order to feel control throughout your birth
What I learned form my positive induction story
Going into the whole parenting thing I was thinking that if I do everything a certain way, that I could determine the outcome. I think it was a good lesson for me early on in my parenting journey that even if I do my best to achieve a certain outcome it can go differently. And that doesn’t even have to be a bad thing!
I want to encourage you to trust in the process of bringing new life into this world. It might go easily and exactly as you wanted it to go or it might be different than what you expected. Either way you will come out of the situation with a brand new baby and a lot to learn from. I wish you Gods blessing with your birth, you got this mama!
What is your experience with induction? Do you have thoughts about it or questions? Please leave a comment. I would love to read all about it!
