I got to 2cm dilated and cervix 0.5cm long and didn't feel a thing...

[Orissiah]

Is it possible to not have felt anything to get to that stage? Obviously so (=me) but anyone else?

Consultant also wrote down in my notes "posterior" and "labour signs".

Then he did a sweep as I was 40+1 and requested it. Feeling more period-like twinges now but nothing much else. Has anyone else had similar and still had a long wait for painful contractions/labour to begin?

O
40+2

is this your first baby?

you need your cervix to be anterior, soft, short and opening.. so you are definitely getting there

you might have been having little niggles and twinges.

lots of sex helps ripen the cervix

at 40 + 2 you might have another few days for labour to start, a sweep is most effective at 41 + weeks

You could be a little while yet I'm afraid IMO, however a sweep was what got me started with my DS.

Look out for a possible loss of jelly, phlegm, bloody, yuck, slime type stuff, it will be your "show" the plug !

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO how exciting, do you know what flavour ?

Yes I was 3cm and had started noticed some mild period type pains in the last hour. Also posterior. She was born 8 hours later!

Sorry, meant to say "anterior, 2cm dilated, soft, 0.5 cm long". They could feel the head too. Yes, my first baby. My "show" has been gradual over last few weeks so I think that's gone. Wade - lucky you! Isn't it ridiculous how patient I've been these past nine months and now EDD has come am gone and so so so impatient that I've forgotten the E in EDD!

Yes! This happened with my first, went for checkup on my due date, said I was 2cms dilated and did a sweep. She was born the next day! Hope things start happening soon!

Go for a walk/have a curry/get jiggy with it or something... Perhaps it will kick things off! Fingers crossed!

Yes, have been walking alot and squatting and doing rotations on my birthing ball. Tried sex, but it was all so uncomfortable. I've eaten curry most of my pregnancy (with chillis) so that's normal part of my diet.

LuluMama I know you are a doula - is walking and squatting and birth ball bouncing really effective in instigating labour (as it is for progressing labour)?

Some of my friends have said, Stop stressing, relax, don't do any of those walking/bouncing things all the time if you don't want to, just relax and it should all happen over the next week.

Perhaps my stress will delay things...

Perhaps I should log off for a week and read/think about anything other than pregnancy and birth!

O
40+2

Yes it is. I got to 3 cm before feeling anything in baby # 2 and went from 1-3 in 20 minutes. First a nurse checked me and then the doctor. Contractions were not very painful, but very close together at 7 cm, but between 8 and 10 is when all hell broke loose.

Stay relaxed and busy a friend of mine was 4 cm for 3 weeks before she went into full blown labor with her second baby.

I went in for a growth scan as they were concerned he was small! It was 2 days after my due date, I said I have been haing a few minor pains, so they put me on the monitor and when she saw the print outs she wanted to examine me and i was 7 cms dialalted!!!! I had no idead I was in labour, he was my first child and was born a cople of hours later.
My second child, as soon as i got pains i had to go in, and i was 6 cm dialated then and she was born 15 mins later!
If I have a third baby it will be a home birth!

sounds positive, especially for first baby, as afeter one baby your cervix is open 1cm for ever more!!

all those things you talk about are good for getting baby down onto your cervix whihc is helpful, but you need to rest, not wear yourself out, eat and drink as you need, wee and poo too! take a bath if you want one.. labour will start when your body and baby are ready.. so encourage gently by all means,,, sex and nipple stim also helpful, but also, take it easy!

hope we are reading your birth announcement soon

Orissiah

With ddi i got 8/9cm and didn't know i was in labour.

I had a slight backache but i had had that most of the last 3 months anyway. I knew i was in labour when i got to the hospital, and then i only went to hospital because i started bleeding quite heavly.

Sorry

should have I only knew i was in labour when i got to the hospital.

Thanks all. I've been having constant back ache and period-style aches since the sweep but my perception of it is that it is all too mild. So I might get a midwife to examine my cervix early next week even though I am not next due into the hospital until the 14th when my induction is booked. That way I can see whether I have dilated much more and then we will know that pain may not be a good signifier for me that birth is imminent!

I was 6cm dilated and thought I had a tummy ache- DD was not due for 4 weeks otherwise maybe I might have thought I was in labour! She appeared about 6 hours later.

Hello all,

Quick update - went into painful labour on Friday 6th June and managed to get to 5cm dilation (at home and at hospital) without any pain relief - simply breathed through the pain and used natal hypnotherapy techniques. Then popped into the water birthing pool which was bliss. But my dilations slowed completely and I began to feel too exhausted to get through the pain alone and had an epidural and synto drip to speed up contractions and dilation. Baby began to lose oxygen because it was taking so long and by evening of Sat 7th had emergency c-section. My beautiful 8.10lb baby was born 10 minutes later! 3 nights in hospital and now we are home.

O
Baby 6 days old.

Oh what wonderful news. Saw your post the other day but had awful pains before I dilated and right through so not appropriate to tell you how awful I found it so didn?t comment .
Delighted to hear that your baby has arrived at last