41 weeks :( - 2-3 cm - Had stretch & sweep - Are these signs of labor?

[marsbars]

Hi everyone! Sorry I never got to introduce myself..I'm a bit of a newbie to forums - forgive me :(

I'm Mary from Toronto.."41 weeks" with my second

I am planning a home birth but starting to worry it may not work out with my midwives because they're also starting to worry and said I'm the longest one overdue :(

With my daughter I was about 10 days overdue according to one doctor and the other said I was exactly on my due date

Anyways, I had a stretch and sweep done today around 2 30 pm..its now 3 48pm..my midwife said I was at 2 cm and she stretched me to 3 cm..I've had nipple pain since morning before my appointment but that's about it. After the strtetch and sweep I feel extremely emotional for no reason, I just want to bawl and cry my eyes out (weird?!) lol..still have nipple pain..baby moving i can feel him low but no cramping, no pain...no bloody show..have had a lot of discharge since this week

What are my chances of giving birth soon? Are these signs of labor? I'm starting to feel nervous as I do not want to be induced or birth in a hospital if I don't have to

PS: I'm planning a pool birth

Thanks ladies!

[starrlamia]

41 weeks isnt really that far overdue, IMO. I would relax and wait it out, baby will come when baby is ready :) You have every right to refuse to be induced for non-medical reasons and being past due is not a medical reason :) Good luck!

those dont really seem like normal labour signs to me

[amandasemele]

With my last I went 42 and 2. The great thing is it is your body. Therefore you can decline anything you do not want to do. As long as baby sounds good there is no need for induction! In my experience I had no signs labor was going to happen when it did. I remember saying maybe it will be tonight. And it was. I did cry that day though. So I was told releasing hormones sometimes like that can help. Hang in there!!

[marsbars]

hey ladies! Thanks for the replies :):)

Well..it's been a few days and still nothing..My midwife wanted to do another one on saturday but I feel I should just wait it out...I had a BPP and it said I was only 40 weeks and 4 days..while my midwife said I was past 41 weeks..Ughh..this is so frustrating! :( I feel like I'm being pushed to a deadline which is making me sooo stressed...

My midwife also said I was at 3 cm..while the ultrasound tech said my cervix is closed.. :(

I was so excited for having a home birth now Im not even sure if they would let me do that.. I hate being pushed to have interventions

[jayersgould]

Babies don't come with an expiration date stamped on their bottoms.  41 weeks is hardly "overdue" when the NORMAL range is up to 42 weeks.  Some moms consistently have their babies at 44 weeks without incident.  As long as baby is healthy and growing well, there is no need to rush the process.  It will happen exactly when it is meant to.

[SympatheticDad]

Originally Posted by jayersgould 

Babies don't come with an expiration date stamped on their bottoms. 

No, but placentas do.  The risks of birth, including postpartum hemorrhage, increase after 40 weeks.  That doesn't mean one should panic, but it does mean that closely monitoring the pregnancy is appropriate.

Source: http://www.nature.com/jp/journal/v26/n9/full/7211560a.html

[marsbars]

Wow its been a while but just thought id update this for others that may be having similar issues.

Well, the ultrasounds predicted the baby was 10-11 lbs, a huge baby etc. i had another stretch and sweep and took castor oil when i went into labor on the 31 of august i think 41 1/2 weeks.

When he was born, he had thaht white stuff on his skin ( forgot what its called ) There was no meconium as they had predicted. My son was barely 8 lbs at 7 lbs and 14 oz. my body was trying to go into labor though a few weeks prior because i had regular contractions for 8 hours every few days.

Well, that had a reason. My body was ready for labor but it was stopping it because when my son was born he had the cord wrapped around his neck 2 times!

All this time, i was being pushed for induction and i refused. Had i went for inducion, i could have lost my little boy!I had a feeling it was not right to get induced. And thanks to god i didnt.

[salr]

This might give you some comfort that your baby was likely not in danger..  http://midwifethinking.com/2010/07/29/nuchal-cords/

And I wanted to point out for people reading that having the cord around the neck is not necessarily an emergency.  Compression of the cord to the point where blood flow is cut off in that way is dangerous.  But cords are tough, and being wrapped around a small and protected body part is not necessarily a bad place for a cord to be. 

I think there are plenty of reasons to be grateful you didn't accept an induction.  I'm glad your baby is healthy.  It's always wise to trust your intuition.

[marsbars]

Yes but it was one of my midwives also who pointed our maybe your body is signaling to stop laboe because the cord can be around the baby's neck. So when he was born, it was wrapped two times and his face was purple. They panicked but thanks to god he was ok. So imagine forcing induction in this state, something bad could happen. I will never believe ultrasounds again. After all, they did go by my ultrasound date and predicted i was 2 weeks overdue.

[OceansEve]

ultrasounds are notoriously wrong. Glad everything went well in the end. We had two near losses in my DDC last week from cord obstruction, one was quickly okay, the other is still in NICU. It is definitely a risk.