Castor Oil Induction - what was it like?

[Ambivalent Dreams]

Induction via castor oil just sound awful to me. Have you done it? How much did you use? How much did you choke down? (I've heard it tastes terrible.) Did it make you poop and poop and poop or did the laxative effect stop quickly enough? Did it work?

[Sharlla]

i drank 3 oz i drank it straight like a shot then chased it down with juice. not the nastiest thing ive tasted. had a couple bms soon after (like taking any laxative) 6 hrs later started havin contractions, 4 hrs later delivered ds2. i didnt think it was horrible at all. then again certain veggies make me have bms lik.e that so im use to it. i was in bathroom maybe 30 mins at the most.
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[blessedwithboys]

My midwife had me eat a big breakfast, wait 30 minutes, and then pour 4oz in to a giant orange juice and chug.

It took me a good hour to get it all down. I had to keep shaking it back up bc it would separate out. SO gross.

That was around 8 or 9 am. By early afternoon, nothing had happened. I was using a BC 3 hrs from home and had to either get things going (VBAC and already 42 wks) or drive home across the state and do it all again whenever labor decided to start. I went ahead and did another 4oz in OJ after a huge dinner.

Nothing for a while and then we got a hotel room. Right as I was dozing off I got the most horrific pains I have ever felt. Worse than pitocin. I literally peed out of my butt all night and got zero sleep.

That was a Saturday night. Sunday morning, the MW sent me for a NST at the local hospital. I left AMA instead of accepting pitocin induction and went back home.

No contractions all day Sunday. Monday, I got out of bed, stretched, and my water broke. No contractions all day Monday.

Tuesday, I was still leaking, but not having contractions. Tuesday evening I went for a long waddle, er, walk around the neighborhood. I was 42+2. Finally, Tuesday night I went into labor. I knew I had a 3 hr drive ahead of me, so we left the house early, but the MW did ask me to stop into the hospital close to me for another NST. I went (against my better judgment), and stopped to pee in the lobby. My water, whcih had been clear for a day and a half, was brownish-green.

Up in LD, they confirmed it was mecomium, but my son looked great on the strips. I got up to leave AMA so I could get to Tampa where the BC was located, but had a huge contraction as I was getting my pants on. Labor kicked in to high gear right then and there. I knew I wasn't going to make it to the BC, so I resigned myself to a VBAC in the same hospital where I had had my csec years before.

My labor pains were pretty typical, I would say. They hurt, but the pitocing labor I had gone throught the 2st time were way worse. Long story short, I was progressing and handling the pain, but an OB I had never met flipped over my choice to VBAC and I ended up choosing an ERC over temporarily losing custody of my son to the state. My son was born early Wednesday morning, perfectly healthy.

Bottom line, castor oil should be a last resort. It can be very hard on the baby, but so can pitocin and all the other crap they throw into your bloodstream. I certainly don't think it should be done at 38 wks just to get the pg over with, like one person I knew did. For me, two doses didn't work. I was already 42+, so I think my labor was spontaneous. I'm not planning more kids, but even if I ever fell pg again and went "overdue", I wouldn't use castor oil again. If you're still on the fence, google "ricin".

[Ambivalent Dreams]

OMGosh, BWB! I am so mad at the OB on call at the hospital where you delivered! I am so sorry they treated you like that!

[Eyelet]

I drank 4oz of it with orange juice. It was so foul I had a hard time keeping it down. It gave me loose BM's for the next few hours, but unfortunately it did not start labor.

[terra-pip]

Whoa...I'm thinking you mamas took tooo much!!!

My second was late and I wanted to avoid induction so I tried castor oil. I have a homebirthing momma friend who I called who did with one of her babes. She told me what her midwife had her do. NO MORE than 2 tablespoons in some OJ and then another 4-6 hours later...if it doesn't work, thats it! Don't try again.

It worked for me. It wasn't gross because there was so little of it. I took the two doses and then woke up that night with cramps..they werent horrible..just some gas added on top of a contraction. I had a pretty good BM and some gas but managed to rest some and then went to the hospital in the morning dilated at 7. So about 10+ hours of labor at home about 4+ hours at the hospital, pushed for 30 some min...baby was healthy. I agree that a person ought to be pretty late...it just can give a little push to get things really started. I believe it worked for me because I felt nothing before and even doubted I was in labor for some time.

[Chavelamomela]

I took 1 tbsp at 8 am. The purges happened, but no contractions.

At noon, I took 2 tbsp. Purges happened. 2 hours later I was having contractions, active labor started around 9pm, gave birth 6:40am.

[MammaB21]

I took castor oil with my first pregnancy. I can't remember exactly how much I took, but it was a smallish dose. About a shot glass worth. I downed it and then chased it with orange juice. It was gross, but went down okay. Shortly afterward I got intestinal cramping pretty bad. I got the runs right after and it felt similar to the flu. I was cramping and sweating, feeling clammy and running to the bathroom every 10 minutes. After a couple hours of that hell I was done cleaning out but still not having any contractions. Labor never started. I wouldn't ever recommend it to anyone unless it was a last resort before a medical induction.

[CherryBomb]

I drank 4ozs (in a "rootbeer float") 41 after a couple days of prodromal later. I had some loose bowels but not as bad as I had expected. It didn't put me into labor. It was another couple days before labor really started.