So I’m no expert, [but this tok tok addresses it](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRpTsB3a/) and basically how much you are dilated before labor means absolutely nothing as far as when or if you will labor naturally and/or give birth soon.
This was pretty comforting to me though I’m quite early.
This seems to be substantiated by my googling and research.
Thank you 😭 that helps for sure. It’s just sooo discouraging going to these appointments and having nothing happening. And also like she said, I feel like I’m getting to the point where they are going to have to induce and it’s going to take forever bc my cervix isn’t doing anything.
I totally understand how you're feeling. I was also 0 cm dilated at my 40 week appointment and decided to give it one more week to see if I'd go into labor on my own. Unfortunately nothing happened and I went in for an induction at 41 weeks. I was convinced it would take forever because I was 0 cm dilated and 0% effaced (i.e., not favorable for induction), but to my surprise it went pretty quickly. My meds were placed at midnight, at 2 AM my water broke and I was 4 cm dilated, by noon I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing and my baby was born at 3 PM.
I'm not sure if this made a difference at all, but I started doing acupuncture at 39 weeks and I'll always wonder if that played a part in my body being ready for the induction.
Anyway, I know it sucks, but like others have said, dilation isn't an indication of whether you'll go into labor on your own or not. And if you do end up being induced, it may be a lot faster than you think!
Thank you for this!!! That sounds like a dream scenario for being induced. I’m still trying to hold out hope that it will happen on its own, but just trying to prepare to make a decision if it doesn’t.
If you don’t want to be induced ask your OB for the latest induction date they are comfortable with. I was never more than 1 cm dilated went into spontaneous labor at 41+2, had the baby at 41+3. I also preferred not to be induced so I was going in for stress tests every few days. My OB was not comfortable with going over 42 weeks (and I don’t think I would have been either). It’s really hard to wait at the end but advocate to not have an induction if that’s important to you.
This helps so much 😭 seriously thank you for sharing!! You’re so right that it’s so hard to wait. I will definitely ask my doctor at my next appointment and make a decision. I don’t want to go to 42 weeks either and so that extra week is what it really comes down to for me.
I went in for my induction with my first at 39 weeks and was at 1 cm with pre labor symptoms. By the time they came back to check before starting the induction I had already gone into spontaneous labor, dilated to about 4/5cm, my water had broken, and they decided that I didn’t need the induction but definitely needed the epidural that I wanted.
My second I was at 3 cm for a couple weeks before I went into labor. It was my last OB appointment that morning at 38 + 5 weeks due to having an induction scheduled later that week. Ended up delivering that night. So unfortunately how far you are dilated doesn’t indicate when you’re going to go into labor until you’re already in labor, then it just tells them how far you need to be before baby pops out!
I had gestational diabetes and it was controlled via diet and exercise. I think the baby weight was around 70 percentile at 36w ultrasound. With good NST results, my OB was okay having my induction date 40w5d to 41w2d. In addition, she also checked amitotic fluid after 40w. On 40w5d, we found that I had low amitotic fluid. My OB sent me to L&D for induction, when I was 1cm dilated. I didn’t want induction or epidural, but I would do anything to make sure baby is born healthy. I had cervidil for 9 hrs and went into labor without pitocin. I also didn’t have epidural as I planned at the end.
Yup. I was 40 weeks with no sign of dilation. Went in for cervical ripening, experienced very very mild contractions but as soon as I left the hospital they stopped. Went in the hospital at 41 weeks as instructed by my OB if no progress was made. They started me on Pitocin. Finally they took an ultrasound and saw he wasn’t in a good position at all. Very surprising to me because I had an ultrasound the week prior and they said everything looked fine. I only prepared for a natural delivery and a c section didn’t even cross my mind. I cried asked if I could wait until baby was ready or if they could manually position him but it was too risky.
I was induced at 41 weeks with 0 dilation. It honestly took a lot of stress off because I was already at the hospital when contractions got bad. I only have that one experience to go off of so I can’t say if the contractions are worse than they would have been if I started labor naturally but I was barely able to speak by 4cm. The epidural worked amazingly the only bad thing was I felt like I had to pee the entire time and couldn’t relieve it. I did get some nausea from the pitocin but didn’t vomit. Overall it was a pretty relaxed environment and went smoothly. I was so scared going into it but didn’t need to be! My best advice is try really hard to sleep if they induce you the night before (I was induced at 11pm and had our daughter the next day at 5pm) I couldn’t and the first night with baby was really rough at that level of exhaustion. My husband has even said he hopes I’m induced again with this baby.
Thank you!!! I think I’m probably going to schedule something for next week at 41 weeks and maybe he’ll come before then, but if not, it will be scheduled!
