This month's blog post is late. Maybe your baby is too. There are lots of fancy words for it, overdue, past dates, postdates, postdate pregnancy, but no matter what you call it, the main issue is that you had a countdown going that's now gone into the negatives ...
If you find yourself in this situation, its likely you've considered googling "natural induction techniques" because you are, to put it quite plainly, tired of being pregnant. Emotionally, you feel like your baby should be here by now and each day that you don't go into labor makes you feel more and more like you just never ever will.
The good news is that actually, the opposite is true. The later your pregnancy goes, the more likely you are to go into labor on any given day. Here is a wonderful chances of labor calculator that gives a visual representation of how as each day goes by, the chances that today will be the day just get higher and higher.
Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that its 100 percent safe for you to remain pregnant indefinitely, there can be medical reasons that babies need to be evicted. If you go over dates, your doctor or midwife might refer you for a NST or BPP to check on the baby. If they let you go home afterwards, your baby is fine.
I get asked all the time, "But isn't there something I can do to help get this baby out?" and the answer is, well, maybe? Sometimes having sex can work well if you were close anyway. Other people swear by spicy food or eating pineapple, but I've never seen much come of these. Long walks never hurt. But I caution you to be careful about doing anything more drastic than these gentle nudges. If you are trying to avoid a hospital induction, ask yourself, why? Is it because you feel it is unnecessary?
In that case, why are you trying to induce yourself? Taking something, such as castor oil, to try to get labor going is still inducing. Sometimes it doesn't even work and you find yourself suffering miserable pain and still pregnant. Other times it works too well and your body goes into hard labor quickly without a chance for you to build up your coping skills. Think of it this way, at least pitocin can be reduced or stopped if baby has trouble dealing with the intense contractions it can cause.
I stand by my business name. Your best bet is to wait it out. And yes, I will still be waiting with you.
If you find yourself in this situation, its likely you've considered googling "natural induction techniques" because you are, to put it quite plainly, tired of being pregnant. Emotionally, you feel like your baby should be here by now and each day that you don't go into labor makes you feel more and more like you just never ever will.
The good news is that actually, the opposite is true. The later your pregnancy goes, the more likely you are to go into labor on any given day. Here is a wonderful chances of labor calculator that gives a visual representation of how as each day goes by, the chances that today will be the day just get higher and higher.
Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that its 100 percent safe for you to remain pregnant indefinitely, there can be medical reasons that babies need to be evicted. If you go over dates, your doctor or midwife might refer you for a NST or BPP to check on the baby. If they let you go home afterwards, your baby is fine.
I get asked all the time, "But isn't there something I can do to help get this baby out?" and the answer is, well, maybe? Sometimes having sex can work well if you were close anyway. Other people swear by spicy food or eating pineapple, but I've never seen much come of these. Long walks never hurt. But I caution you to be careful about doing anything more drastic than these gentle nudges. If you are trying to avoid a hospital induction, ask yourself, why? Is it because you feel it is unnecessary?
In that case, why are you trying to induce yourself? Taking something, such as castor oil, to try to get labor going is still inducing. Sometimes it doesn't even work and you find yourself suffering miserable pain and still pregnant. Other times it works too well and your body goes into hard labor quickly without a chance for you to build up your coping skills. Think of it this way, at least pitocin can be reduced or stopped if baby has trouble dealing with the intense contractions it can cause.
I stand by my business name. Your best bet is to wait it out. And yes, I will still be waiting with you.