Am i likely to go overdue - first baby?

[KRabbit]

I'm 37 weeks and owrried about going overdue.

Last Saturday I bought some Raspberry Leaf Tea (because I beleived it was a tonic for the uterus!) and had a cup on both Sunday and Monday). Both of those nights I had painful period contractions - on Monday night they were quite uncomfortable and painful, accompanied with backache, pain in my hipbones and pain in my side. We rang the hospital as I thought it was early labour! There was no show or waters leaking etc. As I'm scared of hospitals (booked into a birth centre but you have to be 37 weeks to go there) I was too frightened to go in and said I'd try to sleep and come down when it was light. I took some paracetmol, managed to sleep and when I woke up the pain was gone.

I haven't touched raspeberry leaf tea since and have had no pains since, other than just a few Braxton Hicks. I'm wondering if the tea caused those pains. They were like I imagine early labour to be but no show or waters leaking etc.

As I've had no other symptoms and nothing seems to be happening at all, does this mean I'm likely to go overdue? My due date is 8 December and they have said they'd have no problem with my going 2 weeks over as baby is fine and not too big etc but I'd hate to miss out on Christmas at home with my baby - I've been dreaming of that all year and would be disappointed if we had to spend Christmas in hospital. Plus I think I'd go mad if I had to wait an extra 2 weeks to have my baby!

raspberry leaf tea DOES NOT INDUCE labour..it tones the uterus...it might be coincidence you had contractions..BH very common towards the end of pregnancy...

there will be so many other Xmas's and the first one with LO will be magical....so don;t stress too much about that

no-one can tell you if baby will arrive on time

anywhere between 38 -42 weeks is normal range

whether you and your siblings were early or late MIGHT indicate whether you will deliver early or late.!

IME nobody can tell you when you will have your baby. It can happen anytime, but you might well go overdue and I think it would be wise for you to accept that. I'm not 100% sure on exact number, but I think as much as 80 % of babies are born AFTER the due date.

Even if you go two weeks over you will still be at home with the baby on Christmas day if all goes well, as you won't be in hospital for longer than two nights at most.

Try not to worry too much about it, there's not a lot you can do.

Good luck!

5% of babies are born on their due date!!

have sex...it worked for me!

It will come when it is ready. Both of mine were 42 weeks - just relax and enjoy being pg and having some time to yourself because it will be a while before you get that again!

In France a 'normal' pregnancy is 41 weeks long, don't know all the ins and outs of why but they have far fewer 'late' babies than we do here.

The best piece of advice I was given was not to get hung up on your due date but to focus on a date 12-14 days later which would be the date you would definitely have your baby by. I didn't take any notice of it and I've had a 41 week pg and a 42 week pg so I should have listened! It is awful when you are late but there is nothing you can do about it, your baby will come when it's good and ready.

BTW, I am rubbish at following my own advice, this time I'm looking at acupuncture to try and encourage things along, not sure how well it will work, if at all, but at least I will feel like I'm doing something having already tried EVERY old wives tale going last time round .

..But Olihan, I've decided we're special cases this time with Xmas babies. Allowed to ignore all our own advice!

Do you think the fact that nothing has really happened, baby is only 3/5 engaged and I've had no show etc and no real pains other than those few is indicative that I'll go overdue? I just feel like nothing is happening!!

I was born a week early. My brother was induced due to mum's blood pressure going up, so can't be sure.

I was the opposite, felt fine and nothing to indicate that I was going to go into labour, until I started getting pains that took my breath away. I was 35 weeks with Ds, 31 weeks with dd1 and 33 weeks with dd2. My mum had all of us (4) at 38 weeks and my sisters have both carried to term. Noone can tell if you will go over, enjoy the time you have, get plenty of rest and don't worry.
BTW DS was born on 19th december and that xmas with him was amazing...

dd was born in the middle of december, two weeks early and christmas was crapola as i was still getting bfing sorted out. there is no rhyme nor reason to when they come, but if you are in a position to concentrate on anything other than feeding your baby on christmas day then i salute you as i didn't manage it. this christmas, however... it is going to be AMAZING!

krabbit - there is no rhyme or reason as to when babies are
born..family history gives an indication, no more!

if you are 37 weeks-- it is perfectly normal baby not fully engaged and you've not had a show..some women never have a show!!!

there are some things you can do to try to gently encourage labour..but on the whole, the work if baby is ready !!

please relax and enjoy this time before baby comes....don;t wish it away....!

