Worried about going into labour early

[beaufies]

I am having an elective ceasarian at week 38+4 and have been told that if I was to go into labour before this and be 'too far gone' that I would not be able to have the caesarian.

I am very anxious that this might happen, particularly as my baby has been big for dates on all scans (2 weeks over at 19 weeks) and we know that the dates are correct as we conceived having fertility treatment.

Is the baby's size any guide ? Or what about how early late my mother/sister was with their pregnancies ?

Is there anything to avoid near the time that could start it off ?

Thanks in anticipation

I know how anxious you might be but Im not sure there is anything you can do about this one. Im sure that closer to the time if you are showing signs of being closer to giving birth then the midwife would pick up on these?

I wouldnt worry about the size of the baby at 19 weeks - my son was nearly 3 weeks too big at this stage and he popped (lol) out weighing 7.5 pounds. Babies do not grow at an equal rate - they have growth spurts so perhaps yours had just had a spurt. They dont tend to worry about things like this until further on if the baby is still measuring big they would then scan you.

As for genetics and birth time Im not sure about that one - I was 2 weeks overdue when I was born - my son on the other hand was a week early. No sisters to compare to unfortunately. There are some studies though that show its related to the father - mums who have babies with the same man tend to give birth at similar stages compared to if they have another baby with a different man. So blame him lol.

Is this your first baby?

What do you mean by 'too far gone'?

I had an elective planned with ds for 38+3 - which is about as early as they'l consider doing them - because I went into labour with dd at 36+6. I was told that if I went into labour before the planned section I'd simply be added on to the emergency list for that day - which would mean more hanging around waiting for theatre etc but apart from that it would be no different.

I'm not sure what was meant by 'too far gone' those were the consultants words. I'm guessing it's either about how far dilated I am or if it was to be really quick and I took too long getting to the hospital that the head my be too far down ?

This is my first baby but my husband has a ten year old son who was born about 5 weeks early. I'm not sure that that's a good indicator though as his mum was drinking and smoking heavily throughout, and surviving primarily on coffee

Not sure what they meant by that either, my last was an elective section at 39+1, went into labour at 2am that morning so I just ended up having an emergency section instead.

On the plus side, if you go into labour early, and it's quick, you'll avoid a CS. And if it's not quick, you'll still have one it'll just be an 'emergency' one. Is there an underlying reason for the CS? When you mention your mother & sister etc, were they early or late?

Throughout my first pregnancy the midwives kept telling me it was a big baby but she was on the 50th centile line when born so decidedly average. My daughter was born 8 weeks early and I was expecting her to be 10 days to 2 weeks late as that was the pattern of my mum and sister, but as amyb said, it's the father that can affect the length of pregnancy. I wouldn't worry about your husband's previous prem baby as it doesn't sound like the mother was doing the best for a healthy pregnancy! I think you should express your concerns to midwife next time you have an appointment. Good luck.