I was just wondering how many 37,38-weekers do you encounter in the NICU due to organ immaturity (RDS, etc).
**I am adding my subsequent question further down in the thread here, so that it will be seen:
The reason I ask is that there is a bit of controversy regarding early (pre-38 weeks) self-induction inquiries. We are concerned that these mothers do not truly comprehend the gravity of the possible implications for their babies. Are we over-reacting? My point is that in contradiction to the popular belief that early induction won't work unless and until your body and baby are ready, is that if you are unknowingly at risk for preterm labor, this could provoke a pre"mature" birth. Is this a valid concern?
I just have to respond and say that a normal pregnancy is considered 40 weeks plus 2 and minus 3. That makes week 37-42 within the normal range of delivery. But that´s when the baby starts the delivery and not us.
I see babies born at week 37 needing cpap, but i don´t think that is becaurse they are born early. They usually have a long and hard labour/delivery behind them. Inductions are rarely done here in Sweden (at least not if everything is OK with mum and baby) before 42 weeks.
We do a lot of inductions at my hospital and many of them are before 38 weeks as well. I believe most of them are for convenience reasons only... for the Mom or for the physician. I'm still surprised that this trend continues.
I am of the opinion that the baby knows when he/she is ready to begin laboring and that inductions should be for post-dates or in the case of another fetal-maternal problem. Not for the convenience factor.
In my hospital they almost never do inductions before 42 weeks unless the mum is sick or something. They dont do elective C-sections before 39 weeks either.
A medical student in my hospital did a reserch project on this a few years ago and found out that kids from 37-39 weeks were tvice as likely to get wet lungs or RDS after elective C-section than kids after 39 weeks. So they changed the policy and the Neonatologists get Quite angry if the OBGYN´s do elective C- sections before 39 weeks. They are a pretty scary bunch of men so it is almost newer done.
I constantly have this problem on mothering message boards. People are so used to hearing "oh, I had a 34-36w and they were perfectly fine", so they feel free to either ignore bedrest orders or encourage labor at 33+ weeks.
I try to explain to them that there are always risks and my 34w needed a vent and nearly 3 weeks in the NICU, so it's always a risk to have a preterm baby.
I think it's just a lot of complacency because there have been so many advances. Even though my 35w only needed 24 hours of NICU stay for glucose stabilization, I would have wished we could have avoided it all together and her not have to have any IVs and be away from me that first day of her life.
Sweden
87 Posts
I just have to respond and say that a normal pregnancy is considered 40 weeks plus 2 and minus 3. That makes week 37-42 within the normal range of delivery. But that´s when the baby starts the delivery and not us.
I see babies born at week 37 needing cpap, but i don´t think that is becaurse they are born early. They usually have a long and hard labour/delivery behind them. Inductions are rarely done here in Sweden (at least not if everything is OK with mum and baby) before 42 weeks.