That's anyone's guess. With all my babies, I sat at 2-3 cms for weeks. With #2, I came into the hospital after more than 24 hours of contractions (of which 4-5 hours were what I'd call "active" labor) and I was still at 3cm. I had a baby 90 minutes later. With baby #3, I was at 2-3cm at 40 weeks, and came in two days later for induction by amniotomy (I'd had high BP for 5 weeks by then, so my caregivers were keen to get him out). When I was checked before the amniotomy, I was at 5cm without having had any noticeable contraction activity. And hour later, still without any noticeable activity, I was at almost 6cm. The midwife broke my water then and I was holding my son 3h50m later.
In other words, staying at 2cm for weeks on end means nothing bad. It doesn't mean anything really *good*, either, except that you've only got 8cm
Doesn't matter. The plug can regenerate, anyway, so you may well have one again by now.
Never seemed to make a difference for me, but I don't think they hurt. (The prostiglandins in semen can sometimes stimulate contraction activity as well as softening the cervix. Additionally, having an orgasm might well stimulate some contraction activity.)
I've never heard of anyone successfully inducing AROM by love (rough or otherwise), but I'd recommend against trying it. For starters, if your waters break, you'll be "on the clock" to have a baby within a certain period of time (up to 72 hours has been shown to be quite safe, but many pracbreastioners still have a preference for the 24-hours-to-birth rule).
Who knows? As I said, it doesn't matter anyway. The only thing that means you're going to have a baby is being in labor. Lots of women walk around hard and closed until they go into labor and others walk around at 5-6 cm for weeks without going into labor. The degree of dilation when you're not in labor is really, truly useless as an indicator of anything except that your cervix is pretty much ripe and ready to go.
The "trend" is for first babies to be later (median delivery at 41w1d) and subsequent babies to be a couple of days past the EDD (median is 40w3d). But none of that means squat when it comes to individual experience. My first was induced at 41w4d, second came spontaneously at 39w2D and the third by amniotomy induction at 40w2d. In other words, you just can't tell!
At this point, patience. Really, by and large, babies come when they're ready. I never found that at any of the traditional natural methods of jumpstarting labor did a darn thing for me, and believe me, I tried them all with the exception of castor oil. (BTW, castor oil does seem to be effective and doesn't seem to have any serious side effects, contrary to popular belief.)
Sure. The closer the baby's head is to the cervix, the more pressure is exerted on it and that pressure is helpful for encouraging both dilation and the onset of labor. It also means that if you water *does* break spontaneously, the chances that you'll wind up with a cord prolapse are reduced.
Relax, do things you enjoy, and try to stop worrying about it. I know, that's easier said than done, but the best thing you can do is to stop focussing on how today is somehow significant. It's not. The rule for calculating the EDD has even been shown to be inaccurate, so the fact that we continue to think it's meaningful in any way only serves to drive us crazy when it comes and goes and nothing happens. But really, for *most* pregnant women, the EDD comes and goes with nothing happening.
If you're in a hurry because you're physically uncomfortable due to heat, SPD, swelling, or generally feeling heavy and unwieldy, I strongly recommend spending as much time as you possibly can in a swimming pool. It isn't likely to help you get into labor, but it probably *will* make you more comfortable (and immersion *does* help swelling) so you can bear the days a bit more easily. -- Be well, Barbara
