I am 40w+2, no signs of labour anytime soon, have had days of period pains and mild contractions in the past week or so but have teetered off into nothing. This is my second, but was induced first time round so nothing to compare it to.
I am really keen for a natural birth this time with no induction but obviously as each day goes by I am wary of the need for eventual intervention. I do know that I can always decline, I am just not comfortable myself with going past 42 weeks and would like to have something planned by that point.
Obviously labour can come at any time but do I need to be actively encouraging it? I am mainly asking because I am resting a lot. I have gotten fairly uncomfortable the last 2 weeks and so my movement has slowed down a lot. I am not particularly active other than pottering around the house, although do have occasional day trips out (2-3 times a week) and have had some vigorous nesting days where I have spent a lot of the day cleaning. I just see a lot of other people at this stage walking for miles or curb walking or completing the miles circuit and I just cannot bring myself to do it. I then feel a lot of guilt that I am just not helping myself or encouraging baby into the right position etc. I go on my ball a few times a week but again not particularly active with that, it’s mainly for comfort if I am aching more than doing anything to encourage baby’s positioning.
I read up about people doing every possible thing to encourage it and still going over by 2 weeks so I know it’s almost uncontrollable, but needing a reality check on whether spending so much time in bed or lounging on the sofa is actually not going to help me get the labour I want!