Congratulations.. i am 40w and 4 days as well and i really hope to have this baby naturally as well... enjoy ur lil one.
So the contractions on 40w5d were more severe, i had to stop what i was doing and breathe the pain away many times. But they were irregular and 10-30 min apart. Then at 10 pm suddenly a heavy contraction and i felt some liquid running out of me. I was wearing a sanitary pad, but at the toilet i noticed my underwear was a bit wet, so i thought my water had broke. And from that moment on contractions followed rapidly and intensely. While waiting for my ride to the hospital i took a quick shower. My contractions slowed on my way to the hispital. During a contraction, i couldn't stand anyone talking to me or touching me, yet everyone thought it necessary to make a joke during lol
Anyway, they hooked me up to a monitor to check contractions and baby's heart. The nurse checked dilation - 3 cm - and my water had indeed broken (but most stayed in). Lying there hooked up on that hard bed was torture... Finally around about midnight i was allowed to go to the delivery room, where i got hooked up to the antibiotics against the gbs i have. Then me and hubby waited just us for 2 more hrs, me trying to deal with the pain - i had a breathing technique that worked well but i had to be with it from the beginning of the contraction and that often missed so then it was screaming. After 2 hrs the nurse came check my dilation: 7 cm! She was impressed how fast it went. But i was already completely exhausted - cfs + long long day full of contractions - real labor starting- so even tho i originally didnt want it, i asked for epidural, i didn't think i d have strength left to deliver. Epidural was bliss! It was a bit scary while administering, but oh a moment to breathe and relax lol
1 hr later she came check again to see howfar i was: 10 cm! So after 1hr of catching breath, i was ready to deliver. The gyn got called in, and i was allowed to start pushing. It went pretty slow at the beginning, which was normal for a ftm the nurse said, but i was doing well. I did feel something btw, and pushing cost a lot of strenght and energy. When the gyn came in, the nurse started helping by pushing my belly while i pushed. That felt horrible, but it did help speed things up massively. I did go black at end of pushes by the end, 2nd last i actually passed out a sec (exhaustion, so i was right to ask epidural). But finally baby got pushed out, what a relief! He hadn't even completely left my body and he started screaming. And didn't stop till he fell asleep next to me a few hours later in our room and to take a few sips from my breasts. I was in labor just long enough to get all the antibiotics administered lol.
So ladies, don't despair is you go past due, or it feels like nothing much is happening. I hope my story proves how fast things can suddenly go!
Leander was born 22 august at 4.40 am, weighed 3.355kg, is 51cm and is absolutely perfect!