31 weeks today and wondering a few things even if you can only answer some that is ok too :)?

Question

I am carrying high. Does that mean that my chances of a early delivery are lessened?

When I drop does that mean that the baby is coming soon or do some women drop early anyway? I

My mom keeps telling me to walk walk walk because it will make my delivery easier and shorter. Is there any truth to that? She delivered me in 4 hrs and my sister in 3hrs. No epidural. Then some people say walk but don't power walk because it makes the baby come too fast....what's up with that????

Also, is it true that the epidural makes for a virtually painless delivery? And does the epidural hurt as much as a contraction?

Sorry for all the questions but this is my 1st time :)

So exciting!

Answer 1

i know that some women drop early and some later.

I dont know whether walking will make the delivery faster, being fit will help but dont do any strenuois excersise. chances are if your mum had short labours that you will too. Womens labours are often similar to their mothers.

I have no idea about the power walking thing.

I dont really know about epidurals because i didn't have one. i just had some gas.  

Answer 2

with my first child i didnt even feel the epidural but with my second i felt it. it feels like a bee sting. and it doesnt hurt worse than contractions.  

Answer 3

1. Not neccessarily

2. Again, not neccessarily

3. In my experience yes, walking help tremendously. Atleast i think it did. My doctor told me to walk and i did and i had 3 pretty much easy deliveries.

4. For the most part epidurals take away all pain. With my 1st and 3rd i felt very very little contractions and absolutely no pain whatsoever during the actual delivery. And no way do they hurt more than the contractions. If the contractions are strong enough when you get it, you will not even feel it.

Good Luck

Answer 4

lets start at the top and work our way down and i will see if i can help ya!

no your chances of carrying to term are the same as everyone elses- the way you carry determines  nothing.

some women drop early and some women dont drop at all.  it doesnt mean the baby is coming soon unless your dr tells ya baby is coming.  my sister started dropping around seven months and my neice was a week late.

walking is just another form of excercise which some studies have shown can make labor a little easier- not necessarily faster.  you should excersice anyway just bc its good for the pregnant womans circulation.  also its healthy in general.  some people believe walking right before your due can bring on labor and i have seen it true in both cases.  i guess it just depends on you and baby.

no epidurals do not guarantee you a painless delivery.  sometimes it doesnt take- it depends on the woman and the anethesia and the anethesiologist.  but most of the time, when done correctly, it can make for a fairly comfortable delivery.  i have on a few occasions seen some women so out of it they cant even push and then i have seen some that have to get two or three just to go numb.  if you have a normal tolerance to drugs than you will probably be one of the ones in the middle who can have a pleasant and mostly pain free delivery. no the epidural shouldnt hurt- anywhere near as much as a contraction.  it should be like any other shot except this one stays in until after birth.  it should be pretty comfortable.  the relief of the medicine def outweighs the pain of natural birth. sorry for those who are all gung-ho for natural- but its true!

listen- you will be fine.  with or without meds.  we women are resilient and have been doing this in every scenario imaginable since the beginning of time.  you  and your baby will be fine.  your doc would tell you if you were out of the norm and were at risk for high risk pregnancy or delivery.  just go with the flow and relax.  enjoy pregnancy- your precious baby is only totally connected to you for nine months.  enjoy it.  

good luck and congrats!

Answer 5

no just because your carrying high doesn't mean your chances of early delivery are lessened

dropping doesn't mean the baby is comming right away, I dropped like 3 weeks before my baby was born.

walking does help make delivery faster, walking a lot can also induce labor I've heard.

Epidurals do make a painless delivery, they don't hurt to get them at all, I didn't even feel it. I was still waiting for them to do it when they were done. All I felt was some pressure like someone was pushing on my back. It definitely doesn't hurt. I would get another one if I was going to do a natural delivery again. I got to see my baby as soon as she was born. I had a c section due to the cord around my babies neck but I had the epidural after 30 hours of labor and I wouldn't do it without one again. My baby girl was perfectly healthy right after birth and is still perfectly healthy now at 6 months. There were no complications with her after birth.So don't let people scare you with the don't get an epidural stuff. If it wasn't safe for your baby they wouldn't give it to you, they aren't stupid. Good luck!

Answer 6

Some women drop early.  I probably dropped about 5 weeks before my due date.  I delivered 2 days after my due date.  Previous pregnancies I dropped early as well.  Walking while you are in labor can help move the delivery along.  But, it's not a 100% thing.  There's obviously lots of other factors that go into how long your labor is going to be.  Some women may not be able to really walk around depending on if their baby is gettting monitored, etc.  When you are in labor, if the baby is born really fast they may not have gotten all the fluid out of their lungs.  During the contractions, as the baby is getting "pushed out", so is all that fluid.  I had an epidural with my first.  I don't think the epidural was too bad. It's not comfortable.  Kind of like getting an IV in your back.  It's temporary though whereas contractions keep coming and getting harder and worse.  I was pain free with the epidural.  My second delivery was done all natural, but not really by choice.  She was coming really fast and there was no time (had her at home!).  

Answer 7

Early delivery is determined by many things.  There's no way to know if you will deliver early, late or on time.  Babies have there own minds about this kind of thing.  Walking may not necessarily make your labor easier or shorter, but the better shape you are in it won't take as much of a toll on you.  An epidural DOES NOT make for a painless delivery.  My first epidural helped greatly, but I still had a significant amount of feeling left.  With my second, the epidural was only in about 30 minutes before I delivered him, and I felt nothing from it.  I was up walking a few minutes after the doc finished with me.  Also, some epidurals only take on one side or the other, or they may be more effective on one side or the other.  The epidural itself is just a bit uncomfortable.  It's like having blood drawn, but you can't see it coming.  I've never heard that power walking will make a baby come faster... Not sure what to tell you on that one.

Answer 8

PEOPLE WHO CARRY HIGH ARE USUALLY HAVING BOYS YOU WILL DROP ABOUT 2 WEEKS TO A MONTH BEFORE YOU HAVE HIM WHEN I WAS PREGO I WALKED A MILE EVERYDAY IN THE LAST 3 MONTHS AND IT DIDNT MAKE ANYTHING BETTER I HAD TO HAVE A C-SETION BECAUSE I COULDNT DILATE PAST 3CM AND YES THE EPIDURAL IS A LIFE SAVER I COULD NOT HANDLE THE CONTRACTIONS SO I GOT THE EPIDURAL AND IT DOES NOT HUNT NEARLY AS BAD AS THE CONTRACTIONS WELL I HOPE THIS HELPED AND CONGRATULATIONS

Answer 9

It depends on the individual, as far as the dropping goes.

I did lots of walking when I was further along with my first daughter. I had SO much false labor and it was the middle of July, so it was miserable. But, I believe that walking helped, because I was only in labor about 6 hours when I had her. I did have an epidural with her, too. I was in so much pain in labor that I didn't feel it when they inserted the epidural. It made the delivery much easier to handle, that's for sure. Best of luck to you!!

Answer 10

I don't think the position of your baby makes any difference to delivery, everyone told me first timers always go over. I did, my first was 4 days late. The weekend before Heidi (my first) was born all i did was walk, supposed to bring on labour. The more exercise you do, the better you do in labour because you have more stamina. I had an epidural with Heidi's birth, 9 hours before she was born. It is awesome. Once it kicked in i couldn't feel a thing, i remember telling my husband it felt like i had won the lottery. I have no real memory of getting the epidural, i had been in labour for over 24 hours by then. This is only my experience but i hope it helps you. Good luck and remember it will all be worth it once you hold your baby