suddenly NOT nervous!?!

[squizita]

Very strange. Have had anxiety throughout pregnancy and fully expected to be a bag of nerves come 40 weeks.
Nope. DH is more nervous than me. I still count kicks religiously etc but with birth it's like my brain says "what will be will be. It will hurt, but you're going to hospital...it won't pop out in costas." I'm scared of birth, pain etc but not nervous iyswim. Like I know it WILL happen. It will be brutal. A small person will come out of my fanjo. Can't get round it, gotta go through it.
My therapy might have worked!
...but I feel oddly guilty, and some "friends" almost suggest I should be more on edge (not scared of birth... I don't know. Just more needy almost).
Is this odd? I don't know how non anxious people feel about these things.

I don't think it's odd

I have never been nervous of an approaching birth! You just gotta face it head on!

No, you've gone into your birthing zone. You're calm and can handle anything. It's brilliant

One of the most natural things in the world
Women are naturally geared up for it.

squizita I was exactly the same as you and gave birth to DS1 3 weeks ago now. I was more nervous of not being able to breastfeed and what came with having a baby and right enough, the birth was easy compared to sleepless nights and having a baby latched on 24/7!! I fortunately had a straightforward birth, was 7cm dilated when I arrived at hospital after labouring at home for hours with a TENS machine and The Good Wife on Netflix. Then had a relaxing 5 hours in the pool with G&A and got out to push. Yes it was fecking painful but what I found really helpful was visualisation techniques, I kind of went into a bit of a zone with each contraction and push, imagining myself climbing a mountain and all sorts of things. It does work!

Thanks all! It is refreshing to feel in the zone. I think my hospital being proactive etc really helped. Whenever I gave the mw a "what if" she explained they have a plan for that!

It's close... The brain is very clever

Not weird. You've gone into "the zone". I did the same with each of mine, could mean birth is imminent

And don't psych yourself up that it will hurt. It might not. Dd2 I don't recall any pain and with DS I was so away with the fairies that I only remember contractions before gas and air. No pain with the actual birth that I recall.

Woo. Exciting times! Hope it is the hormones kicking in!

Sounds all very normal and hopefully means that you'll be back with news of a new arrival very soon!

I look forward to labour in some way. It does hurt but in a purposeful way and you know it is going to end with a baby.

I'm 39+3 with first baby and have never been particularly worried about the birth. And at this point I think two more weeks plus wait sounds worse than having painful contractions - I just want something to happen :-)

Go with it, it'll help you to be relaxed when it has finally kicked off I'm sure

Hi, I have woken up this morning feeling like this after months of anxiety. I'm 41 weeks today, nothing happening labourvwise, just feeling quite relaxed. Hmm. What is going on?

I was never scared or nervous either. The baby was goin to come out one way or the other!!

I read a few books to so understood the process of labour, i think that helped.

I also stayed at home as long as possible and baby was born 3 hrs after finally goin to hospital in a pretty straightforward birth. it hurt but was manageable!

Good luck, hope you're not waiting too long

That's great, squizita! Definitely in the zone and that baby is going to come out one way or the other. Ha, yep not in costa coffee!

I am 39+1 and like HeatherBell, birth seems the easy part - having an actual little person 24/7 who won't sleep or latch etc is causing me so much more worry.

Good luck, all!

My best and fastest labour was when I woke with a stomach ache at 3am, twelve days overdue, and immediately though 'damn curry!'.

Starlight hehe. Might end up like that with me. Had a mini scare (very loose mucus, they checked it wasn't amniotic fluid) this morning but baby is happy with her noggin lodged in my pelvis it seems and has no desire to escape today!

Ooooh, exciting!! Good luck.

You know, I actually woke up every 15mins with stomach cramps from 3am until around 5am and each time I still blamed the curry. Eventually went for a poo and became awake enough to consider it possibly NOT being the curry, so ran a bath instead, put my ipad on the end and MNetted my way through early labour.

squizita, given that you'd not been on the thread since yesterday lunchtime, I had hoped you might have given birth already! Hope it is not too much longer!