Need advice please
Hi ladies, I am a second time mum and my due date is today. They wanted to induce me today which I said no to and also turned down a sweep. I feel like your body and baby will know when it’s ready and I don’t want to force anything.
However they keep saying babies stomach is consistently measuring over 92nd percentile and are worried about shoulder dystocia during a natural delivery which would then likely be a medical emergency. They have ruled out diabetes but want to keep monitoring me for preeclampsia. ( I don’t have it but they are worried I might end up with it soon).
I gave birth naturally with my first although at 3cm dilated they still put me on a hormone drip and was so painful I am reluctant to have any intervention this time.
However of course if my baby and my health is at risk then I will need either a planned cesarean or induction.
Just interested for opinions or if anyone else has been through this? I have a midwife appointment in two days where I feel I might agree to a sweep only at least and see how I go.
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Gosh this a tough one! I think in your position I’d maybe accept a sweep in hopes of that sending me into labour and avoiding an induction but you could naturally go into labour without one 🥲x
I had this with my first, he was consistently measuring 99th percentile and I was told he would be over 11lb at birth and scaremongered into accepting loads of interventions from 37 weeks because they didn't want me to deliver naturally for the same reasons. Eventually he was born at 39 weeks by emergency c section following the most traumatic induced labour, a perfectly normal 7lb11oz. 🙄 The margin for error on growth scans is HUGE and I wish this was talked about more. Baby this time is measuring 96th percentile and I've literally told them to F off and that I won't be making any decisions based on growth scans. Also, it's worth saying the only case of shoulder dystocia I know of, the baby was just under 6lb, so it's not always big babies that get stuck, they can get stuck at any size! Lots of women birth bigger babies! After my horrendous experience I always try to warn people off making decisions based on these scans because they can honestly be so wrong x
My baby was predicted at 10lb 4oz at 37+5. I’ve turned down all intervention and am going ahead with my homebirth.
Sweeps/ inductions are the worst thing you can do for a big baby. They need to be in the right position and need time to find it - forcing them before they’re ready increases the risk of shoulder dystocia because they’re very likely to be malpositioned. I accepted sweeps with my first born at 9lb 11 he was back to back and awfully positioned and I needed forceps as he couldn’t decend himself in the position he was in.
I’d highly recommend looking at the big baby trial and the findings (shoulder dystocia is equally likely in average sized and small babies) and Sara Wickhams thoughts on big babies.
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