When will I go into labour?

[shakemyhead]

I am currently 40+4 2cm dilated and fully effaced. I have had 2x s&s. First baby and no real twinges. Any advise on when things will get going. Do I need to wait for more snow. ?

Ooh how exciting!! I have no idea when your baby will arrive, probably not til we get more snow though

Good luck!

When you have cleaned up the house, emptied the bins, washed the dishes, checked your bag, sorted out the laundry, and are just contemplating a nice bath and crawling into bed because you are absolutely nackered, THEN you will go into labour. Always worked for me.

Try going out for dinner or make plans for lunch out with friends.....that should do it! Good luck. I went to 40+13 with DS and I remember how dreadful the waiting was.

40 weeks plus two days is still very early days!!! :) I understand though. I remember being so discouraged when I didn't go into labour on my due date! We have an obsession with due dates sometimes that does us more harm than good. It's perfectly normal to have a pregnancy that goes well beyond the "due date" We're all slightly different and cook babies for different lengths of time!

when baby is ready, and you are relaxed and not thinking about it too much, you may just find it starts then!
The baby will send a signal to your brain to start producing Oxytocin, which is the "love hormone" that is the main driver behind labour (and other activities!) Oxytocin will start your contractions, which will start your dilation! :)
So the best thing you can do is ask yourself "is there anything I'm worried about? Afraid of? etc." And talk it through with someone! Sometimes we're worried or fearful and we don't fully articulate it or express it. Getting past those fears, tensions, or stresses can really allow your Oxytocin to flow!
Stress and fear will block Oxytocin, so do your best to keep them at bay! :)

Most likely on your baby's birthday, or the day before.

hth

Dear Shakemyhead, being a man, I have no idea but a friend of mine gave birth on Friday - two hours from first contraction to birth. Is this a record?

Good luck - hope it all goes well!

No Alan. not a record. I gave birth 1 hour after first contraction. I bet there will be people who can beat that too!

Yes, but frogs - that's easy!

On a more serious note, a friend of mine who is very into natural birth etc and currently very pregnant says she has discovered that the uterus has two sets of muscles, one for pushing and one for holding in; the second set going back to our stone age ancestry and used to stop in the middle of birth if danger is suddenly imminent. The reason (she says) many women find birth so difficult is that we get ourselves (you women, that is) in a bit of a stress over it and this triggers the holding in muscles, making birth all the more difficult. She says (and this is her second birth) that total relaxation during the birth process relaxes these holding in muscles and makes the whole process so much easier.

I'd be interested in hearing what others think. And please don't shoot me down, I'm a man, don't forget, and things have changed a lot since my kids were born. I'm now on my grandchildren.

P.S. please excuse me if 'holding in muscles' is not the correct medical term. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Well - I was a bit stressed that I would deliver on the way to the hospital - but that didn't seem to slow things down in any way.

I do know what you mean though - anxiety and stress due to fear of labour, not having privacy or not having confidence in your midwife or birth partner can really hold things up and result in real problems.

I had to wait for more snow. I was planning a home birth but ambulances were on code red due to snow.
Birth notes state 6hr 17 min labour. When I was examined 30 mins after arriving at hospital I was fully dilated had a rest then was ready to push.
Baby born at 19.10 first contraction 04.00 am. Not too bad in all.