Very very silly question. Am 40 weeks, can I actually do anything?

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

I realise how stupid this will sound...

With dd I was induced. It took 4 hours start to finish so I am expecting this one to be quicker. This, combined with having never gone into labour on my own, has made me frightened to leave the house. So the last few days my parents have collected dd in the morning, DH has gone to work and I've more or less been stuck at home on my own.

Obviously this is driving me insane and making me feel really down. I seriously need to get out. What are the chances of me being ok and standing in the queue at Tescos one minute and being doubled over with contractions and the head sticking out the next? I want to go somewhere that's 30 mins drive away if I can manage it but am frightened of getting stuck out there.

Please come and slap me. I'm being silly aren't I? Obviously this one might not be very quick but even quick labours don't go from 0-60 in a matter of minutes...do they?

I am 36 weeks and was wondering about this when I am at term...

Hopefully someone wise will come along soon

Are you planning on delivering at home?

I should imagine the induction speeded things up a bit so it's not a given that this one will be similarly quick or faster.

Do you know what, I'd do whatever it is you want to do and know that if suddenly the head's poking out and you're mooing down the cereal aisle, that's what ambulances are for.

It never actually crossed my mind to stop going to places. I went to London for a few days at 38 weeks pg (4hr drive away), dh went to Alton Towers for a stag night on the Tuesday, labour started on the Wednesday. I think it was blissful ignorance tbh. And denial. Lots and lots of denial.

No, hospital but home is 5 minutes drive from the hospital so I'm loathe to go any further away than that.

You're right though, I can't believe every woman in the land sits at home and waits like this. It's madness.

it never occurred to me either but, again, probably more through ignorance than anything else!

if you do go 30 mins away, is it to visit a friend - or could you take a friend with you - so if contractions do start you've got someone on hand who can help and perhaps drive you home/pick up your car after etc?

I am also 40 wks and am doing stuff. Think it's quite rare for them to just pop out without warning, even in 2nd PGs?

Probably wouldn't go much further than 30 mins away, but am still doing Tesco, nursery run, lunches out etc, otherwise I would be climbing walls!

I'd go out. I was walking around the town centre contracting away with dc2 but didn't feel it was imminent despite having to stop as they got bloody unbearable

I knew when things were heating up and I had to go to hospital. It was a gut feeling even though contractions were 30 - 90 secs and 5 mins apart. I listened to my body and told the MW I had to come in. DD arrived 45 mins after we got there.

So if you sense things are kicking off, get thee to the labour ward. Have plans in place - DH must have his phone on at all times, carry your notes, have the bag in the car, your phone is charged etc. Worse that happens is you have baby in the frozen veg aisle but you'll be so high you won't care! (super fast labours usually mean everything is ok).

I didn't go much more than 30 mins away from home at 36 weeks and more. If I was out with DS (3) I was with friends. Had a big argument with DH and a friend about whether to go to Sheffield (fire engine museum!) with DS at 38 weeks. Would have been 45 mins drive and it would have just been DS and me. We didn't go. Just as well, DD came quickly and traumatically a week later.

Thanks all. Car contains bags, notes and everything I could possibly need. I was told all along I'd be induced at term then they changed their minds last week which is why this is suddenly a big deal, I wasn't prepared for waiting for things to happen.

I will have to do pre-school runs etc next week if I'm still here so I guess there's nothing to be gained by sitting here now.

I was 2 weeks overdue with DS1 and it never occurred to me to not go anywhere! Having said that, I was living in central London so if I had gone in to labour wherever I was I'd be fairly near a hospital . The day before DS was born I went to the cinema in the afternoon, met DH after work and we walked the 2 miles home. Maybe the walk did it as I went into labour that night!!

Take your notes with you, have you bag packed near the front door at home and just use your common sense. I would stick to fairly local places but the local shops and your DD's school should be fine.
I walked to our local shop having major contractions - I had to hang on to the counter and regulate my breathing while I was being served :o

Definitely go out and take your notes with you.

