DH going away when I'm 37 weeks

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DH has been offered the chance to go on a work trip to the Far East which will bring him back when I'll be 37+4. This is our first DC so can't go on any previous births but I don't have any obvious indicators for a pre-term birth and would have plenty of support around me for the week he's away so I've said to him he should go, as I know he'll have an amazing time. However I know he would be really upset if he missed the birth and I'm not sure if I'm being crazy by telling him it will all be fine!

So straw poll - WWYD?

The key thing from your OP, for me, is:

"I know he would be really upset if he missed the birth and I'm not sure if I'm being crazy by telling him it will all be fine"

If he'll be really upset to miss it, then IMO it is too risky to travel that far at 37 weeks plus. There is no guarantee you'll get warning signs, and while you may very well go beyond 37 and even 40 weeks, you don't know. Tell him clearly that it may happen then and there is no way of knowing, and let him make the decision. But I think, as you've acknowledged, you have told him 'it'll all be fine' and if for him that = 'I will not miss the birth', it's a guarantee you can't make.

DS1 - waters broke at 36 1/2 weeks (actually delivered at 38 weeks, but in hospital all that time)
DS2 - born at 36 weeks

I wouldn't risk it. It's one of the most significant things that you will ever do in your lives, and it would be a terrible shame for him to miss it.

How certain are you of your dates? Mine moved around a fair bit over the various scans. So 37+4 could easily be 38+2 IYSWIM.

DH missed my DTs birth as he was working abroad and they were pre-term. Not something I'd wish for TBH.

"if you're looking a bit parturient?"

Beautifully put :)

Haven't read all of the replies, but make sure that he books a flexible ticket!

Ooh, thanks Duchesse, not often I get to learn a new word :).

Its really hard to know how to answer this question. You simply don't know when baby will arrive. Nor do you know what sort of birth you will have. But you need to think about him NOT being at the birth as a serious possibility. I've had three babies - one late, two early (37 weeks). 37 weeks is considered due! Not premature.

What I will say is - if for whatever reason your DH misses the birth will you as a couple be able to get beyond it? Do you have other support for the birth? Giving birth is wonderful but also the scariest thing ever.

Knowing how much I needed my partner there for all the births - I really don't think I could ever get over not having him there, if he had a choice that is. I think it would have negative impact on our relationship too for years to come. But that's just me being honest.

You are both being asked to think about something that has never happened to either of you and to consider how you might feel in the worse case scenario.

I would ask your mum and female relatives exactly how far along they were with each of their pregnancies when they gave birth. My neighbour planned to move house at 38 weeks thinking it would be fine, and she gave birth about 12 hours before they were due to move - turned out that her mum had given birth at exactly 38 weeks with each of her 3 children, and hadn't wanted to mention it in case her daughter got worried!

History may not repeat itself, but mothers can give an indication of what you might expect!

High op if you and he are happy for him to miss it he should go.
I am a midwife and we had a mum last night who's partner did not get back from a work trip ( in this country) in time.
What does he stand to gain from this trip? Is it super important for his career?
Does he recover from jet lag well? Because if he misses the birth then keeps complaining about how tired he is you just might see red :)

Hi everyone and thanks for all your replies!

There's no way he would go if I asked him not to and he wouldn't make me feel bad about it at all, so it would be as much down to me if he missed the birth as him and wouldn't be something I would ever blame him about.

I know the trip is important for him and his business and whilst someone could go in his place it would be preferable for him to go but he has said there would be no question of him not getting the first plane back if I went into labour - although I explained that I may not just be able to keep my legs crossed until he got back

My three siblings all went over due date and I was born on my due date. My eldest sister went over with her only dc and my other sister was a week early with her first and late with her second so I don't know if that would have any bearing!

As for my scans, I had an early private scan that put my due date at five days later than the date I had worked out from LMP and cycle length but my "official" due date has always been that calculated using LMP and cycle length so I'm not sure whether that's because it matches the scans exactly or because, as it's not an exact science, the midwives and sonographers have just been working off the estimate

The hospital I'm booked into do a 32 week growth scan as a matter of course and I have mine next week when I should be 32+6 so I think we'll wait until then to make a decision to see if there's any change in my EDD!

Doesn't help that until this came up I was operating under the misapprehension that it wasn't until 38 weeks that you were considered full term - not 37!!

spacefem.com/pregnant/due.php

I found ths online calculator to work out the odds of labour on a given date. Are you a gambling woman?

I'm expecting DC2. With DS1 I called DH home from work a week early (he works closeby). I thought something was happening. It gradually built up over the week and DS came on his due date.

Sounds like you're quite keen for him to go and would cope ok if he missed the birth.

Personally, I wouldn't be and neither would DH.

I'd like him there to support me when heavily pregnant AND if I went into labour and gave birth. If there were problems during or after the birth, for you or for the baby, I think it'd be so difficult for him being so far away and not able to help.

But it really is up to the two of you to weigh up the pros and cons. I know where I stand but I'm not you (obvs!).

I don't really get this, as you've said he would be upset to miss it. Whatever the calculations you can make on the basis of what happened to your mother/sister/most people you know, you can't actually predict or influence when you go into labour. So be casual about it if you want, but that didn't sound like what your husband really wanted from the OP you wrote.

Plus, sorry to sound negative but you said in one of your other posts that 'there should be other opportunities' [to be at other births, I assume]. That's something else you can't guarantee.

You'll probably be ok. My DD was born at 35 weeks but I had some forewarning as my waters broke 5 days before I went unto labour. Similar thing happened to someone in my NCT group.