wow, so much going on at once! Im already 30 % effaced and im only 35 wks along. He just keeps pushing down and it hurts. I dont want him to come out yet! Im so worried about his health and lungs not being formed, up to weight ect. My ob doc told me to stay calm, dont stress out and keep my activities to a min. No vacumming, sex, lifting,ect. Well its not that easy im a stay at home mom and i have a 20 month old to take care of, and a house to keep clean. My hubby helps out but only some, hes gone most of the time at work or out with friends. So how am i not suppost to be stressed?? Im so scared, with my daughter i was induced so i dont know what labor is. She asked if i felt tightening, or back ache. Yes i told her well thats a contraction, i didnt even know i thought it was just cramps from him. God im freeken out..........i so want my baby to be healthy and he wants out, pushs almost every hr for the past 3 days now. And to top it off i have a bladder infection too...i pray it will be okay in the end.. Any help, suggestions would be great right now. Thanks
This is going to sound rushed because I just got called to a birth, but I want to answer you before you go off line. 30% effaced at 35 weeks is meaningless. You don't need to worry about it at all. Neither should you worry about the contractions, they are simply Braxton-Hicks which are more intense because it is a second baby. You are also crampy from having a bladder infection, for which I hope you are getting treatment? You should be taking antibiotics and drinking lots of diluted cranberry juice OR the cranberry enzymes from the health food store. Drink PLENTY of water when you feel crampy and go lay down, this will make the cramps stop. If they don't stop, drink a glass of wine or a Guiness (I actually prefer Guiness for crampy Mamas because it is loaded with B vitamins and iron) and lay down. Your body is doing a lot of preperation for labour (and why is your OB checking you at 35 weeks?) It's not uncommon for second or more time mamas to efface weeks before labour begins. You may even dilate quite a bit before active labour starts. I have seen mamas dilated to 4 or 5 for weeks before labour began. So, don't worry, it's all part of the normal process, except for the bladder infection, of course. Take care of that and you will feel much better. Can you find someone to take your toddler for the day so you can rest and recover? Even one day of rest will make a big difference. Feel better soon!
Thank you I called to see if it was normal for him to be pushing so hard and she wanted me to come and see her. Ill get checked now every wk she said till my due date. Im on antibiodics for my bladder infection, wich i hope goes away soon, however i didnt even know i had one till yest after my apointment and than she called and told me. So than i had to go back and get my perscription filled. Im releived that this is normal, she told me to take it easy and i guess i freeked out because with my first i wasnt effaced at all at this stage. And in my book it says some women can be for a while and some women have their baby shortly after. Im going to have my hubby take over this weekend, that will hopefully help some. Merry blessings
I had preterm labor with all my kids. Contractions starting at 12 weeks and real preterm labor starting at 27 weeks. My doc seemed to agree with Brighid "If we get you to 35 weeks, the baby should be OK." But a bladder infection can cause preterm labor, even in a baby who isn't ready to be born. Rest, lots of water, have someone else do EVERYTHING else. You need to rest for the coming labor, so let someone else take over, now. Blessings, Maggie
Truly, a baby born at 35 weeks usually does just fine. Now, I had my twins at 36 weeks, which is considered full-term for twins by my OB's standards, and I was relieved just to have made it that far, but I still was concerned. When I went into the hospital to be checked, I wasn't having any contractions (at least, that I felt! With twins in there, I was told that sometimes it could be hard to distinguish contraction tighetnings to fetal movement, and the more pregnant I was, the more harder it was!) but I was 4 centimeters dilated! Course because I had developed Toxemia and later, H.E.L.L.P. syndrome, I really had no choice in the matter and my babies had to be delivered. I was told that their weights were both in the 6 pound range however, so I felt a little better. When they were born, I was dismayed to find out that they were both just about 5 pounds each. I had been counting on 6 pounders! But, my twin boy went strait to the regular nursery with no problems whatsoever (he was born vaginally). My twin girl had been born by c-section, and had some difficulties, and was placed into the NICU for a while. But, as far as everything else went, they were doing just fine. I was shocked, with as tiny as my little ones looked, that they were in such good health, and that my boy twin was able to go into the "normal" nursery with the other babies. A friend of mine delivered her baby at 24 weeks gestation. I was so worried that he wouldn't make it, and I felt horrible because her previous son was born at 15 weeks gestation, and of course, didn't make it. But, that little fighter held on. She would send pictures of him, and I couldn't get over how tiny he was, how frail. But he fought on, and that beautiful little boy came home with her 3 months later. I was amazed, I couldn't believe that a baby born so soon would be able to thrive. But he did! I worried nonstop about premature labor, even with my first son, but he came into the world only a week earlier than his due date. I was planning on going early with my twins, but my goal was to reach at least 36 weeks, and I did! Like others here have said, you need to take care of yourself. Because I was a prime candidate for preterm labor with my twins, I did a lot of research and preparing. I noticed that if I started to feel Braxton Hicks, if I drank a lot of water, they would subside. I spent a lot of the end of my pregnancy just taking it easy, keeping my feet up, and not doing much of anything unless I really had to. I was fortunate due to the fact that I had family to help out quite a bit with my older son, and once my husband came home from work, he took over. Our goal was to keep those babies "cooking" for as long as we could. We developed a schedule of sorts to arrange for help. Family members volunteered for certain days of the week, and I wrote their names on a calender. This actually went on for 2 months after I gave birth to my twins as well, because of the complications I had, and how I was supposed to be resting. Resting with twin babies is hard! These family members also planned days for my oldest son, where they would do something special with him, because he was feeling a little left out, as you can imagine. We also had a meal schedule, and we didn't have to cook a thing for nearly 4 months! It was fantastic! You really need to rest, and take care of yourself. You are going to need a lot of energy for the birthing, and of course, taking care of your new little one. This is your time to be the queen. Let everyone else handle things and pamper yourself. You deserve it! Much love...
I spent from about the beginning of my second trimester to the end of pregnancy on bed rest. With all my kids. (Welll not until actual labor with dilation with the first one, because "What to expect when you are expecting" had me thinking I should "walk it off" so I went hiking at Starved Rock and ended up in the hospital almost delivering Sunshine at 28 weeks the next day. I HATE that book.
That book DOES suck. I don't think that it's very accurate, and I felt like there was too much vital information missing. They merely skim across important details, and go by a "textbook" pregnancy for the most part. Course, I was also prejudiced against it due to the fact that they had maybe a paragraph or two on expecting twins, which was of no help to me when I was pregnant with mine! I wouldn't recommend that book really. There's got to be a better one out there! Hugs...
There are a LOT of better books out there. I can start a thread about good parenting books, as I don't want to hijack this thread. Okay?