I was walking around and swimming at 40 weeks. I think I scared the lifeguard slightly at the pool when he asked when's it due, and I said tomorrow! I could see a mild panic in his face trying to remember if he had covered childbirth in his first aid course!

I would go to Tesco and do a big shop. That way, sod's law says you will go into labour within hours, not be able to cook for a few days and most of the food will be wasted. It happened for me, anyway. I did a week's shopping the day before my first baby was due, then woke the next morning to find waters had broken. I was then in hospital for 5 days (had to be admitted although labour had not started, then was induced, then stayed to establish breastfeeding). When I got home, I found dh had been running around too much to actually cook any of the food, and most of it had rotted.

Seriously though, in your situation, I would do whatever you want to do. 30 minutes drive doesn't sound too far to travel and you can't sit around indefinitely. Your labour may be a week or more away! If you do go into fast labour in the Tesco aisles, think of it this way: you will make the local paper (great cutting for your baby's scrapbook) and you will get free nappies for a year!

3 things that produce oxytocin, which promotes labour

1. sex, your man's cum contains prostaglandins. The pessary they use for induction used to be made from pig cum
2. expressing colostrum (try doing this every few hours)
3. feeling very relaxed

So get DH to do his duty then retire to a warm bath and have a go at expressing. DD was born 6 hours later at 39 weeks!

I went into early labour on a Tuesday afternoon, contractions started, regularly but not too strongly. I walked a mile to my local shops, and back again, and did the school run. That night the MW came and checked me and promised me a baby by the morning.

On the Wednesday I walked 4 miles (with DH) in the woods, played scrabble, had sex (to speed things up), went out for a meal, then went for another short walk in the woods.

DC3 arrived on Thursday lunchtime.

Subsequent babies don't always come quickly.

Go out and live life! Hope all goes well for you!

sorry if I have got wrong end of stick, but if you were induced with first then you were overdue ? from my observations of friends and family, if you late with one, next is likely to be too.... I could be wrong ! But, the more stressed you feel the less likely you are to go into spontaneous labour and if sitting around driving you mad then I would carry on as normal and get out and about. I was determined to go to a wedding 200 miles round trip 4 days after my due date and I did (in the snow!) people thought I was tad crazy but spoke to midwife and she didn't see any problem what so ever. As people have said - imagine the worst case scenario and think how unlikely it is to happen and how you would cope if it did ! Well that's what I did.
All the best

I'm 41+4 now and also wondering if I should be out and about! But I need to get out every day - I NEED to for my sanity, and also so I'm not sitting on the sofa eating yule log 24/7. It does feel a little risque going to the cinema etc. I wouldn't tell anyone I was due on Xmas Day!!!

No signs of the baby coming and I'll be induced in 2 days.

When I was 38 weeks I went to an event 2 hours drive away. I took my labour bag, baby car seat and notes, just in case I ended up in a hospital in another city.

My SIL has just had third at ten days over and had to be induced, despite previous labour being four hours. You just don't know how it's going to go. Induction is different anyway..

Well I'm still here waiting and sticking to the local area! There is still no sign of any movement. DD1's birthday is on Tuesday, I'm aiming for that...

I did go off to the shops yesterday like I wanted to but wasn't gone very long. It's not been too bad today as family is around but dreading Monday. I'm so bored with waiting!

God I'd have gone loopy if I hadn't gone out in the last few weeks! You'll be fine, you have a mobile, any signs of trouble and dial 999. I think you sort of go into a zone when labour is building up and you know it's on its way, even before it starts. I was out every day before I went into labour but on the day I actually had DS I stayed in bed, just because I felt different.

i went 2 weeks overdue with both DC and felt fine right until the end. I did everything until the last day (shopping, nursery run). luckily, i went into (a rather quick) labour late in the evenings when i was at home.

if you feel ok, then i think i would go out. you surely have a mobile. just enjoy the last days of your pregnancy. going out on your own won't be that easy for a long time :)