induction tomorrow but want to start myself off if poss!

[southfacingpuddles]

Sorry, me again. Being induced tomorrow due to liver problem, am 37+2 currently, and baby's head is a tiny bit engaged.

I had a sweep last night and possibly a show at about 10am this morning (tmi: sort of yellowy snotty gloop with blood in it, like when you have a terrible cold and blow your nose and a surprising amount emerges)...

Any tips on what else I can do to start myself off naturally? Previous births very quick, so I have a feeling it might be possible, someone said use the breast pump for 20 mins, and I'm on raspberry leaf tea like it's going out of fashion (worked well last time to get me started, even though blah blah it's not meant to do that) and I've been told to eat pineapple asap and have sex (did it twice last night miraculously).

Anything else?

Nothing works.

If it did, none of us would ever go in for induction for being 'overdue' and you would have been told by your consultant and MW what you need to do in order to not need to go into hospital.

It's sad, but it's true.

People will come on and say try curry, more pineapple, more sex, a long walk...don't bother. Waste of time and energy which you should conserve for labour when it does start.

If curry, long walks, pineapple (you'd need to eat 7 a day for a long period apparently), sex (the amount of prostaglandin in semen is tiny compared to the concentrated amount they use in a pessary - and even pessaries don't work first time) or ANYTHING else worked then we'd be told not to do it in pregnancy because it might start labour, and I for one have never seen such a warning on an Indian takeaway menu or Del Monte fruit pot.

RLT doesn't start labour but is supposed to make it quicker once it gets going by toning the uterus - you say it worked last time but you might well have gone into labour when you did if you'd eaten a bag of Salt and Vinegar crisps

Usually I stick my 'you don't have to go in' disclaimer here, but as you have a medical reason for going in, then my advice would simply to be enjoy tonight and rest up as much as you can (sofa and jaffa cakes are as likely as any of the usual suggestions to get you into labour) and I wish you all the best for tomorrow.

Someone I know misunderstood the bit about semen being useful in these situations and erm.. consumed as much as she could in the hours running up to her labour! She said she thought it helped so it might be worth a shot - your DP probably won't complain anyway!
If you've lost your plug you might be on the way anyway, fingers crossed for you...

i kept thinking im getting started off tomorrow and i think scared myself silly,and went that night myself..BUT i went overdue with my other 3 and it didnt work then :(