14 Things to Do When you are Pregnant and Overdue

When your due date is near, every passing day feels like an eternity so one can understand the anxiety of a woman going through overdue pregnancy.

If you have already passed the due date, then it is completely normal. Many women experience overdue pregnancy. Instead of worrying about the delivery, you should use this time to do other things that will keep you distracted.

What Should One Do When The Pregnancy Is Overdue?

Talk to the doctor if you have any complications in pregnancy.
Relax.
Have spicy food or any other meal of your choice as a treat to yourself.
Go on a date with your partner to enjoy quality time.
Try acupuncture if your doctor recommends it.
The water will break anytime, so sit on a waterproof mattress or towel.
Take a nap as it will help you to relax.
You can read a book or watch a movie.
Get a massage for inducing labor.
Avoid trying remedies for inducing labor, which is suggested by different people.

Things To Do When The Pregnancy Is Overdue

Starting from trying out natural inducing methods to enjoying me-time, you can use these extra weeks in various ways. The due dates are not written in stones, so it can vary. So let’s see how you can use this time. Normally, if you are in the 42nd week of pregnancy, you are overdue, but there is nothing to be anxious about, really!

Prepare Yourself

Since you are already overdue, so it is evident that you have already prepared everything related to post-pregnancy. Make sure you are checking whether you have everything prepared.

The Water Will Break Anytime

When you are overdue, there is a high chance that the water is going to break at any time. Make sure you are always sitting on a waterproof mattress or towels. Most of the time, the water will not break until and unless the labor intensifies.

Fill The Freezer With Cooked Foods

Since you have enough time so you can cook some food and keep it in the freezer, it will help you to save time and be prepared when labor starts.

Nap

Use this time to take some peaceful nap. Post-pregnancy, you will be engaged with your child and will hardly get any time to sleep.

Massage

Use this time to relax and get a massage because it stimulates the process of natural labor. Though no proof that getting a massage is going to help women with overdue pregnancy.

Have Spicy Food

Several women have reported that they got their labor after having a spicy meal. If you want to help the process of natural labor, then you can have spicy food.

Avoid Social Media

As your pregnancy is overdue, you will see many people who will give you theories and remedies that are not medically proven. So stay away from social media. Apart from that, some people will keep on asking you about the delivery, and it might escalate your anxiety about the situation.

Enjoy Time With Your Partner

This entire time since your partner has been extremely understanding and helpful so you should spend some quality time with them. Pregnancy can bring a major change in both of your life, so this is the time that you can enjoy before entering parenthood. You can start deciding on names for babies. Read the tips on how to decide perfect baby names for the one coming.

Spa

Have some relaxing spa, and try not to spend this time overworking yourself because you would need a lot of energy during delivery.

Acupuncture

You can talk to your doctor and see whether acupuncture can help you with the pregnancy-related symptoms like back pain and morning sickness. Acupuncture can also trigger labor.

Ask your doctor before trying acupuncture because different people may experience different results. Acupuncture is mostly harmless and will help in releasing the stress related to delivery.

Read A Book/ Watch A Movie

If you are someone who loves to read a book or watch movies, you can use it to watch all the movies that have been released during this time when you were busy preparing for pregnancy.

You can also read books related to pregnancy or any other books of interest. If you have any hobby, then you can even start doing them.

Weekend Getaway

If you always wanted to visit a particular place in your city, then you can plan a weekend getaway. Make sure you are not going too far because the labor can happen anytime, and you need to be close to the hospital.

Enjoy The Silence

Parenthood is never going to be easy, specifically in the initial days. You will have no clue about how your days are passing by when the child arrives. So before the labor starts, you can enjoy the silence and relax.

Talk To The Doctor

It is completely normal to panic about overdue pregnancy, so instead of listening to others’ advice on inducing labor, you should talk to your doctor.

You can ask whether your pregnancy has any complications or whether overdue pregnancy is going to bring difficulty during the time of delivery. If there is any type of confusion, always seek the advice of the doctor.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Overdue Pregnancy

1. What happens when you go through overdue pregnancy?

Overdue pregnancy does bring some risk during childbirth as the child will become too big. Within four weeks of your due date, you can expect to go into labor.

2. Will sleeping a lot will delay labor?

It has been found that women who have a disrupted sleep cycle or sleep less during the later stage of pregnancy have a higher chance of facing delayed labor and are most likely to go through cesarean birth.

3. What is silent labor?

Many women experience silent labor where the contractions are painless, so they won’t feel them when they are in the first stage of labor. They are most likely to feel the pain of contraction when they enter the second stage.

Verdict

You need to enjoy this time instead of getting stressed over it. Stress is going to bring a lot of complications. Many women experience overdue pregnancy, and it is completely normal.

You can talk to your doctor and see if there is any complication in your pregnancy. You can use this time to relax and try out things that you have missed out for so long before the baby arrives.