Anyone else 37/38 weeks pg?

[DeathMetalMum]

I'm 38 weeks today. Just wondering if anyone else is around the same point. Starting to feel a little fed up and I could still be waiting 4 weeks for baby to arrive. I don't have any real symptoms of impending labour at the moment. I am getting quite painfull tightenings with some back ache but saw the mw on friday who said head isn't engaged yet so not expecting much soon. How is everyone else dping?

Thanks Dirty. I just feel like everything is out of my control. I'm having a VBAC and just wanted everything to be straight forward this time. Hope you're enjoying your new little bundle

oh, bad luck Pontouf! At least there's time for the baby to turn around. And much more likely to do that than flip from breach to head down!

MW at my appointment was super lovely - same MW that I saw last week & did my 1st sweep. I, on the other hand, was a total basket case. She was super sympathetic & did another internal & sweep (besides actually pushing the baby out I think having a sweep must be one of the more uncomfortable experiences I've had).

Good news is my Bishop's score is up from 5 to 7 (can only really go much higher when you're in active labour, so she said). Cervix is very forward, very soft, 2cm dilated & only 2cm long. Baby's head is so far down that on the external palpations she could only feel it's shoulders. So that would be why my pelvis has been so damned uncomfortable!! (basically the only way he can be further down is if he's out & in my arms). She actually said that she would have been happy to break my waters today, only they don't keep amno hooks in the antenatal clinic. Damn it! had I known I would have taken my crochet hook & a bottle of vodka to sterilise it Why don't human babies have the equivalent of an egg tooth?

And there was no way she was able to book me an induction prior to 41+5 (very strict hospital policy, apparently). Her advice was that if nothing happens as a result of today, and if in a few days time I feel I really can't cope to call the labour ward & ask to speak to a senior midwife or one of the OBs.

So generally things are poised and ready to go. Any time now. Hopefully before 4pm on April 4!

That all sounds excellent, beanz! Very positive news about your cervix!

Don't worry, pontouf - there is still time for him to turn. Have a look at the Spinning Babies website. My MW recommended I try the exercises because this one's been engaged back to back since 30 weeks. It hasn't worked for me but then I think back to back is just the way I carry (this is the third). Worth a go!

I'm feeling a bit less panicky about the induction thing because I've found out there's a midwife drop-in at the hospital every day this weekend so I'm going to keep going for sweeps until his lordship emerges!

Crappy - posted a long post and it disappeared into the ether.....

Pontouf, don't be too disheartened. As the others have said, turning from back to back is easier than turning from breach. Hopefully gym ball and different positions will help. Sorry your mw wouldn't examine you - mine was all gung-ho about getting in there from 37 weeks onwards! They're all so different with their rules and regulations etc.

Sundae I still can't believe you have such a gap in your mw appts :( There must be something wrong with that. Hope they manage to give you a sweep or something at your walk-in appointment. Not that mine has done ANY good :(

Had a complete meltdown last night and this morning, just couldn't stop crying, absolutely fed up and stressed. (It's my own fault - am doing a degree and got 6 assignments to do PLUS a dissertation proposal that should have been in today and my brain is just complete mush). I feel like a complete failure that I haven't gone in to labour yet. Arrgh. Do you think it WBU to ring my midwife and BEG for another sweep today?? (Kidding! Kind of.....!)

Beanz that sounds good - fingers crossed things happen for you soon. Maybe your waters will go by themselves today or tomorrow - get bouncing!

Oh pontouf im in same situation as you with back to back, im just about to look and this spinning babies thing that zuleiak recomends!!

Wow, saycool, no wonder you're feeling a bit overwhelmed! Goodness, and here's me with a to-do list that's relatively miniscule & feeling sorry for myself!

I hope you've got an understanding and very empathetic academic supervisor? Have you been able to postpone the dissertation submission date & relieve some of the pressure?

Hahaha - my personal tutor told me off in the middle of a lecture a few weeks ago because the baby was kicking and I was rubbing my bump! He told me 'everyone knows you're pregnant, no need to disrupt the whole class....' I was . So no, not particularly empathetic All year I've been treated like some teenage accidental pregnancy rather than a married 30 year old. Grrr.

Sorry, having a rant. Ignore me!

what an idiot! almost as if he wanted to make an example of you to make sure no-one else asked for special treatment.

Your rant is totally ok. I'd be fuming (almost quite literally with steam out of my ears) if I had to deal with that sort of attitude on a regular basis.

Sounds like you need to treat yourself - or ?

