Going past your due date
What actually changes, and when.
A due date is a midpoint, not a deadline. Most first labors start after it. What changes with time is a gradual rise in the risk of stillbirth and of problems with the placenta, which is why induction is discussed at some point after 41 weeks in most practices.
Across 34 trials and more than 21,000 women, a policy of induction at or beyond 37 weeks reduced perinatal death and reduced cesarean delivery compared with waiting. That is the strongest evidence in favour of not waiting indefinitely.
Two things to establish"How was my due date set, by scan or by dates?" and "What is being offered at 41 weeks and what at 42, and what is the monitoring plan if I choose to wait?" Both are reasonable and both change the conversation.
Where this comes from:
185. Middleton P, Shepherd E, Morris J, Crowther CA, Gomersall JC. Induction of labour at or beyond 37 weeks' gestation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;(7):CD004945.
Covered in the essential classes
Continue
More from The rest of pregnancy
This page is educational. It supports the conversation with your own clinicians. It is not consent to any treatment, and it cannot assess you. If you are worried about a symptom now, see urgent warning signs.