sex and pineapples!!

[thegingerone]

I'm 38 weeks and my life has been reduced to

eating a pineapple a day
wondering if my DH will become suspicious( ie used) if my libido suddenly returns NOW
chosing curry/heartburn over sleep as a major decision
adding to everyone else's "I'm sick of still being preg " threads
hoping everytime I go to the loo, I find a big blob of bloody mucus when I wipe.
swigging straight from one of the various Gaviscon bottles littered around the house (or from the Gaviscon "Frubes" in my handbag!!!)

I'm planning to walk (very quickly) into my local town to buy RLT (but secretly hope that the walk will induce labour and I'll be able to hilariously recount the story in future on threads entitled "Does RLT work?"

Dontya LOVE this bit?

None of these things induce labour and all they do is make you have a dodgy tummy and/or be knackered.

You might find the odd person who had sex or ate a curry and then had a baby. This is coincidence. You'll find a million more who went into labour while asleep, sitting or eating chocolate.

None of the old wives tales are true. Take pineapple for instance. To even begin to mimic the enzyme that's naturally present in your body, you'd have to eat 8 pineapples in one go, including the skin and the leaves. You couldn't physically manage it.

And when did rlt become associated with labour starting? It's a uterine tonic, meant to make the 2nd stage of labour more efficient.

Honestly, I know you're miserable but it's the perfect excuse to do whatever the hell you feel like, safe in the knowledge that you can't induce labour yourself. It's a chemical thing between you and your baby. Do whatever makes you happy. Much better way to spend those final days than marching about eating curry and revving up for some difficult sex. Unless you want to have difficult sex whilst eating a chicken bhuna. Might be your thing regardless of pregnancy.

I agree wityh SoH I'm afraid! I started all those things (can't ever look at a pineapple again) at38 weeks and at 42 weeks after induction failed to produce one measley contraction I ended up with a CS. I think I acaullay have the gestation period of an elephant. I bloody well looked like one at 42 weeks!

Of course I'm sure one of the things might just work for you! Good luck!!

I realise the RLT doesn't induce labour and have no evidence from prev labours that it helped in anyway with uterine tone.

I do however like walking quickly. My DH is quite lovely and i certainly won't have any desire for sex (difficult or not) in a few weeks time.

The only thing I'm at all miserable about is the horrid heartburn (ohhh and the price of nursing bras......why oh why did I get rid of my old ones?)

Peacocks do reasonably priced, pretty nursing bras.

I think if you're happy to do these things fine, but the problem comes when you start to believe that it makes a difference. You (not you you, generic you)end up feeling demoralised and like you've failed, stalking threads and obssessing. Instead of having a cake, a bath and a wee marvel at how brilliant your body is.

Dare I say castor oil, speak to a mw. Though I wouldn't touch it at 38 weeks. Yes you are term but your babs may not be ready until 42 weeks so you'd be hurrying them along before they are ready?

If any of these things genuinely worked then no woman would ever end up being induced for being post-dates.

It's (sadly) that simple. You could have another 4 weeks of this - or more.

Listen to ShowOfHands :) Get on with living normally - the more you fret about trying to get the baby out, the longer it'll take to come!

I jumped on poor dh every day inthe last few weeks with dc1, sometimes more than once. The poor man actually started complaining that he didn't want to. Ungrateful he was .

Of course it doens't make any difference.

Mine finally arrived at 42 weeks on the dot after I'd finally given up, gone for a swim, scared all the new starters at aqua natal when they asked what my due date was "oh 2 weeks ago it was now", packed my bag for induction and relaxed. No induction was needed :)

Cheers SOH. Frankly, I was planning to avoid all "Self induction" methods this time! I tried most of them last two times and I don't REALLY believe they work. But even my bloody midwife is telling me to eat curry and have lots of sex!!

I shall not feel demoralised but DH and I will have had some fun I quite lke fresh pineapple.I'm only doing stuff i actually enjoy and pretending it's cos I'm in late preg!

(Off to Peacocks!!)

If it were to work (which it won't) you'd need to eat approximately 7 pineapples in each sitting to have any effect. All that's going to do is give you a bloody sore mouth. And probably make you sick.

Do you like pineapples that much?

Oooh but I've heard that that although the sex works, you'd be better off erm....ingesting, rather than a topical treatment !! I didn't try thiis, maybe it wold have worked!!

Ha at scaring people! I stopped work two weeks ago (still on hols. Mat leave starts next week!) but when I went into the same shops (that i'd frequently visited during my lunch breaks) on Monday I've had people actaully ask me not to go into labour. Never been served so quickly!! People on the street just stare at my bump, mouths ajar!! I'm pretty sure I'm not the first preg woman to walk through Oxford. They even shuffle away when I tell them I'm two weeks from due date so prob four weeks to go for actual birth. I'm sure you don't have to be house bound from 30 weeks!

Right, I'm sitting on the sofa, 4 sips into my first cup of Raspberry Leaf Tea and thought I'd mumsnet.

It tastes foul, I've read this thread. I'm just going to sack it off and go shopping instead :o

A friend of mine has recommended nipple stimulation. She did this at the end of both her pregnancies and went into labour the next day, both times. Coincidence? What are your thoughts ladies?

GlaikitFizzog. I heard that that the ingesting was a rumour started by a MAN!!! The theory (unproven) is that the administration of semen to the cervix mimics prostoglandins and assists the ripening of a about-to-ripen cervix. Basically everything works if you're about to go into labour anyway!!

Glaikit, while sex and bjs are both not actually proven to work, you're right about the theory. If the prostaglandins involved were sufficient to have an effect, you'd be better off ingesting them orally. But again it won't work and if it did, you could take it in a cup of tea anyway. No effort required. Not for you anyway.

Eggy, again it doesn't start labour. If you're in labour, even if early stages, nipple stimulation will help the contractions along.

I was told by a consulting mw that it is a different form of prostoglandin. Sex works the same way as a sweep would - irritate the cervix. Ingesting the man juice wouldnae work in my mind as we denature protien and digest it - how could that start labour? It's just more protien.

Yah to PotteringAlong's shopping trip.

Exactly! And, as I'm walking around the shops it's technically exercise and, strictly speaking, for health purposes... :)

Theoretically Pam in the same way oral induction by tablet works. Prostaglandins taken orally are the linking factors, however erroneous.

Ah well, maybe I'll give that a go next time! Do you think it would make a good ice cream topper???

Glaikit m'love, you're thinking of chocolate. Quite different.

Nope my DH insists it is chocolate , personally I'm not that keenof white chocolate

You should ask karstarbuck if you see her. I seem to recall her saying something about a special milkshake her dh gave her.

Hadn't heard of oral induction tablets? Everyday a school day. Not something offered in my area - gel or drip seems to be the only choice.