I am due in 1 day and miserable. Last check up doc told me I was dilated 3 cm but not effaced. For the last couple of days I will have strong contractions 10 Mon apart for a little over an hour then it will stop. Plus I have had lower back pains for weeks now. Any suggestion to get labor started or find relief?
Walk a lot and go up and down stairs.
For relief, if you have someone to help you get in and out, try a warm bath.
It could come at any time or it might go on for a few more weeks.
2 weeks give or take around the due date is completely normal.
My husband took a picture of me and how big I was the day before I went into labor.
I looked so very tired and swollen but we love that picture!
Mentally prepare yourself for two more weeks. You can be partially dilated and even partially effaced for weeks (I was about 3 cm and somewhat effaced with my first at 34 weeks and he was induced at 42). The contractions are a good sign that your body is getting ready for labor, but you're not quite ready yet. Try to relax (I know, I know) and trust that your body knows when the right time is. Walk, have intercourse, and try other things suggested but really, when it's time, it's time and there's not much you can do before that. The good thing is that spontaneous labor is so much easier and better for mom and baby than artificially induced labor. I know that the contractions are annoying but try to think of every one of them as another one getting you closer to the goal of meeting your baby. Those contractions are real and are doing some work, they're just not in a pattern that indicates the "no turning back" stage of labor yet. You'll get there soon, hang in there!
Patience is best. You baby will come when he is ready and not a moment before you will not be pregnant forever.
Those last few days are sooooo long!! My second was almost 2 weeks late, I truly know how that feels. The last 2 weeks felt like 2 months! Just keep telling yourself "I will not be pregnant forever, I will not be pregnant forever!" Definitely walk as much as possible, even use one of those step things and step up and down or go up and down a short flight of stairs (or long flights, if you are not as clumsy as I was :) ). The truth is, every trick in the book is only going to work when it's "time." But for the record, I used: tons of walking, black licorice, spicy food, eggplant, homeopathics, black and blue cohosh (only under direction of midwife!!!), chiropractics, accupressure, squats/tailor sitting, pelvic tilts, nipple stimulation (breastfeeding toddler), and about a million other things. I still needed a pitocin drip to get labor started...BUT, once I started, my body quickly took over and the pitocin was shut off, I delivered drug-free. So all those preparations helped my body get ready for the big show!
Sending you my patience and lots of support, hang in there!!!!
When my sister was pregnant with her first, she went almost 2 weeks beyond her due date... she did NOT want to be induced or have a C-section, so she talked to her massage therapist & made an appointment.
The therapist did some light manipulations on the muscles in her back & then on her front, and all of a sudden she & my sister both felt a release - my sister went into labor that evening. She attributed it to being so tense & nervous, and my niece being too warm & cozy to resist much. =-)
A massage may not start your delivery, but for back pain, it might help in the meantime. Wishing you a safe & rewarding delivery! T.
