Life After The 40th Pregnancy Week!

It’s well past your due date and you are still to experience any contractions? There have probably been a few false alarms and your Braxton-Hicks contractions have grown stronger and gotten more frequent, but nothing for real. Are you heavily pregnant and anxiously waiting to go into labor? Family and friends are constantly checking in and all of that is getting rather unnerving to handle? Well, take a deep breath and stop worrying!

Not all babies are punctual enough to arrive on or before their due date and a small percentage of babies actually go over due. So relax, it is normal for a pregnancy to carry on till week 42 if everything is going well.

What to do:

In the ninth month you were visiting your doctor on a weekly  basis, in the 41st week however you will meet your doctor every 3 days and if you do continue into week 42 then make it every day!

What to expect :

Your doctor will assess through ultrasound and physical examination, the viability of the placenta and also the state of your cervix. If the doctor feels that the placenta is unable to nourish your baby and is ageing, he will recommend delivering the baby. The position and state of your cervix will help decide if an induction is favorable. If your cervix is not in a favorable state the doctor might recommend surgical birth. If your cervix appears to be ready then you can attempt a trial for labor!

Your doctor will also want to do a NST (Non Stress Test). This also helps ascertain the well being of the baby in the womb.

What to consider:

For most moms it’s the anxiety, the heaviness, the pressure from family and friends and over all the feeling that they are now ready to meet their baby, that overwhelms them!

But do remember – if your baby is doing well, then a few more days in the womb are only favorable as the baby will be completely ready to face the world outside!

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