Tempted by the wine....

Here, some for you too Beanz

Right come on ladies, lets pop us out some Easter babies. Have been bouncing on gym ball all afternoon.

I want my baby!

Urgh I want mine too, think I'm in false labour

Have pains but mainly when sitting or lying down so I know its not the real deal

Boring

38+6

SayCool

I literally want to roundhouse kick your tutor in the face

Thanks LuckyOwl. I wanted to too but baby brain prevented any snippy comeback.

Hang in there Num3. I hope time goes quickly for you. False/latent labour is the worst!

Beanz hooray for your cervix! (not a sentence I can imagine saying in real life!)

Oh saycool what a knobber! How exactly does rubbing your bump disrupt the whole class? Idiot. Some blokes in particular can be pilliocks when it comes to pregnancy i've found. When i was suffering from HG with my first, one of the doctors where i work told me he didn't really believe in morning sickness as there was no evolutionary reason for it. He reckoned it was one of those "psychosomatic illnesses like fibromyalgia or ME". Disregarding how incredibly insulting that is to people with those problems and how worrying it is to hear that from a doctor, it's fucking rude to say itto someone who has dragged themslves into work despite struggling to keep fluids down. I have to admit I had a little smirk to myself when I later found out that his wife was pregnant with twins. I felt sorry for her but more fool her for marrying the odious little creep.

Anyway, I can't imagine having to do academic work while feeling like this. One of my best mates is doing something similar, she's working full time as a social worker, looking after a two year old and doing a full time MA. She's not pregnant but is quite quite nuts.

ZuleikaD thanks for the link. I've tried a couple of the techniques this afternoon. Given myself a headache, but will persevere! Am just sitting on my ball having a little bounce now. Have been a bit lax about using the ball so will step it up now. How did you find labour with an OP baby? I'm terrified it will be agony in my back. I've got a tens machine to help with the early bit though so hopefully that might help at the start

Pontouf I am at that doctor!

Yeah he's not well liked. Likes to laud it over us nurses for being just nurses whereas he is a consultant dermatologist. Big whoop.

I'm a bit concerned that my baby has moved again as previously I could feel kicks up into my ribs whereas since yesterday they feel to the left hand side, slightly below belly button.

I've been head down just about 60% of the time at midwife appointments, and was told I'm 1/5 engaged on Tues and to come back in a fortnight (unless baby arrives before then of course), but I'm tempted to book in with the midwife Tuesday coming just to be reassured.

I would hate to get to the midwife -led labour ward ready for my lovely waterbirth to be told I'll need to be transferred to a different hospital 30 mins away with a breech baby.

Girls, if I didn't have you lot to chat to, I would be finding this so much harder to deal with.

Once DD is in bed, will definitely indulge in a wee tipple of red . Being an emotional basket case is exhausting in all the wrong ways, with none of the endorphin high!

LuckyOwl, it could be punches rather than kicks? Hopefully it is - I'm pretty sure it's unusual for a baby to turn breech once it's been engaged.... Not that I'm an expert!

Beanz it's definitely good to chat! Thanks all. It's totally helped me. I'm an emotional wreck today.

Just ordered a hot curry. I don't care if its a myth - SOMETHING's got to work!

And yes - putting DD to bed now and then will be having a little too

I hope it is punches!

Yesterday I had rasberry leaf tea, a whole pineapple and spicy chilli for tea... seemed to counteract the pains and twinges I'd been having for 24 hours! Doh!

Maybe it'll have a delayed effect

Just had a Madras which has made the baby go a bit crazy!

Ive lost all pain and even the feeling of being preggers!!! Although it might mean sleep tonight it could also mean that NO Easter baby for me. Best get on the ball again and bring back some uncomfy pain.

Oh Marsh Calm before the storm maybe?

Hope you get a good nights sleep at least.

Thank you Whip for the positive thinking!

Pontouf I'm glad that doctor's a dermatologist not a gynaecologist. The idea that evolution has a 'reason' for everything is making me roll my eyes so hard they hurt!

I've had two back labours and I think a TENS machine would really have helped, so I think you're on the right track there. I get all the pain in my coccyx - counter-pressure works quite well (got DH to roll a tennis ball hard over my coccyx the first time) but the better thing is gas-and-air! It gives you a way of coping with the contractions that still lets you feel what's going on. I delivered both of them without interventions and with DS had an 11 minute pushing stage, so once you're there it's not too bad. You do need to be on all fours, though - being on your back is intolerable.