19/01/2024
🟣 D U E D A T E S 🟣
Did you know that only 5% of babies are born on their due date? And that 10% of women are still pregnant at 42 weeks?
This is an area I am particularly passionate about as has been something that was a big impact in all my pregnancies, but in particular my most recent with Imogen.
Imogen was a surprise so I didnt know exactly when she was conceived, however when I went to my 12 week scan, I was expecting to be 11-11.5 weeks, and I was dated as 12+6. This immediately brought my due date forward and no matter how many times I discussed and raised I didn’t feel this was right, I was advised there were no process for this date to be changed 🙄
What then followed from my 20 week scan was concerns for the baby’s size. Despite my pleas that I think my date was ahead, I was booked for biweekly scans, on occasions with a consultant and each time faced difficult and challenging comments.
As the weeks went by, Imogen’s growth continued to go up and follow the 3rd/10th centiles - however because these were low I continued to receive scans and concerns.
My main thought was surely as long as the baby is growing well does it really matter what centile they are on? 🤷🏻♀️
What was also interesting is as sooooon as one scan was above the 10th centile - that was considered ok and I didn’t need anymore scans, despite the previous weeks and weeks of concerns 🤦🏻♀️
I was fortunate to have a supportive midwife who understood my determination on my dates being wrong (we used to joke that I would go ‘overdue’ and this would be my biggest baby yet!) but this still didn’t prevent me being offered induction at 40+7 due to hospital policy. I declined induction on 3 separate occasions and as you can see, each time it was noted down and I was advised on stillbirth increases, despite my pleas that I didn’t actually feel I was ‘overdue’ 🙈
I was a day shy of 42 weeks when Imogen was born - a 55 minute labour at home with no intervention or pain relief, weighing a healthy and chunky 9lb 4oz (my previous babies were both induced at 40+5 and 40+4 weighting 7lb 13oz and 7lb 3oz.)
Now I can’t say that if I’d not been induced previously the girls would have been any bigger or my labours would have been more/less successful. However in my situation, there has been a clear difference in allowing the baby to arrive when they were ready rather than be focussed just on dates. And having the confidence in my own body and knowledge of processes through hypnobirthing gave me the power and confidence in those challenging conversations where stillbirth was mentioned. I was aware of what my alternatives to induction were, and was able to advocate for myself to make my birth my choice 💪🏼🙌🏼
Above are some of the affirmations I used throughout my pregnancy and particularly in those final couple of weeks. Knowledge is power and why I am so keen to support you through my hypnobirthing courses 🥰💪🏼💜
