help with natural induction

[summermum]

can anyone help with methods od natural induction, i don't want to go down the medical route if i can help it. I am currently taking 5 raspberry leaf capsules a day (the 640mg ones from holland & Barret) and just started on 3 Evening primrose capsules orally. I read somewhere that you can insert the evening primrose oil capsules vaginally as they come, this should be done at night and apparently they dissolve over night and help to ripen the cervix quicker than orally, I am unsure as to the safety of this. has anyone else heard this or is it really dodgy, can anyone give me any more tips on getting things going. Oh yeah I am trying sex ( not the easiest as a beached whale) and adapting yoga positions twice a day to try to encourage the baby to drop into the pelvis properly. HELP I am desperate to go!!!

Sweeps hurt like hell, too!

My labour stalled out w/DD, so they did a sweep to get it going again. It worked, but dang! That hurt!

Mears had some horror stories about women who used caster oil. Don't do it! Think: overdue labour + a raging case of the runs. Yuk.

I used fresh pineapple - fantastic. Within 2 hours in regular labour.

Al else had failed::::::
currys
a bit of the other - or a lot - poor dh
long, long walks
raspberry leaf tea - yuck
membrane sweep

I wish I could say the same for pineapple. I ate 3 M and S boxes of it a day for a week but no joy . This was when I was a week overdue.

I saw the consultant after the week and she suggested lobster and champagne. I asked her how this worked; apparently something in the lobster is supposed to get things going. She said the champagne was to make you mind less if it didn't work! What a top woman!

loulie - love your consultants idea of champagne & lobster,it always helps when your care provider is on your side and can understand how you feel,

expatinscotland - when you say a sweep hurts like hell, is this just at the time, i kinda envisaged it being no worse than having a smear test or the coil fitted (which was really uncomfy) how long does it hurt for, to be honest after having had steroid injections in my bottom at 25 weeks (to mature babies lungs as they thought i was in early labour)i think i could stand more pain than before because i was told thi swill hurt and by god the nurse was not wrong, it is 2 long slow deep injections 24hrs apart and my butt hurt for about 10mins after. Shame pineapple not foolproof besides "doing the do" it seems to be the only enjoyable option

apologies if this has been said before but if you go down the sex route to help induce labour apparently you have to orgasm for it to have the best effect (pulls the sperm up the cervix better apparently)

a sweep hurt more than ANY smear test i've ever had, more than my colposcopy+cervical biopsy. it's not as quick as either one. believe me, it HURT worse than any injection i've had, too, including the horrid antin-nausea ones.

i had one b/c my labour stalled. but i think you'd have a hard time convincing a medical professional to give you one unless it were part of the medical induction process b/c it involves an internal.

I haven't read all the responses but summermum - if I was you, I would stop the raspberry leaf supplements since you say you have an irritable uterus. In my experience I have seen a number of women admitted not in labour but experiencing painful tightenings which are difficult to cope with.

I heard Jean Sutton speak the other day (famous NZ lady who specialises in optimal fetal positioning for labour).

She is very clear that it is not the mother who decides when labour will start but the baby. As the baby gets into the optinal position and the mother has braxton hicks contractions, hormones are released which lubricate and soften the birth canal in preparation for labour.

Induced labours can mean that a baby is born before this preparation has taken place and is more likely to be in a poor position leading to longer, painful labours.

In her experience, when women learn more about this and let labour happen naturally, first babies should be born in 6 hours of active labour. She advised women to come to hospital when their bumps 'looked like a shoebox'. That meant that the uterus had risen up as it does in proper labour and the women would be at least 5cm. She was fascinating to listen to.

Babies that are forced to come before they are ready may suffer awkward head compression which can cause colic, glue ear etc.

Babies that come when they are ready are much easier to look after - food for thought.

Well, a little sex can't hurt!

Way I see it, it may be the last you both get in a while . . .

Hi,

Just wondering, anyone know if accupuncture or reflexology is better to help induce labour? I have a session of accupuncture booked for this Saturday when I will be 39 wks but wondering is reflexology better?

Thanks,

Kathryn