I felt the same way. I never even had ONE BH Ctrx. NOT ONE! I only went until 41W4D, which isnt' long for a first-time-mama, but all the women in my family haven't gone that long, AND I exercised vigorously & regularly throughout the entire pregnancy & research shows exercising women go early (something like 6 days earlier than their non-exercising counterparts? I forget exactly, but it's significant.) So I had been convinced I wouldn't even make it to 40W, which, I know, I know
, is really dumb in the first place.
Anyway, I had that fear. I was TERRIFIED of being induced - first of all because of the substantially increased risk of CS, but also the pain (not sure if I could handle it vs. natural ctrx & the natural gentle progression, & spending ALL my labor in the hospital (had planned to labor at home as long as possible.) I was beyond dreading it & terrified.
But there just isn't much you can do except take it day by day. It sucks, the wait really truly is awful. There's just not much else to say.
I did get a massage from someone skilled at prenatal massage, so she worked those labor-inducing points she normally steers clear or on PG mamas. I nested A LOT. Those last 11 days post-due date, I seemed to alternate each day between thinking, "It'll happen soon. I'm just going to enjoy this time now & get stuff done." And being BEYOND MISERABLE, fearing my uterus "didn't work"
and feeling angry, frustrated, & terrified of induction.
One day I finally made a few dozen phone calls & found a psychologist who took my insurance with an appt available in the near future. I was so worked up I wanted to talk to a professional. She said, "Is there any way you could be more gentle with yourself?" For some reason, this phrase really resonated with me. Yeah - waiting is hard enough, but I"m also ANGRY WITH MYSELF FOR BEING STRESSED (about not going into labor.) So while I realized I couldn't totally "let go" at the anger at not being in labor, at least I could
excuse myself for the anger and
not beat myself up over the fact that I was angry, frustrated, & terrified.
On one of the good days, I suggested DH & I trim the big old oak tree in our front yard. (it really needed it.) While I didn't climb into the tree, I did help with hacking apart the limbs DH cut down & stacking & bundling them. I told him I wanted to take some pics to show DS later what we did on the last weekend without him. It struck me as cute.
I was emailing my doula during this time & I guess I expressed my fun bundle of anger/frustration/terror and she made a comment like, "Try to relax. Stress can inhibit labor."
Um, yeah, I kinda took that as, "THIS MIGHT PARTIALLY BE
YOUR FAULT!"
Nooooot a good thing to have said to me at that point in time.
While I don't deny the fact that extreme stress absolutely
can inhibit the onset of labor, I think this type of stress ("Can I please just GO INTO LABOR ALREDY?!") Is NOT something that's going to inhibit the onset. So, JMHO, but if anyone says that to you, I think I'd reply with, "Awesome, thanks, blaming me? That's fantastic! More stress on my head, just what I needed! Cool!"
Again, JMHO, don't feel stressed/guilty over the fact that you
are stressed, KWIM? That's just more
thrown onto you that you don't need.
Sending labor vibes your way mama!
Any advice?
..
