Overdue - losing morale, help!

[Belen82]

Hi all,

40w6 today and at the point that I can’t imagine labour happening. I was induced at 38w5 with my first, it was not pleasant at all so have been so determined for natural birth. From 38w I had cramps and felt ‘things were happening’ but here I am, feeling less and less sure about that by the day. Cervix has shortened (was 1cm a few days ago) and I believe the mucus plug came out, but that’s it. Other than that I feel normal. Would appreciate hearing other’s experiences, good or bad at this point.

We still don’t have baby’s name sorted so many it’s a stand off until we finally lock something in!!!

I think mentally you have to reset the clock to 40+14 as due.

I think the long walk/ exercise can really help to ge things moving.

I agree with PP, mine was born at 42+2 and mentally I'd fixed in my due date! I tried to treat each day as a 'bonus' and another day to do something for myself, I went on long walks, met friends for lunch, went out for a nice meal with my mum, had a long bath, got my nails done.. all stuff I could cancel if needed but stuff which felt like I was doing something..

I was heavy, fed up and uncomfortable! So mentally I had to try and force a bit of gratitude, it wasn't the easiest and I won't say I didn't spend each night wondering if the cramps were maybe the start of something or if maybe finally tonight would be the night..! But it did help and made me feel most of the time more relaxed

As an aside, one of my NCT group was from France and apparently there you get a 'due' two weeks not a date and she couldn't understand why here you're given one day even tho that's so unlikely to be the date your baby is born!

Thanks ladies. I am quite fearful of late term stillbirth as well which isn’t helping, feeling anxious and hard to trust the process. Did you also have these worries?

I'm assuming you've been offered an induction? The national guideline is now to offer induction at 41 weeks, not 42, to reduce the risk of stillbirth. Obviously your choice, but you've not mentioned it and mentioned your concerns, so seems like the next conversation to have?

i haven’t been offered it yet but where I am they offer at 41w4. I truly wanted to avoid induction so am in two minds as to whether to wait it out or induce earlier.

I went to 41+2 this October. 40+6 there was absolutely no sign of anything happening. 41 weeks I had a sweep and tried every trick under the sun that night. 41+1 labour started slowly and 41+2 out she came. It really can happen very quickly! I'm abroad and was under private/independent midwives who could do the delivery until 41+6 so I didn't need to be induced unless I went to 42w, which I would have been okay with as I would have begun to worry about baby at that point.

Try and enjoy the days! Get lots of movement in, and try and do some pregnancy yoga or birth-favourable movements (I followed Allie Briscoe on Instagram and did a few stretches every day).

Aaaand if it works for you, maybe try nipple stimulation, that's what got our girl moving!

@sorchanim - thanks for sharing :) did you do nipple simulation with a breast pump? I’ll go for the sweep tomorrow and see how that goes. How quick was the actual labour itself ?