Normal to follow your Mum's pattern of whether baby arrives early or late?

[surreyhillsmumtobe]

OK, so I'm 36 weeks now and my Mum was around 2 weeks early with me and my two younger brothers. I just have a gut feeling that this is worth bearing in mind as surely there's a chance I might follow suit. My midwife dismissed the idea of there being any link at all, so I just wondered what your experiences had been and if you think there's a link? Obviously I know what will be will be, just intrigued to see what others have found!

I think so, but I am sure there will be lots of people along who say definitely not. I know though that I and quite a few of my friends have followed this pattern. Good luck whenever it comes!!

I would think that it is possible, as we follow other things. For example periods starting and menopause.

My Mum was late with both me and DB and all of mine were early though. Saying that, my Mum never had scans, and my due date was changed on my scans.

DM had DB1 induced on due date as high blood pressure, db2 5 weeks early and emergency section, I was overdue by 10 days.

I had dd1 40+1 and dd2 40+2, both vaginal births with no intervention.

Nothing similar at all. I had far shorter/easier labours as well.

Oh well, guess it's just wishful thinking on my part as quite fancy an arrival at around 38 weeks! Thanks ladies - interesting to hear the different thoughts on the matter.

I was 10 days early with both my boys and my sister was 10 days late with both her boys.

well, sort of. my siblings and I were born at 36 37 40 and 42 weeks.
my dc 37 and 41w.
my dn all were well overdue...

My mum has 4;
DB- One month early
Me-2 wks late (induced)
DS1- 3 wks early (induced)
DS2- 1 wk early (induced)

My DS was induced at 39+6 as we were having problems, so I guess with all the inductions flying around we have no idea!!

Although what Eglu says makes sense, all the women in my family have painful, awful periods and have a v.late menopause so I guess it's likely (also v.scary to think I could be fertile for the next 30 years)!!

I followed my mums pattern for labour, but not gestation. Her first was a 5 hour labour, mine was 6.

No one in my family has gone to 40 wks. Babies are between 7 and 2 weeks early. Mum, granny, sister. I mentioned this to mw both pgs, all mws said it would make no difference to me. But ? ds 2 weeks early, and DD a record breaking week early.

My mum has

Me - on due date
DB - 2 days late
DB2 - 10 days late.

I had

DD1 - 14 days late
DD2 - 1 day late.

SO basically no rhyme nor reason!

I was 2 weeks early, my 1st was 2 weeks early, 2nd 3 days early, 3rd three weeks early.

Nothing like my mum but here is the spooky thing..... My two sisters and I all gave birth at 40+3.....

I ran across info on this when trying to find out if first pregnancies were more typically longer or not. It looks like the answer is yes, you do follow your mum, but not by a huge amount: on average women had 1.22 day-longer pregnancies for each week-longer their mum's was. It was also connected to the dad's time to get born, but only by 0.58 days per week. Interestingly, it was 0.65 days less for each additional kg of the dad's birth weight. I'm planning to ask MIL about her length and DH's weight, so to see if we can guess where things might be. But it's probably the case that the variation across individuals makes any specific predictions wild guesses anyway. Yet I'll still give it a go :)

To reveal my super-nerdiness, here is the link to the article: Maternal and Paternal Influences on Length of Pregnancy

(Oh, and regarding my original question, it looks very much still unknown: one study said that average for 1st pregnancies was 41+1 and for later pregnancies 40+3, but apparently their analysis method was criticised a lot. And it looks like it is really hard to get data for that, with the prevalence of planned C-sections in weeks 37-39 obscuring what would have happened without them.)

DD was born at 40+16 (induced)
DN was born at 38+2

I was 11 days late, DB was born at 36w (and had hung on since threatening to appear at 26w), all 3 of my sisters were late.

Mum
Sis on time
Me 1 week early
Bro on time

Sis - two kids, both born on time
Me - two kids both born 11 days early!
Bro - one kid early section as breech!

Doesn't really make much sense.
I heard that your menstual cycle is a better gauge. Mine is like my mum - heavy every 22-23 days.
My sis is like my dad side of family (two sisters) at 28 days and not anywhere near as heavy.

my mums babies were all a bit early and my youngest brother a month early,all 5lb-6lb ....mine were all late and 8lb - 9lbs...so nothing even close haha..

I seriously hope not, I was a emcs at 40+23 and nearly died several times, I'm hoping to be more like my granny on my father's side. All of her 5 children were a week early and she literally dropped them by herself with no help and barely any pain.

Sort of follows a pattern in my family. My mothers births were all induced on her due date due to high blood pressure, so can't deduce exactly how overdue she might have gone, but none of us (me, bro or sis) came early.

Mum
DS1 - Induced at 40 weeks
DD1 (me!) - Induced at 40 weeks
DD2 - Induced at 40 weeks

Sister:
DD1 - Induced at 40+13
DS1 - Induced at 40+15

Me:
DD1 - Induced at 40+10
DTs - Induced at 35+6 (due to watersbreaking)

So none of us ever managed to find out what it was like to go into labour naturally. We all have fairly standard 28 day cycles, but we must just lack the gene that actually kicks the baby out!

No pattern here.
My mum had
DS1 - 2 weeks overdue
DS2 & DD(me) - elcs at/around due date.

I've only had one DC - DD born 9 weeks early. Pg with DC2 and have my fingers crossed I'll follow my mums pattern with this one!

No pattern here. My mum was induced for both me and my brother at 2 weeks overdue. I have one DC, arrived a week early.

I remember having this conversation with a friend who used to be a farmer, when I was pregnant. He said that in cattle it is the father's gestation length that's important. And this held true in his family - he was born very late, as were his sons and as was his granddaughter. My dh was born 5 days late and I was born 6 days late. My DD was 3 days early. I take all these things with a ping of salt.

I meant to say, he had no idea is it was true in humans, but worked as a theory in his family.

My mum had me two weeks late after induction and my DS appeared at 41+5 after induction!

Rowboat - my DP had a spell as a shepherd - EVERYTHING in childbearing is likened to sheep. Apparently it's all very similar.

Hi OP

Imo it's a complicated business and it could be any of a number of factors. As PPs have mentioned, if you are feeling at all tense or stressed then that can stop you dilating as your body triggers its fight-or-flight response so that you can deal with the perceived threat as effectively as possible. This was very useful in ye olden days when you might encounter a bear as you were labouring outside your cave, slightly less helpful now. Unfortunately it also works with perceived threats or worries as your body reacts physically to what you're thinking (just like thinking about cake makes you salivate), so feeling nervous can stop you dilating.

Also as mentioned above it could be physiological - you need a good connection between your baby's head and your cervix to stimulate oxytocin production and fuel labour, so if your baby isn't in a good position then this can have an effect.

Or some women just dilate more slowly than others, it doesn't mean it's "wrong" except when you're having to keep to someone else's deadline.

I would also strongly recommend Ina May and also Birthing from Within, which is a bit hippyish but has some good exercises to do to get to the bottom of any anxieties you might have (which might be things like money, how the baby will affect your relationship, etc, as well as about birth specifically). I also recommend Lazy Daisy antenatal classes if you have any near you - I did them when I was pregnant with DS after a not-great birth with DD and loved them - they cover both the physical side of things and work on fear release as well through relaxation/hypnosis. In the interests of transparency I should probably add that I loved them so much and had such a nice second time birth that I trained as a teacher myself :)

Would also agree with PP that a good second birth can really help you come to terms with the first, but talking through your notes with someone is also a good idea.

Sorry if this is a bit long/garbled - have been arguing with DD about how many noses I have while typing which doens't do much for a coherent train of thought!