Pregnancy Progress: Understanding 34.5 Weeks, Effacement & Contractions

Question
my sister is 34.5 weeks pregnant. she is cm 90%effaced and -1. does that mean that she will have the baby soon? she was at the hospital last night with really bad contractions so they made her walk around for 2 hours but when they checked her nothing changed so they sent her home. why were the contractions hurting so bad but nothing was changed? this is her 3rd child her youngest is 13 months old. is there anything that she can do at home to start her contractions again? i have heard sex and nipple stimulation work. is that true? thank you

Answer
Hi Amanda :)

This very well could have been a true labour she experienced, or it could have been a false alarm. False labour can be very confusing because it can be very uncomfortable, resembling the real thing. However, even though she had contractions, it did stop, indicating this could have been a false labour issue. This would also explain why there was no changes with her when she was checked.

Walking, intercourse, and nipple stimulation can bring the onset of labour. However, I cant help but wonder why she would want to bring labour on when she is only 34.5 weeks. The baby's lung development is still very immature. So she can try that above methods, however I wouldnt suggest to do it until atlease 37 weeks, when she is indeed full term.

Hope this answers your question, and thanks for writing!

-Kristy