When a woman who has just found out that she is pregnant goes to the gynecologist, one of the first questions he usually asks about is when does it come out. It is about the probable delivery datewhich is calculated by adding 280 days or 40 weeks to the date of the last menstruation, as indicated by Emma Salado, midwife and founder of Emmatronapresent in the Motherick maternity services directory (motherick.com).
“There are several rules to calculate it such as Neagle’s rule or in the consultation we use the obstetric wheels to know how many weeks each woman is.” However, that date does not have to be the one on which, when push comes to shove, the pregnant woman goes into labor. “Really, a pregnancy is not 9 months, but rather a few more days,” says Salado.
For this reason, the midwife prefers to call it a date “unlikely” of childbirth, since This is just an approximation and “the majority of women will not give birth on that day, but rather a few days before or after the designated date,” he says.
The ideal is that the woman goes into labor spontaneously and we have to intervene as little as possible.
Why is it necessary to induce labor if the baby is not born before a certain date?
When a pregnant woman comes out of accountsis medically said to have a chronologically prolonged gestation. “Normally, once this date has passed, we do a series of tests such as monitoring fetal heart rate and uterine dynamics, as well as an ultrasound that can give us information,” reports the midwife. “If everything is within normal parameters, we can continue waiting for the mother to go into labor spontaneously.”
From then on, he is given a few more days to recover. natural birth and, if not, it is induced. The days of more to wait to see if the woman goes into labor naturally vary depending on the hospital’s protocols, although “usually this date is usually around week 41 + 3 days, that is, about 10 days from the expected delivery date”says the founder of Emmatrona. “However, until week 42 it is considered safe to wait.”
© Getty ImagesWhat if it was not expected after week 42? What risks could it entail for the baby or the mother? The specialist explains to us that, contrary to what is usually believed, It has nothing to do with the weight or volume of the baby: “the last few weeks the baby is barely growing, so mothers’ biggest fear, which is that the baby is too big to be born, should not be the main concern.”
The reason why labor is induced after week 42 is that, from that date on, studies show that the volume of amniotic fluid decreases and the placenta may begin to have difficulty maintaining a good exchange of nutrients and oxygen to the baby, as indicated by the midwife, so the life of the little one could be at risk. Hence, “evaluating the risk-benefit, it is indicated to terminate the pregnancy.”
In any case, “the ideal is that the woman goes into labor spontaneously and we have to intervene as little as possible,” says Emma Salado. The reality is that spontaneous births They have a lower percentage of maternal and fetal complications, which is why she believes that it is necessary to give the mother and baby “flexible times and not fixed dates for the birth to occur.”
“The probable date of delivery generates a demand on the part of the environment and professionals (sometimes) that can overwhelm the future mother so much that it even works against her so that the birth flows normally,” says the midwife. “In my opinion, giving an interval of, for example, between 4 and 14 days would be much more interesting.”
The ‘unlikely’ due date is only an approximation, since most women will not give birth on that day, but rather a few days before or after
Other situations for which it is necessary to induce labor
Not only surpass the limit of 42 weeks of gestation; There are other situations in which it is also necessary induce laboreven before having reached 40 weeks. Salado details that certain maternal health problems, such as gestational diabetes wave preeclampsiacan precipitate this decision, “as well as the suspicion of infection (choriomanionitis) or any high risk for the mother or baby that evaluating risk-benefit tips the balance.”
On the other hand, he points out that, contrary to what one may believe, that a fetus has less weight than expected does not at all indicate the need to prolong labor or wait to induce it beyond 42 weeks. “Exactly when a baby is small, we must evaluate whether the placenta is feeding it correctly and decide whether to continue with the pregnancy or end it earlier.”