Help me get my contractions going before induction tomorrow!

[MegBusset]

Am 41+3 and had a sweep yesterday, had contractions every 10 mins from 4am-6am this morning but since then have tailed off and now appear to have stopped altogether.

Am booked in for induction tomorrow (they don't have any slots on Friday and don't want to leave me til next week) so need to get this labour established today!

Have been bouncing on ball, had sex last night and will prevail upon DH again tonight if need be. Have been eating pineapple and curry for the past week but to no effect.

Any tips? I'm so frustrated, this is DC2 and I thought it would be quicker but I was already well into labour with DS by this stage.

Nipple stimulation.....start with one side, then go onto both if necessary. Can take a bit of time, but if you start to have contactions they should not last longer than a minute or come on too strongly...if they do, back off a bit.

Pressure points...works best if DH or someone does this for you....web between thumb and finger....and/or about 4 fingers width from your ankle bone on inside of leg. Press areas firmly, should feel a bit tender, hold/massage for 30-60 seconds at a time.

Some women feel a good deal of walking did the trick for them....can't hurt....

All of them tend to help more once labour is already established, but might get things going if your body is ready for it.

Once I gave up hoping it would happen at 41+3 with ds2, accepted the induction booking for next morning and went for a nap (in a sulk, but resigned), it all kicked off.

Unscientific, but worked for me. Maybe just not worrying anymore let my body get going.

EPO 9evening primrose oil) seemed to work for me with ds4 (went into labour day before sweep booked)- you take a dose of one, and use one as a pessary, repeat morning and night.

has a hormonal effect apparently.

Am seconding merryberry... I had completely resigned myself to induction at 39 weeks, and in fact was feeling quite positive about it, and went into labour naturally at 38+3.

I really think being mentally prepared helps - I had also finished off everything on my to-do-before-baby list, tackled the huge ironing pile, spoken to all my close friends/family that evening, and I was looking fwd to a last meal out with DH at the weekend (at 38+5), baby had other ideas!

But good luck either way! You'll finally get to meet baby soon

Thank you all. Have been sitting twiddling my nips for the past hour and it seems to be paying off, cx are getting a bit stronger and more frequent.

Oh Meg, poor you, I know exactly how you feel. I know it's hard but try and forget about it. As the others have said, I had almost resigned myself to an induction and contractions started (following a session of very pregnant sex too) every day i went over I got more tense which made me less likely to go into labour.

Thinking of you. How about taking your DS to the park and gave a go on the swing? might work

ooh x posted. How cool