Overdue over the holidays?

[bexboz]

This post is for anyone who is looking set to be "overdue" around the Christmas and New Year period...

Last year I was very "overdue" in the run up to Christmas. I experienced a great deal of pressure from a combination of twitchy midwives / consultants and pending family visits. I had an induction and my baby boy was born on Christmas Day. It was an incredibly special birth in the end after all the stress and I wouldn't change it for the world (maybe minus the family visits 48 hours later!!) but here are some things I wish I had heard in those final weeks and days...

1. Your body and your baby have no idea that it's Christmas. They are on their own timeline.

2. Your choices and experience in pregnancy, birth and postpartum are more important than anyone else's holiday plans.

3. Due dates are not all they are cracked up to be. Placentas don't just stop working at 42 weeks.

4. if you don't want people to visit before or after the baby arrives they need to respect that boundary. It doesn't matter that it's the holidays and they "planned it" - see point number 2)

5. what ever you decide to do it is your choice for what is right for you and your baby, not because it's more convenient for anyone else to deliver before / after the holidays.

Take your time to decide. Be kind to yourself. Wishing you all the best.

Are you suggesting midwives were trying to get you to agree to an induction so they could get home earlier at Christmas? Not sure otherwise what the significance of you mentioning Christmas is but I'm very unconvinced that's a thing.

Oh no not at all - for me it was family pressures, as in "this is when we booked a holiday so we are visiting regardless of if you are two weeks postpartum or two days"!

healthcare professionals get twitchy at 42 weeks regardless of time of year!!

When Christmas family pressures coincides with the 42 week mark it can add up to a lot more stress than necessary in my experience!

Great if someone does not feel these pressures - but if they do then I thought hearing these reminders might help. If not, just ignore (like anything else on the internet!)