40 weeks and 5 days and not engaged??

[hollygiz1]

Hi,

Im worried as ive been for my check today and im still not engaged?is this a bad thing? as midwife says if i go in labour to go straight to hospital, does anyone know why?

is it your first?

yes

I never engaged with either of mine till I was in labour.

and did they tell you to go straight into hospital when did you go in labour what week?

Both my daughters were overdue and never engaged until labour. With my first they told me I should have a planned section at 40+10. I went in to labour at 40+7 and they did tell me to come in to hospital at first so they could look at me. Then they sent me back home for 24 hours and she was finally born in a straightforward delivery albeit with epidural. My second daughter was induced at 40+12 and again a very straightforward (and much more rapid!) labour and delivery.

Don;t let them scare you! And best of luck. Something amazing is just around the corner! x

Okay, the reason they say go straight to hospital is that if the baby is not engaged and your waters go there is a technical risk of a cord prolapse where the umbilical cord is swept out the cervix compromising the baby's oxygen supply. But it's bloody unusual.

If your waters did go and you felt the cord, get down on all fours, bum in the air and call an ambulance. But it is more likely the mw if cushioning your expectations for an induction - which you want to avoid. First babies are normally late and I believe 41+3 is the current UK average, so you are actually normal!

well thats not really made me feel any better im worried now, i am a worrier though just want everything to be ok

Holly - realistically it's really unlikely to happen, it very rarely happens except with breech babies. But yes it's normal to worry in any case at the end of pregnancy. You will have your baby safe in your arms really soon.

FWIW there is bugger all point going to the hospital at the first twinge unless you are willing to sign up to induction/augmentation/caesarians etc. You will know when it's time to go don't worry

thanks hopefully wont be too long these last few weeks have been a right drag

Tell me about it - DD was dragged at at 43+6 and I'm 34 weeks with number two and every day takes about twice as long as it should.

Of course in a few weeks you'll be wondering why you were in such a rush because the first six weeks are absolutely knackering!

Dragged out even

didnt realise you could go so far thought they set you off at 42 weeks?

It's called kidnapping and assault to force you to go to hospital and be induced. Honestly you can opt for monitoring and it's much better. But in my case there was some question over my dates. The believed me in the end but my scan dates were wrong.

oh right hope my dates are right think there not far off anyway

Well the giveaway would have been the positive pregnancy test at day 9 of my cycle had the hospital's dates been correct.

I'm sure you'll be holding your LO by the weekend