Spin off: Labor starting on it's own....isn't it impossible

[mommajewels]

My now 19 year old brother was born via induction at 43 weeks, and my mom was definitely right on her dates due to the fact my dad was an OTR truck driver, gone for sometimes 2 mos at a time, so the dates they DTD were VERY spread out. I've heard the story a billion times.. they DTD & then didnt DTD again until a little over a month later which is when they conceived. After that time they didnt DTD again until SEVEN weeks later. Throughout pregnancy everything matched up w/ the date she knew she had conceived. So she definitely knew her dates.
Her EDD came & went.. she was refusing to be induced, 19 years ago the risks weren't that known. At 43 weeks she noticed his movement had greatly decreased so she went in to be checked and it became obvious he was in distress. No labor on her end, what so ever. When he was born he was only 8lbs 2ozs but compared to her previous children which ranged from 5lbs 9ozs (yes, term) and 6lbs 14ozs, he was "big." His skin was dry & cracked from his lanugo falling off in utero & the fluids drying him out. The placenta was calcified and according to her looked like rotten hamburger.
She never experienced even a twinge of labor.

You'd think the body would eventually do what its supposed to... but who knows for sure; and who knows if it would do it before baby was in grave danger, like in my mothers case.

[aidensmom122107]

Originally Posted by MamaNae I wouldn't think that they would NEVER go into labor...but I think in the case of an oxytocin deficiency they'd probably eventually die? Right? Without modern medicine. I dunno...

I would think that too. My brother was overdue and when my mom did eventually go into labor, her placenta was badly deteriorated and my brother was "starving" I suppose if labor didn't start, your baby would die and then maybe a miscarriage would start?

If the miscarriage didn't start either, I guess you'd end up like the Russian lady.

[Dialectica]

Not expelling a fetus that should have been miscarried does happen - as that story about the calcified fetus demonstrates perfectly (how interesting is that from a scientific point of view!?!).

I am not sure if it is possible to never go into labor with a healthy baby. Perhaps, but it must be extremely rare. With modern medicine, I think we will never be able to find out for sure. Plenty of women go "overdue" and even get to 44 weeks. I gave birth at 42 weeks and a few days with my son, and I have very regular period. I also know a woman who went to 44 weeks and had a perfectly healthy baby, with no signs of placental abruption. He was covered in vernix, as was my son.

[Fire In The Disco]

I would think it's totally possible with the way hormones work in labor and how hormones can get totally out of whack, but I also think that it's more likely nowadays for hormones to be crazy thanks to the chemical and animal hormone laden lifestyles many people live. But hormonal imbalances that occur naturally are definitely not unheard of!!

[Fire In The Disco]

double post.

[lanwenyi]

Originally Posted by mommajewels You'd think the body would eventually do what its supposed to... but who knows for sure; and who knows if it would do it before baby was in grave danger, like in my mothers case.

That was my son's case too. I'd had a FULL u/s the day b4 DS was born. My AFI was 12.8. The next day (abt 17 hrs later), I went in for my 41 wk appt (at 40 wks 5 days). They did a quick AFI (not expecting anything b/c of the previous day's scan) and found an AFI of 1.3 and DS in severe distress. I had no signs of going into labor and he had maybe 2-3 hours left to live. If I had not had an appt that morning, DS would not be here today. My water had not broken (they broke the amniotic sac in labor in order to do an amnio-infusion to keep DS alive). It was later determined that the placenta had shut down (also near complete calcification). Back in the days before medically necessary induction, I would have delivered a still-born baby whenever my body finally got around to going into labor.

I think that in the vast majority of cases, a woman's body will go into labor eventually (I'd say "all", but I know there will always be at least 1 exception), but there would be more full-term still-born births.

Not all inductions are medically necessary. I was induced with both kids. DD's was not "necessary"; they just had a policy of inducing at 41 wks and I didn't know I could say "no". DS's was definitely necessary and I am thankful that they were able to induce (at several points, they would have preferred to c/s me, but I was opposed, so they did ALL they could to prevent that and were able to, which a nurse and the doc admitted to being surprised about).

[syfitz]

I think it's possible to not go into labor at all, but I think the baby would die at some point. With my first the placenta started to calcify and I had very little fluid at 37 weeks and had to be induced because she was in distress. They had a really hard time inducing me (took forever and lots of meds).

[VeryChicBaby]

My DD was due on Feb 14th, I gave birth to her on March 19th when the Doc finally agreed to induce her. My body has never gone into labor on its own.. ALL of my 4 were induced because of that..

[BNC]

I had an early u/s with kate and was very sure of my dates - down to the date of conception. I was induced at 42w1day and was not effaced or dilated at all. I hadnt even started the labor process.

With Kara, I went to 41w 6 days before inducing with acupuncture, but I had not started labor at that point either.

[smashncakes]

I was induced with DS at 42 weeks 5 days, had him at 42w6d. I actually went into preterm labor with him at 24 weeks and they managed to stop the labor, but I was still 1cm dilated & 10-20% effaced when I was sent home a few days later. About a week after that, I went into preterm labor again and after another few days in the hospital, I was sent home on meds to keep me from going into labor. Doc slowly began reducing dosage on the meds when I was 33.5 weeks and I was completely off of them by 36 weeks. And then....nothing happened. Not sure if the medication stayed in my system for longer than predicted or what, but when I went in for a NST at 42 weeks 5 days, he was having a lot of decreased movement and his heart rate was fluctuating a lot more than the doc was comfortable with. They never checked my fluid levels, but during the whole course of being induced, having my water broke, and pushing him out, it was discovered that there was practically no fluid at all.