How NOT to go into labour...

[sarah13xx]

I have a planned c-section coming up and want to do the opposite of what most people aim to do, I’m trying to avoid going into labour early. Is walking (2 miles roughly) likely to bring it on? I know sometimes it’s just one of those things and can’t be stopped but if there’s anything I can avoid doing that might keep baby in there til my date then please let me know 😂👶🏼

No help but I tried every possible old wives tale to get baby out and still got induced at a week overdue, hopefully yours will be just as comfy as DD was

I guess avoid all the things people do to kick start labour haha...spicey food, sex, lots of walking. For me I bounced obsessively on my yoga ball every day like I was trying to get the last bit of sauce out of a bottle I think really though if it’s gonna happen it’s gonna happen! Good luck and hope you make your section :)

If you go into labour you will just an emcs ASAP unless you change your mind. Even then you get every man and their dog asking you just to check you are definitely giving labour a go and the cs isn’t required grin]

Well I've had 1 emergency and 2 electives. I never went in to natural labour with any of them. First (emergency) I got induced at 41 weeks. 2nd planned at 40 weeks and 3rd planned at 39 weeks. All 3 never had any labour signs. So hopefully your like me and yours babies are just to comfortable.
Must say with the 2nd I did try everything possible for a vaginal birth, nothing got me going haha

@dazzlerdo that sounds promising 😂 if I’m going through the recovery of a c section I’d ideally like it to be an elective and not emergency one and also not experience labour before it if possible 🙈 the only thing I might need to avoid in a few weeks is walking because I walk my dog a lot but might be better to avoid that near the end

With both of mine I was desperate to get them going. I did every old wives tale in the book - ball, sex, walked quite literally miles every day, ate whole pineapples, boxes of dates and raspberry leaf tea by the bucket, bounced on the ball ((barely used a chair after about 36 weeks with my first), I even went RUNNING. Nothing makes them come out before they are ready except actual things they do in hospitals and sometimes barely even that. Enjoy your dog walks x

Had my elective booked for the Monday but went into labour very early Saturday morning (38+5). It was classed as an emergency elective and wasn't anywhere near as scary as I'd imagine an actual emergency one to be. It was relatively calm and didn't feel rushed. Recovery was absolutely fine. I called maternity ward when I was in labour they confirmed on the phone that I still wanted a c section and preparations for theatre were made while I was on the way to hospital. Arrived, was prepped for theatre with gown, consent forms etc then taken up.

I would avoid excessive walking, ended up walking miles two days before I went into labour and blame that.

i was booked in for an elective but my waters broke 7 days before, i went ahead with the c section. On my paperwork it says emergency c section, but in reality it was NOTHING like my 1st actual emergency one and recovery was so much quicker.

Probably not, though it will tire you out if you did go into spontaneous labour.

Don't book any trips out and tempt fate. My sister was at the cinema and had arranged her section for the following week, just a couple of hours before. Oh how she laughed, wouldn't it be Sod's law to go into labour? Well it happened. Waters breaking all over the cinema chair 😂🥴.

@Chanel05 haha no way, that would be the worst! We’re going away next weekend (not too far) but I’m staying within a 5 mile radius of the hospital after that 😂

@DaisyChainsForever that’s not too bad then, I have heard of that happen to quite a few people. Just hoping the date I’m given is 39 weeks and not closer to 40 to try and avoid it!

@Gem176 glad you managed to get it, my choice would definitely still be to go for the section and I’ve asked so many questions about what they’d do in that situation 🙈 by the sounds of it they’d do the same as you if it happened right before the due date but if it was pre 37 weeks she was trying to tell me they wouldn’t do it because of how much better it is for the baby not to have a section at that point 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’m just keeping everything crossed I get past 37 weeks haha

@Hollywhiskey it seems a lot of babies are just too comfy in there! My friends wasn’t, he was a big baby and she’s tiny so he arrived at 37 weeks last week. I’m quite tall so I think my baby will have plenty of space in there right til the end 😂 hope so anyway!

@sarah13xx I'm not sure that's right either, I'd be questioning that with them... your birth is your choice and if your choice is a section then they have to accept that.

I'm due my second in September, I've been told my section will happen at some point between 36 and 38 weeks (I have type 1 diabetes) so it's not that they won't do sections pre 37 weeks.

Not sure if you're planning on breastfeeding, but there's an advantage to going into labour and getting some of the labour hormones to help kick things off (although it's certainly not the be all and end all). Either way - there's nowt you can do!

whatever you do don't cry.

with 3 of my pg I got so bloody fed up I had a proper cartoon tears foaming at the mouth hysterical meltdown.
went into labour with 24 hours each time🤣
I don't know if there's scientific merit to this but I believe that stress build up is counterproductive to going into labour. so letting it all out and relaxing must have triggered something?

so no more relaxation for you. get your road rage on🤣🤣🤣

best of luck

I did absolutely nothing in the last few weeks except sit around and watch the toddler tire himself out in the sun. Still went into spontaneous labour a week before my c section date. As it was the middle of the night and they only had one surgical team on who were doing an emergency when I arrived, I ended up giving birth naturally because I was too far on when they came back to me. To be fair, it was a very quick labour (made up for the shit pregnancy) but it just shows nothing is guaranteed.