Hi Krabbit,
I was exactly 38 weeks when my waters broke, but I just thought my pelvicfloor had gone or something, my first baby and everyone kept telling me i'd be late!
I waited about 36 hours before I went to the hospital and even then nearly came home, I nearly fell off the bed when told I wasn't leaving the hospital until I had my baby!
I told the midwife I thought I'd be late as it was my first I was sure I had another month to go, she laughed and said once you are over 37 weeks you are considered full term and can go anytime!
My sister was late with all of hers and my mum said her waters never broke (until labour was well established), so you never can tell.
The benefits of Christmas with a baby is you can have it any day, so don't panic and if you have a normal delivery you can leave hospital as soon as you feel ready.
Good luck, don't worry about anything, baby is safe and doing well enjoying its comfortable wee home, don't throw him/her out too early!
XXX
P.s. I was examined on thursday and ds was not full engaged either, and my waters broke on sunday so it doesn't really mean anything! keep us posted!

I'm frightened they'll leave me go two weeks overdue (24th December) and then I'll spend Christmas in having failed inductions and ending in a C section. I've read so much about this.

Can't face it really especially as I'd lose out on my birth centre if I had to go to hospital and be induced! I've heard its not a nice experience (more painful etc and they keep you in longer).

Plus I hate hospitals and have dreamed all year of having my baby home for Christmas with all my family looking after me! Silly I know but I can't help feeling disappointed at the idea that it might not happen.

Baby isn't doing anything really. I started the raspberry leaf tea yesterday and it hasn't given me cramps this time. I don't feel anywhere near going into labour.

I guess I'm just finding late pregnancy hard because I'm fed up of being stuck at home but can't go anywhere as I've developed terrible car sickness in my last trimester and even a trip down the road makes me ill (we live in a small village so its car or nothing - none of our friends and family live near and there's nothing near enough to walk to) plus I am so big and uncomfortable, and my pelvis and bladder are really uncomfortable. I can't face another 5 weeks!

I spoke to a woman the other day who's due on 1 December and has been told she won't be allowed to go overdue so she knows she'll have her baby by 1 Dec (she's small and baby's big). I'm so jealous! Why would they leave me to go so long overdue then? I guess its because I'm tall and baby's not big and there are no problems. But its really stressing me out and upsetting me so I can't enjoy the last bit of my pregnancy. I know I sound like I'm moaning, sorry, but I feel really down and disheartened about this.

och you poor poppet, that would be absolutely crapola to be stuck in your house for ages. it's fine to moan, and it's fine to feel rubbish.

thing is, you can do all the reading and have all the worries you want, but at this stage it's counter-productive. you will have your baby in your arms in january, that's for sure, but if you keep stressing about it then you actually do run slightly more of a risk that your tension will alter the course of events.

so is there any way you could google for self-hypnosis or comething, and try to teach yourself some relaxation techniques?

i personally think that some women delight in frightening others with their horrible birth stories, so i never listened to them. for every terrible one there are twenty good stories you never hear.

mine was fine, absolutely fine. i had high bp throughout the preg and had been warned that i was getting nowehere near a midwife centre and that i was much more at risk of intervention. i knew that i had strep b as well, so i'd be on a drip to get antibiotics for some periods...

as it was, my waters broke at night and they wanted to induce me immediately but i said that i would rather sleep for a while and let my body get used to the idea of having a baby. next morning i was induced at 10.30 and the baby was born as i described below at 6pm. most of the time was spent hearing about the midwife's attempts to conceive, and the pain was sore but manageably so. i got through the first bit on self-hypnosis alone (nothing more complicated than counting down from ten, really slowly, and imagining myself becoming ten per cent more relaxed every time i went down a number...)
try to focus on the destination rather than the journey, and these last few weeks will hopefully pass by quickly for you.

by the way, how do you intend your name to be pronounced? is it KayRabbit or Crabbit? you know what that means in Scotland, don't you?

Do you like hot food, ie curries? Marks & Spencers do a wicked hot curry and as I don't tend to eat spicy food I ate the lot with a couple of glasses of red wine. That night my waters went (with my second baby) because she clearly didn't like curries and delivered the following day! (I was just over my due date by the way)...

I can remember sitting outside my back door, it was early February 04, it was midnight and snowing quite heavily and boy did I feel great sat there in my PJ's cooling down after the curry! Little did I realise that it would have such a drastic effect!

KRabbit

You are only 37 weeks, please dont panic.

In a way it would be better if you thought your due date was December 24th.

My due date for DS3 was December 24th. He actually arrived at 39+4 weeks (December 21st). Dont know how else to put it really "But What will be will Be". You will have lots of other Christmas's and the first few weeks at home with your baby is better than Christmas.

Please try to push your worries out and sit back and enjoy your pregnancy.

