Sunday, May 07, 2006

I'm Late! I'm Late!

Today as my family was getting ready to go home from church, a lovely girl who has three weeks left in her pregnancy asked me if there was anything she could do to help labour along. I laughed and then told her that of all people to ask I was the wrong person. I went 11 days late with my oldest and 9 days late with the other. Both times I didn't "start" on my own and had to have a proceedure to bring about labour. What can I say, my kids are a little attached to me. I hope I don't have this problem when they are older and it is time to move out, but I digress. She proceeded to ask another couple and was met with somewhat the same response. To my delight I found another person who goes over her due date, but maybe its genetic because she is a second cousin.

So what I was wondering was how common is it to go over your due date? How many of you have? Was there something that you tried to do to enduce labour? And how successful was it (the thing you tried)?

Thanks

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've heard that only about 15% of pregnancies go early, the rest within days of due date or over. Most people are off on their dates on the early side, never the late side. Mine was an induced early as I was sick, but totally unnatural!

Kris said...

Both of mine went over. 2 weeks for Thing One, and I had to be induced on my due date for Thing Two because I couldn't breath anymore (big baby) and was horribly uncomfortable and my lips were turning a little blue..hehe. My induction was the most awesome experience ever. But that's just me.

K.

Anonymous said...

i was four days late with F and 5 days lated with C. I think wearing yourself out with walking works.. and just wearing yourself out in general but then theres the whole have nothing left to labour that baby out. I have heard tons of things to try.. everything from an enema, sex, raspbery tea, holding a comb at certain pressure points, cod liver oil, jumping jacks, bumpy car rides, etc... i have yet to hear of any good remedy for hurrying those stubborn babies along.

Alyson said...

I have heard that only 5% have their babies on their due date.

With D I had my membranes stripped, for me a very painful procedure as I wasn't remotely even dilating. I have also heard that some haven' t had much pain with this which makes me wonder if the doctor was a little rough with me.

With E I was given protiglandin gel at 8:00am and then again at noon even though the contractions were regular and extreamly painful. I was given moriphine and a sleeping pill and by 2:00am I was begging for the epidural (actually I was asking for it much earlier but they wouldn't give it to me) By 9:30 am I had a little boy.

Anonymous said...

I was way over on my last one (#4, my first I had toxemia and had to be induced early, my second we didn't really know the due date (there is a story to that I'll have to tell sometime) and my third was born on the due date. Vomitting can induce labor, so some people have tried castor oil to induce it naturally. I almost did with #4 but chickened out. There is no garuntee it will work (just depends on the person, etc) and I decided I didn't want to make myself vommit for no reason. A natural laxative can help too (anything to get cramping going) but most result in being terribly uncomfortable in addition to labor.

I have come to the conclusion that nothing is going to make the baby come until that baby is ready (naturally speaking that is). :)

Sariah said...

I was early with both Aiden (3 days) and Dallin (9 days), so I can't help you here. I wasn't actually ready for either one of them to come when they did!

I was very late, however, and my mom swears by castor oil. I won't try it, though. I figure babies will come when they come. I'm just glad my first two have been early rather than late. Now watch, Number 3 here will be WAAAAAY late just to get me! :)

Proud Mum said...

I was of the opinion that my baby would come when he was done "cooking." But I can't go into detail because I was blessed with an easy second-half pregnancy.

He was born the day after the due date I had and four days late according to the doctor.

Other natural methods not yet mentionned include nipple stimulation and thumb sucking (yes, sucking your own thumb is supposed to get contractions going.) But I can't say from experience, my labour started while putting together IKEA furniture and the contractions started five minutes apart. So don't ask me.

But Harvard says most babies are late.

Alyson said...

You know, if Harvard says that most babies are late, (I hope they can back that up with a study) you would think the medical community would consider changing there process of coming to a due date.

I know they recently did that with growth charts for breast fed babies. Too bad they didn't do that 6 years ago when my kids were "not on the chart" and were perfectly healthy. Dakota was on observation since he was 6 months old until he was 3. That is a whole other post.

Proud Mum said...

It was in my Bradley textbook, the study, which is currently on loan with a friend who needed it more than I at the moment. I'll get back to you on the source.

Proud Mum said...

Okay, there's this, and there's this which is more wordy but then summarizes the first into English.

April_Mommy said...

My first was three months early (yes that is the truth... thanks to toxemia and pre-eclampsia) and they took my second three weeks early because of the original c-section scar being both vertical and horizontal (I have an upside down T scar)... they are so afraid that my uterus will rupture that they will forever take me early. At least I get to plan my due dates from here on out eh?

Alyson said...

Proudmum, I read both links and they make sense. The only thing I take offense too is the "Large Women comment" but of course I would. The thing is my lengthy cycles happened long before I put on the weight.

My second child's date was adjusted for my cycle and he was still late. Crazy! Come to think of it so was my first. D first duedate was the last week of june and then it was adjusted to the first week of july. E was the 31 of July and then was adjusted to August 13. He was induced on the 20th

Proud Mum said...

E's birthday is August 20th? I always knew that kid was cool.

I was a little put off by the "large women" page, too, for similar reasons, and I, like you, have had similar problems long before I gained weight. But it was the only page that explained Harvard's study for regular people.

btw, did you get my email?

Alyson said...

sorry its the 21st of August. I guess I did my math wrong. I'll check on the email, I just have so many accouts its hard to keep track

Allrie said...

A day late and a dollar short...but I went 2 weeks late wit Sriah, who was born on Christmas Eve--my Dr wanted to induce, but the hospital said no. because everyone else was doing so. SO, according to my Dr's advice...We [husband & I] went walking for a couple hours, then went and drove all over the unpaved and BUNPY roads on Thomas Mountain, and finally, I drank a bottle of castor oil.

I was in labor 26 minutes. OK, it was just the last stage, but that's all I felt!

With #2 I started labor a few days before due date, but it didn't go anywhere...it didn't slow down or stop either. So after a couple days[thee is actually more complication to the story] I drank a bottle of castor oil and went to the hospital. My last stage of labor was about 45 minutes.

#3 I had the "nesting instinct" big time. I knew I was going into labor. We had a blizzard moving into the area, so my zDr said to come on in--neighboring town. I drank the castor oil, and off we went. My Dr arrived about the same time to find that he needed to do an emergency C-section for a girl whose Doc was out of town.

I layed perfectly still until the Dr was ready for me. He went to the next room to catch a nap--but was called back before he got his shoes off!

With #4 I did not drink castor oil--I had back labor and the final stage was over 1&1/2 hrs long. Whew. It was hard.

So, for #5 I planned to use castor oil. But he started to come a few hours earlier that I had the oil, so I went to the hospital without having taken it. Big mistake. He was halfway out when the labor stopped. I had to push him out myself! Aftewards my Dr sai," Now I can say I've seen a woman give birth without labor."

My advica: walk, drive on bumpy roads and take the castoe oil!!

Use the tasteless and mix into orange juice.