Improving effacement and dialation

[Terrilein]

I just saw my midwife today and my cervix is still long and that I'm still only 1 cm open from over a week ago. My first birth was 42 hours long spread out over 3 days. I was hoping to avoid a repeat. My midwife told me though that I ought to be prepared for another long birth. I get acupuncture from her and I drink 1 liter rrl infusion daily. What else can I do???

[SpuglyRoo]

Have you tried sitting on an exercise ball and gently bouncing? From what I understand it is supposed to help the baby descend, which should help with dilation and effacement. I know that when I do it (for like 20 minutes or so) I have more powerful braxton hicks and I also tend to lose a lot of mucus. Also, lots of brisk walking seems to do the same for me, but in this heat and with my lack of energy, sitting on a ball is much more in line with what I can handle.

[MaerynPearl]

evening primrose oil?

in any case, you could go into labor yet tonight and have a baby in 3 hours. luckily effacement and dilation do not mean as much as we all feel it does!

[Tresa]

Evening primrose oil, taken orally twice a day, and you can insert it vaginally (with super clean hands) to soften your cervix too.

Lots of sex, sperm has the same chemical in it that the cervidil mimics when they induce labor.

Start a big house project that, if left unfinished, would be horribly inconvenient if the baby came, say, that night.

[Terrilein]

I tried getting EPO recently without any success. Guess the Germans just aren't into it.
I know I ought to get on my ball more often, but I'm really hot and uncomfortable at the moment - no AC and it's 98.6 °F at the moment - and my feet are swelling like mad. Otherwise, I do get plenty of walking and stair climbing on a daily basis.
Sex? No thanks. I just can't wrap me head around it at all at the moment. And the weather is too icky for it.

And I know that effacement and dialation have nothing to do with when you're gonna go. I went into labor with dd despite having a cervix as hard as a rock, not effaced at all and sealed tightly shut. Nobody expected it, but that's how things turned out. But if my DP understood the mw correctly, then I was a victim of the good old language barrier. He understood her to mean that I won't be having the baby any time soon while I understood her meaning I would have a long birth. I hope he's right because I have my own wacky experience as mentioned above. Still, I'd much rather be better effaced and be a few cm's dialated when labor does start.