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[MrsCurly]

Come and take my mind off it!

Suggest something indulgent we can do to distract ourselves.

Mrs C

strawberry thanks for hug by the way - sending one back your way

Thanks for the kind thoughts ladies,

Had the sweep, not painful, midwife said there wasn't much she could do, I'm 4cm and fully effaced, but did what she could - I just have a stubborn baby - looks like she has now chosen her name; Constance the closest to stubborn we could get!

Good news is she is indeed fully engaged, didn't seem in the slightest bit bothered by the sweep. MW says she will talk to the consultant tomorrow and see if I agree to go in for a a couple of hours of daily monitoring, if they will agree to give me a few more days for the spontaneous labour I have been waiting - not that patiently for!

She says induction won't work as I have already done my bit, it's up tot he baby now, so they would have to ARM, then give me just two hours to start contractions - if not I would be put on a synthetic oxytocin drip - which in her view will have no effect if the baby isn't ready and I will end up with an ECS ten hours later if not sooner, so she is going to fight for those extra days for me. I count myself so lucky to have her on my side. DH is getting a little nervous as he knows there is an increased risk of still birth with long gestations and with his brother losing his baby at full term less than a year ago, I can't really push this to beyond 42 weeks or he will find it too stressful, so lets hope I can push induction/ARM to Friday/Sat and hope she arrives spontaneously sooner!

I have spent the afternoon walking, eating pineapple, drinking RLT, doing the deed and popping out for a curry....not all at the same time.........

Fingers crossed!

40+12 now
i could scream but baby is ok
please send encouraging words this way
today would be a good day to labour as not too hot and tomorrow is forecast too hot for me.
hope you are all well!

Yes today would be ideal, just seen the forecast and it's getting really hot for the rest of the week.

40+16 today and off for scan to check all is well. Feeling very nervous though.

Try & keep positive homebirth and fingers crossed that things happen for us VERY soon!

40 + 11, have an appt. later. Sadly no idea what for (great communication...)

Homebirth and MoggMum, join me on the walking today, I doubt we'll manage later in the week in the heat!

I have tried pretty much everything to get going, dh looking a bit tired...

Oh good luck everyone, sending labour vibes to you all. I'm 40+5 today - had a massive walk yesterday and some promising tightenings last night but no progress today.

Burmese, you are lucky to have such a supportive midwife - have never heard a MW be so frank about induction. If they know that oxytocin won't work in some circumstances, why do they use it? This happened to me and ended up with emcs in my last pregnancy so was interested to read this. It's no comfort to you and your dh I know, but the still birth risk is extremely low even past 42 weeks.

Good luck to everyone too, I'm 40+10 today, hoping she has been waiting for a rainy day.......

I am very lucky indeed to have a great MW!

ooh moggsmum, i do feel for you, and despite my grumbling i really do hope that you have your baby before i do. i dont know if any of you have seen the website mybirth.tv it has lots of home birth video diaries on it. i watched one this morning, a lady called catherine (i think) and she had her home birth successfully at 26 days past her edd. i have no idea how she didnt just cry herself to sleep at night! (maybe she did) what a hero hey!
burmesegrumbler, i too was fascinated by what your midwife said. it is amazing that they put so much faith in something that might not work, it is alwys refreshing when you hear of medical professionals who speak from their experience not their text book.

Thanks for the heads up on that website - the videos are fab!

Following scan and CTG I have now been booked in for induction tonight

Although baby is fine, they are concerned re lack of amniotic fluid so my time is up!

MW did perform another sweep but my cervix is still high so it's unlikely to work.

I am feeling quite upset as my planned natural waterbirth is now impossible but trying not to get too stressed as there's nothing i can do to chanbge things now.

Good luck to all those left on this thread xx

sending hugs your way moggmum.

Thanks homebirth and goodluck for your sweep tomorrow x

Good luck MoggMum.

Although it's not the water birth you had anticipated, I have heard some positive experiences from people about induction being just like normal birth with a bit of a kick start. I hope yours goes this way.

Wishing you lots of positive labour vibes xx

All the best Moggmum

Appt. was horrible, doc shocked I hadn't seen anyone. Told noone is 'allowed' to go more than 10 days over. Wanted to induce NOW, but thankfully couldn't book it until first thing tomorrow. Feelig very emotional, just had a big cry on dh. The labour ward was my biggest fear, and was told no chance of birth centre. Had sweep too, surprised by the amount of blood which has made me even more wobbly.

