40+4 wks; cervix posterior, 1cm long, 1 cm dilated; any hope???

[Rhia30]

First timer in this. I've naively been preparing myself for months for a natural birth and read up loads of pain relief, yoga, acupuncture points etc etc. Having Braxton Hicks since forever and thought this baby will come early. Wrong. Am now 40+4 and they've booked me in for induction at 40+10. I feel quite panicky with this deadline hanging over me...it wasn't supposed to go like this...

In internal, cervix still posterior, 1cm long and 1cm dilated, not properly soft yet, "medium consistency". Had a little bit of show a couple of days ago, had stretch&sweep yesterday but nothing yet. Is there any hope for me?? Very hard to believe that I'd go into natural labour in the next 6 days with this situation. Having another S&S and acupuncture and walking lots. Plus rasberry leaf tea etc.

Really appreciated the induction thread, was good to know more about that "option".

I'd REALLY appreciate your thoughts / experience / comments
xx

Of course there is hope.

My cervix was tightly closed at 41 weeks (they couldn't get a finger in to do a sweep). 4 days later I went into spontaneous labour.

And of course 40+10 is a pretty arbitrary cut-off for induction. You can always ask the hospital to monitor you for a bit and see how you get on if you go past that date.

Think positively - babies don't generally stay in there forever!

Thanks Mrs Happy Yes, totally arbitrary. The consultant said that the risk of stillbirth starts to increase around +10 days hence they keen on induction. It was very strange they said nothing about scans and monitoring (hospital midwife just said they won't help as what matters is whether baby is moving...) and I forgot to ask the consultant...

I think that the point of scans after their induction cut-off date is to check that the placenta still seems to be functioning well. I am not an expert on these things, but I thought that the risk in being late comes from the placenta beginning to degrade.
Anyway, surely it is entirely within normal range to have a baby at any time up to around 42 weeks? Dunno what this obsession is with induction before then...

(But if for some reason you do end up being induced, it doesn't have to be a nightmare - just try to stay active).

It's a very random length of time, in France a pg is considered to be 41 weeks rather than our 40, so there you are allowed to go to 43 weeks, go figure.

So I wouldn't worry too much about the 40+10 if you want to hang in there a few more days.

And I think you have every chance of going into labour before then anyway, good luck.

40+4 is not even anywhere near overdue - why are they stressing you out talking about inductions ?

My son was 42 weeks exactly when I went into spontaneous labour. Due dates are estimates that can go two weeks either way and still fall in the normal range.

Complications are found sometimes in overdue babies, i.e. those babies that go to 42 weeks plus!

Put induction out of your mind - relax and have a nice time as much as possible with a big bump (38 weeks myself so empathising with that). You can soften and dilate very quickly indeed and you have loads of time.

Any hope indeed? There is no problem at all - you are bang on track .

by the way, don't take my word for it, read this too

Hi all,

thanks for thoughts. Yes I know this about being overdue and how opinions differ, it's very tricky. My consultant wants to induce because the risk of stillbirth increases after 10 days over, and even if this is a tiny risk, it's not particularly a risk I'm very happy to take...

I'd really appreciate people's views on where you've (or your cervix haha) been around that time and whether 1cm long and 1cm dilated is ANY indication of anything and how long it took you? As that's what I'm really desperate to find out more!! Maybe we can discuss pros and cons of induction in other threads

Thanks all for your advice!
xx

As a primip (first time mum) I'd expect your cervix to be as you describe before labour starts as the changes that take place to your cervix will happen in the 'latent' or early stages. The cervix has to shorten (yours is currently 1cm so that length will disappear)and become soft in consistency, as well as begin to dilate. There is absolutely no way of telling how long it will be before your labour becomes established, don't try to compare yourself with anyone else. Just keep positive and keep active to encourage that baby's head to put pressure on the cervix.

Yep, just one of those things you can never predict Baby is down and quite well engaged so that might get me somewhere... Feeling really well so trying to be v active and go for long walks and so on.

Hi I had a cervical sweep on my second child at 40+4 I was central and 2cms But I would be more dilated as it was a second child and due for induction at 40+10 However I had the sweep Sunday and Monday which I am sure was due to the sweep I started irregular cc and having a bit of blood mucas tue at 4 pm I started regular cc every 10 mins and my dd was born 1.46 am Wednesday morning I was due for induction Friday.

It can happen it did for me are they going to give a second sweep before induction.Hope you go soon sending lots of labor vibes.

ds1 - @ 40 weeks my MW couldn't even achieve a stretch and sweep. Went into spontaneous labour at 40+8

ds2 - @ 40+2 my waters started to leak, the MW said my cervix was very posterior and 1cm dilated. DS2 was born 4 hours later

There is hope, things can change in a matter of days or hours.

Relax and take time to visualise meeting your baby.

Read the birth announcements on here to get the hormones flowing.

It will happen. You will be holding your baby very soon and sniffing that newborn smell

Thanks for the encouragement, it's so lovely to read

I'm having the 2nd stretch&sweep at 40+6 and then going for acupuncture induction session at 41+0. Soooo hoping they would help along...

Is posterior cervix an issue or is that what everyone has before labour kicks in?

I think everyone has a posterior cervix. Then as it thins and becomes ready for labour it sort of moves round and is more accessible. From what I remember the cervix is almost around a bend.

Good luck for the acupuncture.

Stay positive. This IS going to happen.

Have a look at the birth stories on www.homebirth.org.uk. They get me crying everytime

Thanks for link ILikeToMove it - will check out

Had more show appear tonight (I'm sure you all needed to know that...) maybe things ARE progressing...

Sorry, haven't read whole thread, so apols if repeating.

They shouldn't set arbitrary dates such as '10 days', that is nutty.

As long as the following measures are checked and found to be okay there is no need to induce:

1. Placenta
2. Amniotic fluid
3. Baby's heartbeat
4. Your overall health

It annoys the pants off me that hospitals do that; I've just moved to an area where they set that deadline and I have geared myself up for a fight when the time comes.

In any case, if you refuse to be induced, what can they do about it? Bash your front door in and strap you to your dining table?

Oh and well done for prepping yourself so well for your birth. You will have the most amazing experience.