Induced or natural birth

Hello! I am 22 weeks and was told I wouldn't be allowed to go further than 38 weeks. When I asked they said that is pretty standard as other complications could arise the closer to 40 weeks you get (can't remember what though). I was then told last week I could be induced earlier than 38 weeks depending what my blood pressure is doing (I had high BP controlled with meds before I was pregnant). Hopefully little man won't decide to show up by himself too early before this good luck with the rest of the pregnancy xx

Iv always been told that all diabetics will be induced (or advised) at 38-39 weeks ... I was induced at 38 weeks with my son I had no complications he wasn't large or anything either ... This time I am 24 weeks and have been told I can go to 39 weeks providing baby is well for size etc
Iv been having hypos throughout too they're massively better but at some stages I needed ambulances out as I was passed out ... I had a scare last week my bump was too big but midwife re measures me yest and told me that it's measuring right on track the docs did send me into a panick about lows but now iv talked to different diabetic nurses etc I know that lows arnt as bad as high ... Mine now are always manageable and I can function ... I test v regularly so I spot them early and take action.. In last few days my libre meter has come and iv had no lows ! If u havnt already is def recommend this I'm so glad others told me about it X

HammyBammy said:

Hello all,

I am 16 weeks and all is fine apart from quite a few hypos! I was wondering if you could share your stories/experiences on if you went full term or were induced early. I know diabetics have a higher percentage of being induced early, but just wondered what the chances would be of going to 40 weeks

Thanks .

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Hi @HammyBammy

I was induced with my last pregnancy. I dont respond well to the inductions drugs, but I still gave birth naturally and my son was fine I dislike induction but for me the risks of going to,term aren't worth it. My control,was excellent but I was very aware of the risks as the third trimester progressed, and a chat with my OB put my mind at rest - or rather, reassured me that the advice to induce is wise.

There are a number of other threads here discussing this, but the decision has to be yours alone (with the advice of your team obviously). For me, it was simple. I couldn't have coped with it if I'd hung on hoping to go to,term and then something had gone wrong. Even if the risk of stillbirth was tiny, I wouldnt want to take it.

Sorry @HammyBammy , only seen your question now. I had a baby son last August and was told pretty much straight from the start that I'd be induced between 37 and 38 weeks due to T1.
I had an easy peasy pregnancy and very much enjoyed it and started doing some research into the possible complications etc if you went on to have a natural birth and couldn't really find any up to date research or facts/figures. I had a lot of discussions about it with my obs at the time and she was thankfully very supportive of my decision to basically just sit and wait until "baby made a move" at the end. I always said I'd be okay with induction if baby needs to come out due to issues but said I don't want to be induced if everything is going normal, sugars are fine and I'm feeling okay.
Towards the very end (40+ weeks) I went to hospital daily to get monitored with CTGs and scans and I didn't mind - I ended up with contractions at 40+2 and had baby at 40+4 with an emergency section under GA. This unfortunate end to my pregnancy didn't have anything to do with the diabetes though but with the fact that baby was sitting in a slightly awkward position and would've never been able to actually come out. I found out afterwards that everything was fine and my placenta looked perfect.
I do hope if I am lucky enough to be pregnant again at some point that I can do the same again and go all natural to the end and hopefully am able to have a normal birth as well. Good luck to you! xx

Hello, I was admitted to hospital at 33+4 for steroid injections for baby's lungs as they was inducing me at 34 weeks, as my control in the last trimester wasn't that great, and I had a lot of excess fluid and my baby was already measuring big, so they wanted her out! (mega scary) They induced me on Sunday morning with the pessary, and contractions pretty much started after an hour. However, by 6am Monday morning I hadn't dilated at all and that's when they took me in for an Emergency C section. I gave my birth to my Daughter at 34+1 and she weighed 6lbs 8oz she had some issues with her breathing at birth, but she was then breathing on her own the morning after. The only issue was she struggled with feeds and had to be tube fed for just over 2 weeks. However, she is now a healthy (and noisy lol) 10 month old!

Good Luck xx

I had exactly the same, I'm t1 and hba1c was 6.0 throughout the whole of my pregnancy but I had extra fluid due to diabetes and baby measuring two weeks ahead. I got admitted as having random hypos and i ended up having an emergency c section at 35 weeks as his heart rate dropped and couldn't feel him move. When he was born he went straight to neonatal and was on cpap for two days then he had to stay in for a further two weeks due to feeding via his nose etc. All good in the end and he is now a healthy (very active) 3 year old ️ xxx

Jorgie123 said:

I had exactly the same, I'm t1 and hba1c was 6.0 throughout the whole of my pregnancy but I had extra fluid due to diabetes and baby measuring two weeks ahead. I got admitted as having random hypos and i ended up having an emergency c section at 35 weeks as his heart rate dropped and couldn't feel him move. When he was born he went straight to neonatal and was on cpap for two days then he had to stay in for a further two weeks due to feeding via his nose etc. All good in the end and he is now a healthy (very active) 3 year old

️ xxx

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How was his development during his first year?? Ellie is 1 at the start of may and she is quite slow....no desire to try crawling yet, or even pulling herself up! x

Just thought I'd share my experience with you too. Like @kitty55, I wanted to know evidence behind inductions at 38 weeks. I asked my consultant about this and even she struggled to find any up to date evidence! We agreed that I would be induced if I had symptoms that merited it and not merely just because I was diabetic.
Unfortunately my 36 week growth scan showed the baby had grown more than expected and my amniotic fluid had increased in volume. Even at this stage my consultant agreed just to monitor and scan again the following week. I spent that night struggling with low blood sugars, I had a lot of lucozade and little insulin and that only just kept the hypos at bay.
My consultant made the decision the following day to induce me, she admitted herself, this was as much based on gut feeling as it was evidence. I was given steroids over a 24 hour period then started the induction process. I only required the first pessary and that started me dilating. They then broke my waters and from there on my labour progressed with out any further intervention required. I had a healthy baby girl born at 36 + 4 and 48 hours after the induction was started and weighing 7lbs 5. She had no problems with her breathing. She required a short time in neonatal to treat jaundice but this resolved quickly.

Hope your pregnancy is going well and all the best with the labor. Just remember your body is designed to do this and it can do it!!

@4lgd said:

Just thought I'd share my experience with you too. Like @kitty55, I wanted to know evidence behind inductions at 38 weeks. I asked my consultant about this and even she struggled to find any up to date evidence! We agreed that I would be induced if I had symptoms that merited it and not merely just because I was diabetic.

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I was in EXACTLY the same situation of not finding any up to date facts and research and my obs confirmed that all research is about 10 years old so agreed with me to go all natural unless I require an induction for medical reasons. Funny enough my diabetes team was terrified and told me I was the first diabetic at our clinic that hasn't got induced (I have no idea how long my team is treating diabetics in pregnancy already but I assume quite a while) . Glad your induction went well!