Is there any correlation between 2020 babies arriving late (40+) and lockdown?

[Margo34]

I'm currently sat patiently impatient waiting for baby to arrive any day now, 40+3.

My mother and siblings all had their first babies between 38-39w so all placed bets mine would arrive in that window too. But I'm still waiting.

DH noticed that all the babies from our NCT group were born 41+ and wondered whether that was a side effect of a lockdown pregnancy, perhaps the uncertainty stressed us all out and has made all our babies that little bit overdue. 🤔

Made me wonder, has anyone else noticed similar? Is going overdue a side effect of stress in pregnancy?

I actually read that lockdown had seen a massive reduction in the number of premature deliveries. They didn't know why but thought maybe the reduction of some stressors such as long commutes etc had actually helped. Maybe the flip side is some later ones?

I read the same about women resting at home more reducing premature births. Special care units actually saw a reduction in admissions to during lockdown.

I had a premature baby arrive during lockdown, on NICU it was a lot quieter than they were used to. The antenatal and delivery wards were a lot quieter too.

The MWs and nurses said that part of it is down to how actually there seems to be, oddly, less pregnant woman than this time last year, women were less likely to come in for monitoring and also they wondered if the stress was making the babies stay put too.

Couple of interesting points regarding women being less likely to go in for monitoring;
Firstly it could mean that unfortunately Drs aren't there to spot issues - have there been any increases in stillbirths?
Secondly - sometimes monitoring can actually lead to unnecessary intervention. This was discussed by Drs to me when they were weighing up whether to put me on continuous monitoring or not when I was before 28 weeks pregnant

That wouldn’t surprise me. The amount of women that work right up to their due date to they get more time off astounds me. The expectation and pressure to work up to the end is strong. I got raised eyebrows for going at 34 weeks with mine even though I worked a clinical job and was massive. I also felt slightly resentful as people with less physically demanding jobs could work till a lot later. But even a commute can be stressful on the body.
It’s ridiculous really. Thirty/forty years ago women went off a lot earlier. Probably because they weren’t intending to go back to there was no pressure to maximize their mat leave.
It’s good that pregnant women have been able to rest up a bit.

Hadn't crossed my mind that later babies might be arriving because mums are more rested. I had holiday before starting Mat leave so have been off work pottering about at home since about 31w (on top of WFH since 12+3).
Interesting.

So I asked this at my MW appt yesterday and she shut me down right away saying absolutely no correlation, no difference in pattern of pregnancies this year.

She was quite grumpy actually, thinking about it now.

My midwife said most first time babies come after their due date. Mine was born at 39+0 but I'm 40+0 today and no sign of movement. I think it's because mine is facing the wrong way (back to back).

*I should say, my first was born at 39+0 but my second is still in there at 40+0.

@FourPlasticRings

My midwife said most first time babies come after their due date. Mine was born at 39+0 but I'm 40+0 today and no sign of movement. I think it's because mine is facing the wrong way (back to back).

My family have been saying for weeks that first babies always come early, especially in our family. I beg to differ!! No signs of anything at 40+5. Mine is back to back too, so I was told yesterday.

(FTM)

I heard that first babies often come late. Also heard that during times of stress like war they come late too. I think there might be a correlation. I have read a lot of studies on inductions and decided to decline them all unless there is a medical reason. The baby will come when he is ready and when placenta starts to get old.

I had a baby around this time last year. Of my NCT group, 4 went overdue (all the boys funnily enough). The 2 that went early were induced due to medical issues. The 3 women I knew outside of NCT also went overdue. All were FTM. It's much more usual to go late with your first.

My family have been saying for weeks that first babies always come early

Yeah, they're wrong about that.

The average first mom will give birth at 41 weeks and 3 days (10 days late).

Second time moms' average delivery date is 40 weeks and 3 days—that is an entire week earlier!

www.google.com/amp/s/www.mother.ly/amp/5-surprising-facts-about-giving-birth-the-second-time-around-2559511850

Just for fun:

www.whentoexpect.com/

Predicts the odds of labour on/by any given day

@FourPlasticRings thanks for the link! Enjoyed looking at the stats. I guess with normal pregnancy you also have a couple of days here and there as you wouldn't know when ovulation, conception or implantation happened. My little passenger is IVF with known transfer date, implantation must have occurred +-1 day so due date is accurate. Curious to see if he's going to be overdue, I'm 39+5

I delivered during lockdown. I was induced due to being overdue ..