35 week appointment

[e123vg]

started my internals and did the strep b test. so far i'm 1cm and still thick. baby is extremely low and bp is great. she said i shouldn't count on being early, but don't count on going late either. she also said the more i dilate at home on my own, the easier my labor will be. i'm also off partial bed rest. woo hoo! i get to start weekly visits! i'm a little upset i'm not dilated farther, and i was hoping to be at least 50% effaced. oh well, i guess this little bugger wants to just sit around a little longer.

question for all of you ladies. when will you start trying all those fun things to kick start labor.

[timneh_mom]

It sounds like it was a pretty good appointment overall - the important things were all ok at least!!

I am 36 weeks and everything is high, thick and clamped shut!!

I am not sure I will really try anything to start labor. I was induced last time because of my PIH and it took FOREVER, this was with a ton of pit and other stuff. It took 50 hours from start to finish. I figure my body just wasn't ready and didn't easily give in, even though DS was born at 41 weeks. Since home "kick start" methods are not as harsh as drugs, I think they will be unlikely to work for me unless my body is really ready. But if it seems like I'm trying to get into a labor pattern, I might try some thumb sucking/nipple stim/sex type of things to get things moving along. When I was induced, DS was RIGHT there and I'd been 50% effaced for weeks - I walked for about 25 out of 28 of the first hours of the induction, slept about 3 of those hours... and it really didn't do much of anything. All I did was wear myself out and it just turned into a big ordeal.

But this time could be a whole 'nother story... we'll see!

[ibusymomto5]

Yeah! It sounds like your baby is lined up and in position. I never dilate or efface at all, meaning thick closed and usually high, until I'm in real labor. I used to get very discouraged about that during the last few weeks. But, since my last few labors have only been 3-5hrs start to finish despite that fact, I don't worry about it anymore. My body just tends to do all the work at once and quickly instead of gradually over a couple of weeks or more. Oddly enough, though, I do usually have increasingly uncomfortable braxton hicks switching over to downright irritating crampy contractions usually a few days before I'm in full blown labor. There's just never any "measureable" progress to show for it.

[ekblad9]

I'm the same as the PP. Last time I had crampy contractions for three days before baby arrived but it wasn't anything I couldn't deal with or that stopped my life. And I never dialate ahead of time anymore. Did the first few times but not anymore.

I'm on my tinctures and EPO but won't do anything else to jumpstart labor.

[ibusymomto5]

I forgot to mention that I'm not doing anything to jumpstart labor. I took EPO and Dr. Christophers with a couple of mine, but I didn't go into labor or have a quicker labor with those babies. I'm lucky just to remember to take my prenatals most days, though I have been drinking RRL and pregnancy tea here and there.

[littlefoot]

I'm kind of envious that you got an internal, I'm 35 weeks and my doc said no internals untill 37. I've had irregular bh and he said he didn't want to start the real thing by doing an internal.

I have pre eclampsia and gdm so I'm sure if I won't be allowed to go full term, the doc suggested that at my 37 week we would discuss an induction date.

[e123vg]

i was induced with my last due to pre-e. at my 37 week appt. my ob suggested inducing me the next day. but i refused and held out for another week.... (i was mostly scared of having the baby, hehe) so it might not be too much longer for you.

i'm hoping this labor wont be long. my last was only about 4 hours, and i'm sure the only reason i'm dilated right now is because my body never fully recovered from my last baby. i was only 5m post when i got prego again. maybe that will work out for me in the long run *keeping fingers crossed*

[ryleigh'smama]

I'm 39 weeks 6 days now (my original EDD was Feb 1 though...sooo...) anyhow, I started internals at 36 weeks and was 3 cm, 100% effaced. At 37 weeks I was 3-4 cm, effaced, and baby was at 0 station. I started doing lots of stuff to get things going, drank RRL tea all the time, lots of sex, spicy food, egg plant parmesan, pineapple, etc. NOTHING. At my 39 week check I was 4-5 cm, 100%, baby is at 0-+1 station, I have to pee every 30 seconds a quarter of a teaspoon . I started taking EPO on Wed., I'm a little more crampy, but that's it. I ate a WHOLE pineapple yesterday

That is the long way of saying, I don't think anything works until your body is ready.