Bring on the Baby!!! (PLEASE!!)

[twinsmom]

Okay, so I STILL have three weeks left before my actual due date, but I am DYING here! Since I had my last 7 weeks early, I feel like I am WAY over due with this one!! Do any of you have any great "labor-inducing" secrets that have worked to bring out the baby??

I do actually have some sort of reasoning behind this desperation, besides just pure selfishness of wanting to have my body back and get some sort of reprieve from morning sickness/heartburn (which are 9 month companions to pregnancy for me!!)... my parents are scheduled to leave RIGHT after my due date to live in Guatemala for TWO YEARS, so if I go clear to my due date or (heaven forbid...) over, they won't get to see the baby until it is 2 years old!! (Not to mention that they wouldn't be able to come out to help at all with the adjustment to baby #3 and help me recooperate just a bit, since DH is right in the middle of internship year and will get MAYBE 1 day off to see the birth...).

At this point in time, I am pretty much willing to try just about anything - do you have any great ideas??

Jen B.

[PrincessFiona]

Jen,

It'll be here before you know it! Enjoy these last couple of weeks as best you can (easier said than done because I'm not 9 months pregnant and I remember how it felt to just want to have it over with!!!) My mom came to Northern Ireland specifically to be there for Amanda's birth...and of course Amanda decided to be late.....so she had ot leave without seeing her. My mil, fil and bil were next in line and even THEY missed the big day...I didn't go into labor until we were taking them to the airport.

I'm sending labor vibes your way

kris

I've been taking a prenatal yoga class and supposedly squats can help you go into labor. The instructor even says that women between 35-39 weeks should not do them because they can bring on early labor. I don't really know how to describe in words how to do them, but basically you squat all the way down to the floor with your feet pointed forward, hip width apart with your hands in prayer position in front of you. You'll probably want to check with your dr. first if you plan on doing these to make sure they are safe and it's not too early for the baby. There's someone else on this website (I can't remember who it is) who's a yoga expert, so I'm sure she can describe squats much better than me.

I'm sending labor vibes your way, too!

[Cumberland]

I drank rasberry leaf tea and took evening primrose oil ( one in one end, and one in the other...). I walked and walked and walked. I have said this before with a MAJOR disclaimer but I took castor oil at 7pm and my water broke at 3am. I was 39 weeks though at the time. I know it is controversial though but it worked for me.

[HeartRN]

OK, we've discussed this before...and here goes my TMI....true story...my doc said "Go home and have sex, do nipple stimulation. I don't care how you have sex, just as long as the sperm makes contact with your cervix" Needless to say, it didn't work for us, and when I told my husband we were supposed to "do it", he was like, "ok, if we have too" I'll end this right here so you can be spared the visual that might occur should I continue talking about what it must be like to have sex with an elephant! :!

GOOD LUCK!! Labor vibes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[twinsmom]

Marla, I laughed right out loud at your post! Last night I was having contractions and I was trying to think of anything to keep them going. The sex idea came to mind, but of course DH was on call . (I don't think phone sex cuts it at this point ). At this point, I am ready to jump on top of him right when he walks in the door... (now I'm the one with TMI... ).

I have also heard the caster oil idea before. How much did you take? This is so sad that I am seriously considering these ideas!! I think I should at least get the bassinett ready for the big day, and wash some baby clothes!! (I spent all of my 'nesting' energy traveling to buy a house, and now I am just plain nested out!!)

Thanks for the ideas so far!

Jen B.

[Cumberland]

Here is an article that lists the pros and cons of castor oil

http://www.storknet.com/cubbies/childbirth/exah2.htm

Just to keep the TMI ball rolling.....As for the severe diarrhea, I wouldnt call it severe, but I will say i was thoroughly cleaned out by the time I got to the hospital.

I hear ya! By the time they induced me at 39 weeks, I still had to deliver a 9 lb 11 oz baby--I was mad! If he had come out a few weeks early, it would have been a lot easier!

I've read in several places that pregnant women aren't supposed to get foot massages because it induces labor. I already told my husband that there will be LOTS of foot massages starting at 37 weeks! He thinks I'm nuts and that I should let the baby come when she wants--but he's not the one carrying all of this weight around!!

Has your doctor said anything about stripping your membranes? My doc just told me that if I'm about 3cm dilated at 38 weeks, she'll start stripping my membranes in the hopes that the baby comes on her own. I definitely want her to come early (because of my tendency to give birth to sumo wrestlers) but I don't want to get induced at 39 weeks again--I don't want to miss out on getting to "rush" to the hospital because I've gone into labor on my own!

Good luck!

I would seriously consider seeing a massage therapist or chiropractor -- there are pressure points on the lower back that can stimulate labor. They might be able to help get things going.

Would you have to get a some kind of okay from your Dr. first? Or go to a specific therapist? I had quite a few professional massages in the last two months of my pregnancy, and not one would go anywhere near those pressure points for fear that it may start labor. One was even at the birthing center (they gave all expectant moms a certificate for a free 30 minute rub down--what a great idea that is!), and all were done by prenatal certified masseuse(s?). Just curious if anyone had actually been to a massage that was intended to start labor.

I think I would try just about everything. Seems like different things work for different people. A friend of mine walked and walked and WALKED because she was told that would get things moving. She finally went into labor (two weeks late) after having a spicy dinner. Who knows?

[PrincessFiona]

OK, we've discussed this before...and here goes my TMI....true story...my doc said "Go home and have sex, do nipple stimulation. I don't care how you have sex, just as long as the sperm makes contact with your cervix" Needless to say, it didn't work for us, and when I told my husband we were supposed to "do it", he was like, "ok, if we have too" I'll end this right here so you can be spared the visual that might occur should I continue talking about what it must be like to have sex with an elephant! :!

GOOD LUCK!! Labor vibes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's what I never understood about this...all during pregnancy, they say sex is safe..."don't worry"..then at the end of pregnancy the sperm are supposed to stimulate dilation?

It never worked for us either!

[BonBon]

Kris, I was wondering about that too! And we tried a few times after 37 weeks but it obviously wasn't working and frankly, it was way too much trouble anyway.

Jen, I'm doing a labor dance for you!!!

[PrincessFiona]

I understand about the nipple stimulation, but here's the thing...if sperm contain enough prostaglandin to ripen the cervix then why are we all allowed to have sex whlie we're pregnant? After all, the mechanism that prostaglandins use to ripen the cervix would be no different at 20 weeks pregnancy than at 38....

kris

[HeartRN]

...And sometimes doing all of that doesn't even make a difference.....



*Sorry....I know I sound very "bitter".....it's just that the whole nightmarish labor thing is anything BUT a distant memory!!!!