From the moment you find out you are expecting, it is hard not to spend every waking moment thinking about the day you finally get to see that tiny little person's face. Couple that with morning sickness, extreme fatigue, heartburn, back pain, swollen ankles, and all of the other wonders of pregnancy, and you have the perfect recipe for eager soup! Well, you know what I mean. Even given all of these things, it is important to remember that your baby will come when he or she is ready (not when you are), and it is for the best that they get the opportunity to cook in your oven for as long as they need to.
When your doctor says forty weeks, and gives you your due date, <I>this is not exact</I>. In fact, only about five percent of babies are born on their actual due date. In healthy full term pregnancies, babies are generally born between week 37 and 42. A study done in 1990 found that the average length of a pregnancy was about forty weeks plus eight days for first time mothers, and forty weeks plus three days for mothers having their second, or subsequent babies. My oldest was one day past his due date, and my youngest was four days past his due date. I have seen so many first time mothers (or even second or third time mothers) that start to get antsy around 37 weeks which is commonly known as "full term" (not to be mistaken with "all done"!), because they are done being pregnant and they think the baby should come now. I don't think due dates should even be given, because even worse than 37 weeks, mothers tend to go crazy at that 40 week mark. They think "this is my due date! The baby should be born by now", but really due dates are only an estimate and only your baby knows when he or she is ready to come. It is so much better to just relax and try not to think about when the baby will come. I was very antsy with my oldest, but learned to calm down and wait it out without stressing with my youngest and it was a much better experience.
Unless medically necessary, inductions are not a great idea. Forcing your body to go into labor before it's ready just doesn't usually have a good outcome. In many cases, they will go through the whole induction procedure, and the mother will never progress because her body was not ready. So a lot of the time, inductions do not even work. When the induction does work however, Pitocin-induced contractions are known to be much worse and much more stressful on the baby than natural contractions. Induction labor is known to last much longer than natural labor, and sadly inductions have a 50% chance of leading to an emergency C-section because it either doesn't work on mom's body or it works too hard on baby's body and baby goes into distress. Another bummer about inductions is that due date predicting ultrasounds are not always accurate. Whereas you might think you are inducing a 38 week baby, you end up finding out that your baby is closer to 36 weeks in development upon his arrival and he has trouble breathing due to under developed lungs and problems eating because he is too young. There is a much higher potential for jaundice the earlier the baby is, among other problems. I would never recommend induction unless medically necessary.
The main thing you should try to keep reminding yourself is that the closer your baby is to his due date, the stronger and healthier he will be when he is born. If he takes longer, that just means that he needs that time to finish up the little details. It also means that you get a little extra time to sleep and spend time with your hubby. Don't get impatient, try to just relax and go with the flow and you will get through your remaining time with a lot more ease. Your baby will happily and readily come in his own good time!
When your doctor says forty weeks, and gives you your due date, <I>this is not exact</I>. In fact, only about five percent of babies are born on their actual due date. In healthy full term pregnancies, babies are generally born between week 37 and 42. A study done in 1990 found that the average length of a pregnancy was about forty weeks plus eight days for first time mothers, and forty weeks plus three days for mothers having their second, or subsequent babies. My oldest was one day past his due date, and my youngest was four days past his due date. I have seen so many first time mothers (or even second or third time mothers) that start to get antsy around 37 weeks which is commonly known as "full term" (not to be mistaken with "all done"!), because they are done being pregnant and they think the baby should come now. I don't think due dates should even be given, because even worse than 37 weeks, mothers tend to go crazy at that 40 week mark. They think "this is my due date! The baby should be born by now", but really due dates are only an estimate and only your baby knows when he or she is ready to come. It is so much better to just relax and try not to think about when the baby will come. I was very antsy with my oldest, but learned to calm down and wait it out without stressing with my youngest and it was a much better experience.
Unless medically necessary, inductions are not a great idea. Forcing your body to go into labor before it's ready just doesn't usually have a good outcome. In many cases, they will go through the whole induction procedure, and the mother will never progress because her body was not ready. So a lot of the time, inductions do not even work. When the induction does work however, Pitocin-induced contractions are known to be much worse and much more stressful on the baby than natural contractions. Induction labor is known to last much longer than natural labor, and sadly inductions have a 50% chance of leading to an emergency C-section because it either doesn't work on mom's body or it works too hard on baby's body and baby goes into distress. Another bummer about inductions is that due date predicting ultrasounds are not always accurate. Whereas you might think you are inducing a 38 week baby, you end up finding out that your baby is closer to 36 weeks in development upon his arrival and he has trouble breathing due to under developed lungs and problems eating because he is too young. There is a much higher potential for jaundice the earlier the baby is, among other problems. I would never recommend induction unless medically necessary.
The main thing you should try to keep reminding yourself is that the closer your baby is to his due date, the stronger and healthier he will be when he is born. If he takes longer, that just means that he needs that time to finish up the little details. It also means that you get a little extra time to sleep and spend time with your hubby. Don't get impatient, try to just relax and go with the flow and you will get through your remaining time with a lot more ease. Your baby will happily and readily come in his own good time!
