Theo went 18 days over his "due date" my placenta was 100% healthy (wish Id got OH to take pictures of it actually) Theo was healthy and continues to be. My birth was easy and I had him at home.
TBH I was really nervous about going this far over his due date but he was closely monitored, scans showed no problems, his traces were text book perfect and now I would have no issue with going this far with another as long as baby was VERY closely monitored and there was no concern over babys health or placenta condition.
Thinking back my first scan put me an entire two weeks further forward than I had worked out, this would have meant I ovulated incredibly early in a cycle (between CD5 and CD7) and now I think that the scan was out and Theo actually arrived well within the "normal" 37-42 week range.

Oh and I argued my head off....infact I changed hospital on the friday before he was born because I was NOT happy with the quality of care we were getting, particularly that they had made some mistakes and were getting really stupid about checking by scan and trace trying to push me really hard at an induction/section even though the consultant admitted there was no REASON to do it.
I ended up having a midwife come to visit me at home on the Monday (17days over, the day I was going in to be induced) who rang the hospital and did the fighting for me as I was contracting properly when she came to see me, that was pretty amazing

i was going to opt for daily monitoring instead of induction but Kian arrived at +13 days so it never became an issue.

I'm sorry to hear u had some issues when u posted on this subject before

you might b interested in this:

http://www.drmomma.org/2009/06/lie-o...-why-your.html

I went to a reflexologist and she showed me the points so i could show john.

I tried looking online to see if there was a desciption i could link here but i cant find one. DONT do these before 40 weeks! Also i'm not trained and these descriptions are gonna be a bit confusing so dont hold me to it. Having said that the reflexology woman said if you press the wrong bit you cant do any harm assuming your due and not trying to use them prematurely.

Your cervix is on the inside of your heel. You rub your thumb in a diagnol line from the back of your inside arch to the bottom of your achilles tendon. The diagonal line should run about half way between your inner ankle bone and the back of your foot. The more 'ready' you are to give birth the more tender it gets - It might not hurt at first but the more you do it the more it hurts!!

The uterus is linked to the top of your foot. You rub ur thumb firmly from under your outer ankle bone around your ankle to what feels like an indentation just infront of your ankle, then rub your thumb over the top of your foot at the crease where it joins ur leg - you should find an indentation in the middle of the top of your foot. Follow the line round until you find the indentation infront of your inner ankle. Basically you should rub that line joining the indentations repetatively. The more 'lumpy, gnarley' it feels the more close to birth you are.

fab story - I think im in a similar situation re:due date. I hope I can be as strong as you if this is the route we decide to go down and the hospital starts being difficult. I feel very lucky to have a midwife who seems so laid back about it all. I just hope the consultant doesnt do that 'gate keeper' thing they always do. One of my freinds who is due around the same time asked for expectant minitoring and the consultant's reponse was 'yeah, thats not gonna happen'.....erm why?? She's now booked in for induction but she says she might still fight it

The consultant I saw when I changed hospitals was really good, he came and sat in at the scan and looked at the trace, read all my history and actually LISTENED to me and he was actually very supportive. I think he realised that I wasnt just being stubborn and disregarding my babies health (as some seem to think!) but that I wanted the absolute best for baby and for my own health hence why I was trying to get the monitoring to be sure baby was fine...even though with everyone I stressed that if at any point there was ANY doubt about baby I would immediately agree to induction/section some still treated me with distaste. I cant figure out why really because a non induced birth is better for baby if induction can be SAFELY avoided.
I mean I had my moments, Femme Im sure will remember that I had a bit of a meltdown at one point! However Im really glad things happened the way they did, I know I did everything possible to ensure baby was still healthy and happy in there and at no point was he put at risk for "my benefit".

Can i steal your consultant ;0)

I think theres a slight attitude in the medical profession that if you dont fit thier timetable youre just being difficult. Some of the professionals dont seem to be able to see beyond the negative stats about increased still birth to the postiive stats about less c-sctions, less intervention, less pain relief etc etc. Yes there are negs but then there are postiives for both mother and baby too and surely as a parent its your right to weigh those up and decide what you want to do. Its not like induction doesnt have its negatives too, its just that the negatives of induction are mostly for the mother and baby and not for the hospital.

Monitoring takes more time on thier part and is seen as 'hassel', even though the outcomes (Assuming the placenta stays healthy) are more likely to be positive if you go into labor naturally rather than be induced. Its like theyre ok for you to have to deal with the hassel of being induced but theyre not ok for them to have to see you regualrly for a week.

I think they just like timetabling things and induction means they know within 48 hrs they will have got you off the list and into post natal care - maybe they like the certainty??

Oh ps the hippy midwife I liked told me the night before La was born (when they were already inducing me) that reflexology and acupuncture are better than anything for getting stubborn babies out! Bit late to tell me, but it sounds like you have it in hand.

PS Thanks for saying that about my picture!

I managed to persuade my consultant to give me the full 2 weeks over when I was pregnant with Indie. He agreed to let me go 15 days over before he induced me (I was already high risk) Luckily I went into labour at 14 days over and had her on my induction date around the same time they would be starting me off. Same with Lylah, I was more high risk with her but I asked for 14 days but they said 12 due to me being high risk, I had her on day 11 lol.
With Indie my placenta was starting to calcify but would have been on with another few days, with Lylah I had a retained placenta, it came out in chunks and would not have gone another day it was calcified so much. But I was never sure of dates with her because I hadn't had a period since having Indie.
They never offered scans unless I was to go over 15 days so no one was to know so I think you should do what you wish but ask for scans to check the placenta, I dread to think what would have happened if I was induced on day 12 with Lylah and she didnt come out til day 13 or 14 or whatever. xxx