Pretty short appt, usual bp/urine/heartbeat. All fine. At least that's something. Felt like a right twat struggling to get trousers on and off in a remotely dignified way. Struggling to bend at all with huge bump.

ohh strawberrycake, you poor thing. allowed indeed! not surprised you are feeling so emotional right now, i really feel for you. i am glad your dh is with you and i am sure he is being very supportive. sending huge squeezes your way. i will be thinking of you in the morning. i really hope it goes well for you.

My cervix is anterior, 1cm dilated, 50% effaced and 'favourable'. Baby is 2/5. Do you think this is promising enough? I know it's better than nothing, but not sure how good/bad this is.

Quite surprised as I'm now also boderline aneamic, from being very far from it only 4 weeks before.

I wish I'd seen a midwife rather than doc, they seem so much more balanced and human.

It's a lot more favourable than my last sweep- anterior cervix is what you want (mine was posterior), soft (mine was hard!) and baby pretty far in...

Good luck xx

40+2

Only two days over but clock is ticking as my placenta is looking pretty ropey. Last baby was 10 days over. Am praying this one gets a hurry up.

May have membrane sweep tomorrow depending on bishop score. Can't be bothered with pineapple, raspberry leaf tea, acupuncture etc this time as they didn't work last time.

Am trial running my own personal experiment to see if strong espressos kick start things.

xxx

40+11 today! Major grumblings all day and all night, but not strong enough or regular enough to be real contractions. Off to the hospital now for some monitoring and so get my new induction date......

I have tried espresso - didn't do it me, neither has weeks of curry, RLT, sex, pineapple, clary sage oil in massage oil and bath, yoga, walking, a small glass of red wine, have been advised to try nipple stimulation next. Two mins per breast for Thirty mins apparently does the trick.....let's see.

Fingers crossed again for all of you!

Rats! Was banking on success of my espresso experiment.

Good luck all. My paltry 40+3 suddenly doesn't seem too bad.

40+10 today and not a sausage....

Have appt with registrar this morning to discuss induction. Ho hum.

40+13 today.its odd to think that if baby had come on time my dh would be back at work on friday, as it is i have 2 weeks of him to look forward to. he keeps on saying 'when i'm on holiday!' hmmph i will really need to keep him on his toes! (although to be fair to him he has totally pampered me and been very supportive and understanding throughout whole pregnancy)

hi all - just been reading last few posts and wanted to check in and offer some reassurance.

Burmese, you sound as though you could go into labour anytime now so that sounds really promising. I wanted to say though, I went term+18 until I agreed to ARM due to low amniotic fluid (baby was perfectly fine) and nothing happened after 2 hours. They wanted to give me the syntocin to which I politely declined and said I would like a couple more hours. I had an incredibly supportive midwife on delivery suite who agreed but I have to say, regardless of the midwife, they were coming nowhere near me with the drip at that stage!! Anyway, 3 hours later, I delivered a baby by normal vaginal birth. Because I also declined constant monitoring, they agreed I could use the waterbirth pool if I wanted (as it turns out, I had no time). Subsequent discussions with midwifes and they said if I had accepted the drip, I almost certainly would have gone into hyperstimulation and ended up with EMCS so, the moral of my story. Stick to your guns, listen to your body, talk to the midwives. You sound so favourable in terms of being ready that I bet ARM will be enough to start you off. If it does, push for enough time to let your body do the rest. Stay relaxed and calm and let your baby do the work too. I wish you all the luck in the world.

Ooh thanks Madcats that makes me feel much more positive - new induction date is Saturday when I will be 42 weeks, I didn't realise you could negotiate the drip if two hours after ARM nothing was happening, very useful info! The monitoring today showed a very happy, active baby and I have scan booked in for tomorrow to check the waters are still sufficient (bump looks the same size, so guessing waters are still fine, but worth checking). MW's in the monitoring unit all seemed to think induction was a bad idea in my case as I am so ready, but all thought 42 weeks is the max I should stretch to before agreeing to ARM. Has anyone ever had the test where they insert a probe into the cervix to shine a little light into the membranes and check the waters are still clear??? My doula mentioned this test to me but I haven't heard of it's availability on the NHS, she said it's a good way of checking there is no blood or meconium present in the waters if you are very overdue, as these things do not show up in scans. My blood pressure and urine samples are all still fine, as is my imaginary diabetes, had toast and fruit and milky coffee and a coconut muffin for breakfast - blood glucose reading was fine....the lovely ladies on the gestational diabetes thread would murder me for a muffin for breakfast!

Trying to stay relaxed, might book in for another massage....

Sending everyone labour vibes, my LO wasn't waiting for a rainy day after all, perhaps today being a sunny day might draw her out! Fingers crossed for you all.