Plan to give birth early

I think your best bet would be to talk to your mw about it first. She should be able to answer your questions or point you in the right direction.

Pretty hard situation either way. I have heard of one person who was induced and mental health reasons were one reason, but she was full term. They will almost always go with the "what's best for the baby" as there are no guarantees that things will be better with it out. I'm glad you're getting some support through MMH. Hopefully your MW can be a good source of information for you as well.

I have definitely heard of inductions at 37+ weeks for mental health reasons. A friend of mine's partner was induced at 37 weeks due to her previous pregnancy ending in stillbirth and her clinicians did not want her to go through the anxiety of the last few weeks of waiting to go into labour. My understanding is that when the baby is at 37 weeks it basically will not be disadvantaged by coming out and any health needs of the mother (including mental health needs) should come first.

I have experienced depression on and off since I was a teenager and know how much it sucks. Hope you get all the support you need to help you get through this.

Amme, darling, i've been thinking about this a bit.

I've said to you before i have had serious battles with depression and have a fear of PND, though it hasnt really struck me yet, only in mild doses.

So heres my thoughts on it - ignore me if its not right.

Getting baby out won't cure your depression overnight - it may even be worse.
If you have baby induced to come early - and, touch wood, baby has any issues related to such, even very very small issues, it'll only compound your depression with guilty thoughts. I considered the same for same reasons and decided i would think myself selfish for forcing baby out and denying him the extra weeks for size and lungs. (thats how i'd feel about me, not how YOU should feel about you)

However, if you are worried about carrying to term because you worry your depression may become so severe you want to harm yourself, having baby out isnt the way to deal with it either.

But in the end, only you know whats best for you, and im sure you, your partner, and your midwife will work together to do best for baby.