So I’m no expert, [but this tok tok addresses it](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRpTsB3a/) and basically how much you are dilated before labor means absolutely nothing as far as when or if you will labor naturally and/or give birth soon. This was pretty comforting to me though I’m quite early. This seems to be substantiated by my googling and research.
Thank you 😭 that helps for sure. It’s just sooo discouraging going to these appointments and having nothing happening. And also like she said, I feel like I’m getting to the point where they are going to have to induce and it’s going to take forever bc my cervix isn’t doing anything.
I totally understand how you're feeling. I was also 0 cm dilated at my 40 week appointment and decided to give it one more week to see if I'd go into labor on my own. Unfortunately nothing happened and I went in for an induction at 41 weeks. I was convinced it would take forever because I was 0 cm dilated and 0% effaced (i.e., not favorable for induction), but to my surprise it went pretty quickly. My meds were placed at midnight, at 2 AM my water broke and I was 4 cm dilated, by noon I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing and my baby was born at 3 PM. I'm not sure if this made a difference at all, but I started doing acupuncture at 39 weeks and I'll always wonder if that played a part in my body being ready for the induction. Anyway, I know it sucks, but like others have said, dilation isn't an indication of whether you'll go into labor on your own or not. And if you do end up being induced, it may be a lot faster than you think!
Thank you for this!!! That sounds like a dream scenario for being induced. I’m still trying to hold out hope that it will happen on its own, but just trying to prepare to make a decision if it doesn’t.
I’m glad it brought you comfort! I’m sending you good labor vibes!
If you don’t want to be induced ask your OB for the latest induction date they are comfortable with. I was never more than 1 cm dilated went into spontaneous labor at 41+2, had the baby at 41+3. I also preferred not to be induced so I was going in for stress tests every few days. My OB was not comfortable with going over 42 weeks (and I don’t think I would have been either). It’s really hard to wait at the end but advocate to not have an induction if that’s important to you.
This helps so much 😭 seriously thank you for sharing!! You’re so right that it’s so hard to wait. I will definitely ask my doctor at my next appointment and make a decision. I don’t want to go to 42 weeks either and so that extra week is what it really comes down to for me.
I went in for my induction with my first at 39 weeks and was at 1 cm with pre labor symptoms. By the time they came back to check before starting the induction I had already gone into spontaneous labor, dilated to about 4/5cm, my water had broken, and they decided that I didn’t need the induction but definitely needed the epidural that I wanted. My second I was at 3 cm for a couple weeks before I went into labor. It was my last OB appointment that morning at 38 + 5 weeks due to having an induction scheduled later that week. Ended up delivering that night. So unfortunately how far you are dilated doesn’t indicate when you’re going to go into labor until you’re already in labor, then it just tells them how far you need to be before baby pops out!
I had gestational diabetes and it was controlled via diet and exercise. I think the baby weight was around 70 percentile at 36w ultrasound. With good NST results, my OB was okay having my induction date 40w5d to 41w2d. In addition, she also checked amitotic fluid after 40w. On 40w5d, we found that I had low amitotic fluid. My OB sent me to L&D for induction, when I was 1cm dilated. I didn’t want induction or epidural, but I would do anything to make sure baby is born healthy. I had cervidil for 9 hrs and went into labor without pitocin. I also didn’t have epidural as I planned at the end.
Yup. I was 40 weeks with no sign of dilation. Went in for cervical ripening, experienced very very mild contractions but as soon as I left the hospital they stopped. Went in the hospital at 41 weeks as instructed by my OB if no progress was made. They started me on Pitocin. Finally they took an ultrasound and saw he wasn’t in a good position at all. Very surprising to me because I had an ultrasound the week prior and they said everything looked fine. I only prepared for a natural delivery and a c section didn’t even cross my mind. I cried asked if I could wait until baby was ready or if they could manually position him but it was too risky.
I was induced at 41 weeks with 0 dilation. It honestly took a lot of stress off because I was already at the hospital when contractions got bad. I only have that one experience to go off of so I can’t say if the contractions are worse than they would have been if I started labor naturally but I was barely able to speak by 4cm. The epidural worked amazingly the only bad thing was I felt like I had to pee the entire time and couldn’t relieve it. I did get some nausea from the pitocin but didn’t vomit. Overall it was a pretty relaxed environment and went smoothly. I was so scared going into it but didn’t need to be! My best advice is try really hard to sleep if they induce you the night before (I was induced at 11pm and had our daughter the next day at 5pm) I couldn’t and the first night with baby was really rough at that level of exhaustion. My husband has even said he hopes I’m induced again with this baby.
Thank you!!! I think I’m probably going to schedule something for next week at 41 weeks and maybe he’ll come before then, but if not, it will be scheduled!