I was 8 days late with ds and was on the verge of being induced due to suspected pre-eclampsia. My mum was 1 day early with me and my brother and 4 days late with my other brother. They do say that there is more tendancy to be over than under with your first but I disagree as all my friends were early with their firsts, one a whole 8 weeks!! I know its hard and I remember those last couple of weeks. The idea of just going one day was bad enough for me let alone the 8. Bless everyone around me as they were trying to be supportive but every day was met with messages of any news yet and that just seems to make it worse!!! All I can say is try and relax and make the most of your final weeks and head towards at least a week after your due as being the likely date and then it might not be as disappointing. I tried curries and allsorts in that last week and none of it worked!! They come when they're ready unfortunatley and we have to live with it!! Good luck with it all and here's hoping for an on time delivery!!

You poor thing! I remember sitiing crying alot in the last few weeks, at anything I think its just such an emotional time, exciting, scary, worrying but absolutely wonderful!
Don't listen to anyone who tells you scary stories, I had to be induced because my waters had been broken for more than 24hrs, it was fine I probably had what was described as quite a medicalised labour and it wouldn't have been what I wanted but there were also many advantages, I had a midwife with me at all times, I knew exactly what was going to happen, and I had gas and air and tens machine going almost from the start.
My labour only lasted about 4 hours (from start of induction to finish) and at the end of it I had a beautiful baby boy.
I have to tell you that christmas will seem very insignificant, you will be totally involved with your baby, even day and night don't seem that important! My favourite memory is sitting in a cahir at about 4 in the morning just looking at my little boy and he was looking at me (sorry going off on track!) What I'm trying to say is Christmas can be any day, if you are going to be late make it the 29th of december instead!
Lots of Love and Hugs for you both!!
XXX

Honey, I'm afraid there is nothing you can do. This bit of pregnancy is awful. Some of us are lucky enough to have our babies early; many of us aren't; some go past 42 weeks. I'm not going to tell you to 'enjoy your pregnancy' because IMO pregnancy isn't madly enjoyable at ALL, but please don't feel that because the baby hasn't arrived yet it won't do so quite soon. You really do have to take things as they come.

Went for an ante natal check up today and burst out crying in front of the midwife, told her I couldn't "do" pregnancy anymore, I'm so tired, achey, feel so rough and baby shows no signs of arriving. Due date is 8th December.

I asked her what the procedure would be if I went overdue and she sadi that apart from checks they wouldn't think about inducing me until 24th December! (ie Xmas in hospital!)

I just broke down and said I couldn't do another 5 weeks and I feel so miserable. I feel awful as this is supposed to be the most wonderful time a of a woman's life and yet I just feel sick, fat, exhausted, achey and demoralised.

I've been preparing for a lovely big family Christmas to cheer me up and now the news that I might spend it in a hospital bed away from my family is just too disappointing. I can't eat without feeling sick/getting heartburn, can't sleep! Can't go out in the car (car sickness) Can't cope! I don't know whats wrong with me!! I just can't stop crying. Surely this is not normal!

K, don't put pressure on yourself - this ISN'T supposed to be the most wonderful time of a woman's life! It's not supposed to be anything other than a time when your body accepts a leech-like being inside it and lets it use up all your mental and physical resources! What's so wonderful about that?

Maybe just think of how you're feeling at the moment as part of preparing for birth; it helps your ability to cope with it all I'm sure, if you REALLY want this baby OUT or at least, want the pregnancy over.

I remember the last few weeks as very very hard indeed. Don't expect to enjoy them, don't put that added pressure on yourself....

Krabbit it is only wonderful when you look back, not at the time.
I spent the last few weeks of my pregnancy on the sofa, crying alot!
The only positive is the fact that you are exhausted and teary means that you are probably really close to delivery.
Just remember that at the most you only have a few weeks until you meet your baby, after the long journey you have come on it isn't very long.
Try to get some rest, don't put pressure on yourself, when you become a mother you start to beat yourself up about little things that you realise aren't that important later.
You will have such a special christmas, whatever happens, and I doubt they would start an induction on the 24th december, but christmas babies are extra special!!
Big Hugs for you XXXX

Awww KRabbit!

You poor thing.

If it makes you feel any better, I hate being pregnant (am 25 weeks), and am hugely jealous that you get to meet your baby in a maximum of five weeks time. (And I always thought I'd love it).

Just think of all those lovely cuddles you're going to have, and how all this misery will just fade away...

I was in the same position as you at 37wks, no BH, no show, only partly enganged, dd was born at 38weeks. Taking me completely by surprise as i was sure she was going to be late as I was born 12days late, and my mum had to be induced, my sister was born several days late and both her kids were late. So you can never tell. I know this is hard as I remember how awful I felt when heavilt pregnant, but just try to focus on the new baby. It'll come when its ready. And I hope you're not in hospital for Christmas. but a good friend of mine went into labour straight after Christmas lunch, her baby was born later on Christmas day, and she said it was ok, it was such a nice atmosphere in hospital and felt really special, she was in the local papers too!
Good luck