Giving Birth

[Lumpy]

I am due my baby 2 weeks on saturday and have started to feel a bit nervous about labour (as Im a bit of a wimp when it comes to pain) - does anyone have any advice re pain relief/best positions for childbirth - I was ok until I started reading the baby books - agghhh...HELP.

Emmagee - Red wine, curry and a good romp are all supposed to help. apparently a good romp can release hormones that can get things going. If it doesnt work you have had a good night. Have fun and good luck.

Emmagee, I was 10 days over my due date and extremely fed up. I went to see my qualified reflexologist and got her to manipulate the places on my feet she'd been avoiding for 42 weeks. I then went for a very long walk! It may have been a coincidence but within hours I was in labour!

Good Luck and best wishes

Emmagee, I was just wondering how you were doing. Good luck trying out the Joe cure.

I took arnica tablets as soon as I had given birth - I asked my midwife if it was OK to take them and popped one every two hours. I also used tea tree and lavender oil in my daily bath. I certainly think they aided my quick recovery. Also, get a small jug - if you have stitches or are generally very sore, when you wee use the jug to pour water over your bottom at the same time - it won't sting then. My sister told me this and I was very grateful!

Painwise it was as bad as I expected, but not worse and quickly over with. In my birth plan I requested every type of pain relief and in the ended needed none. I knelt up for most of my labour hanging over the headboard. When it came to pushing I did it half sitting up with hubby propping me up. I didn't go to antenatal classes but my midwife told me how to breath probably during contractions.

Go with the flow, listen to your midwife and focus on the fact that every contraction/push is bringing meeting your baby closer and closer. Good luck!

Emmagee, I gave my then 2.5 year old daughter a piggy back the day before I gave birth to no 2. Not just walking but skipping up and down with her on my back. The sex thing works too, with no 1 we did it at 4pm by 8.45 my daughter arrived. Also with no 2 I was wanting to give birth 2 weeks before due date so had sex, but this time it took 4 days (not labour!) for the result!

Good luck.

Emmagee, if none of the others have worked by now (!) try Norfolk punch, you can get it from Health food shops, its like a non alchoholic punch, quite lovely to drink, a Mum at the school told me about it last time, when i got to 39 and a half weeks and needed it OUT before No 1's birthday, she said it worked twice for her. I had two glasses of that over an afternoon and went into labour during the last episode of Frasier -when Niles and Daphne eloped (most annoying)! Mind you I also had a curry, a bitter shandy and an internal from the midwife!Good luck!

I drank Raspberry Leaf Tea for 10 weeks which is supposed to help your womb limber up for the birth and help with contractions. I went 10 days over, went for long walks, ate numerous curries and even tried sex. To no avail, despite having Braxton Hicks contractions for about a month, no sign of baby. I was induced in the end and I think my daughter would have been happy to stay put for another week or so!

Oh how I wish I had had the benefit of this site when I was expecting! Definitely a lot more help than wading through book after book, which is what I did, and just ending up more dazed and confused!

Good luck Lumpy and Emmagee.

I tried sex, walks and curries and driving down a very bumpy road to no avail, and was even considering castor oil! Fortunately someone recommended a massage using lavender oil. I had one in the evening and went into labour the following day.

Emmagee, a midwife suggested fresh pineapple or sex. I found these worked !!
I think the curry idea is a mith or wouldn't people that ate curry be going into labour too soon?
Best wishes Kate

Emmagee

You could try sniffing a few drops of clary sage on a hankerchief. This is also supposed to be good if your contractions stop and you want them to start again. It seemed to work for me when I was 3 days overdue.

All best wishes

Lusardi

Husband has 'instructed' me NOT to have the baby this weekend as he has major deadline for Monday! Last time we did pineapple, curry and sex all in one evening (at 41 weeks) and i went into very strong labour an hour after i went to sleep! I guess the thing is they come out when they're good and ready and we probably shouldn't try to get them out earlier.....it just gets boring waiting doesn't it! I will however try all and any of these suggestions if the consultant looks like he's threatening to induce or even worse give me another caesarean!

I think the main thing is to relax, as all these suggestions do just that, help you relax and take your mind of it. I had been having contractions for nearly 24 hours went to hospital and got sent home with a paracetamol and a sleeping tablet, both aimed at helping me to relax, after an hours sleep I was back down the hospital and 5cm dialated. I was lucky, my son was born on his due date. Good luck and let us know, I love all the baby thing and cant wait to do it all again.

Hi Emmagee - I had number 2 on the 5th May - 4 days late - I doubled my intake of raspberyy leaf tea and also massaged some clary sage oil into my ankle bones!! Also tried the sex thing. With number 1 being 2 weeks late and induced I was desperate for this one to come on its own. I had him at home it was all over very quickly - good job I called the midwives as I was just on my way to B&Q - otherwise he would have been born in the paint aisle! I'm also glad to say that I found the whole birthing experience thing so much nicer second time round - so good luck with everything!

Emmagee, good luck, keep us posted! xx

I can recommend drinking lots of raspberry leaf tea, both of mine were on time, couldn't face the sex though!! Good luck

We were also advised pineapple, curry & sex with no 2. We only got as far as the curry, it gave me violent indigestion so I didn't fancy the pineapple (let alone the sex). I did go into labour 6 hours later though! I'm not sure if it was the curry, but no 1 took 14 hours & a drip, and no 2 took 2 hours from 1st contraction (I only just got to hospital on time) & I was home for lunch - terrible smell in the delivery room though!

I bought some raspberry leaf capsules in Holland and Barrett that were condensed so you got a much bigger dose than in the tea (which I also tried but couldn't stand it!) They were reasonably priced and I did only have a 5 hour labour (which for a first was v. v. short). BUT that said I was 15 days late and induced because my waters had broke two days before (had to stay in the labour ward for risk of infection - boo, hoo!) and my contractions were very weak and still didn't get going after the gel stuff they put on your cervix. It was only with the drip in that they were forced to get doing something. But hell I'll be necking those raspberry tablets next time just in case they did have a hand in it!

I'm glad you did hang in there Sabine because my baby did not look like she was 'over-cooked' either at supposedly 15 days late - in fact she still had a lot of vernix on her to indicate she wasn't quite ready. I was spot on with my dates but I think it's ridiculous to talk women who may have longer gestational cycles into being induced. I was told that it was better for the baby if I were, in case of infection seeing as my waters had gone, so obviously I took their advice (and was quite bored with staying in the labour ward doing nothing for 48hrs if the truth be told!) Like you said Sabine, you wouldn't put your baby at risk for anything. However, next time (if there is one) I would put off being induced for as long as possible because I just felt that it wasn't my body actually in control of these contractions AND the biggest minus point was that because I was on a drip I had to have the baby heart monitor on me at all times so couldn't stand up or move around at all which is meant to be so much better for the pain factor.

Still no baby - now 5 days 'late' so have hit the raspberry leaf tea. Anyone tell me how many cups of the vile stuff I'm supposed to consume every day?

Emmagee

Forget the raspberry leaf tea and go to Sainsbury's and buy their fresh Thai Soup. I don't know spices are in there, but it worked for me!!

My neighbour drank gallons of raspberry leaf tea (so she said!) but it didn't do anything. I'd try the Thai soup!