Borage Oil orally instead of EPO?

[sattygirl99]

I tried googling to see about safety but I didn't find anything other than the CYA 'if you're pregnant or planning to become pregnant' line... I realized the other day that the omega's I typically take (and haven't for a while because they expired and are mega $$) contain borage oil and I took them early pregnancy without even thinking twice...

Anyway... The typical thing is EPO on your cervix and orally... The EPO didn't do much for me even with many many weeks of it (I started at 32 orally, 34 vaginally with DD) and I switched to borage oil because it's GLA is a much higher concentration. It's the GLA that helps your cervix out... Borage oil is the equiv of 9 EPO's, if I recall. It got to a point where my MW's had me increasing the number of EPO's used and I was inserting 5 or 6 a night... WAAAY too many when I could have just taken borage oil and done 1 or 2.

I'm 36.5 weeks and my midwife is encouraging me to help my cervix along in any gentle way I can. I'm dealing with some high BP and while it's managed on moderate bed rest and without working, I think we're both concerned that high BP and post dates (I went post date with DD by 11 days) could lead to calcification of the placenta. Plus I'm a VBA2C (not for my body failing, for my midwife failing me during labor) and I know she wants to help me do everything I can to achieve my home birth. I didn't switch to the BO until the night before I had DD... 3 went up and I went into labor 5 hours later, lol. Total coincidence but funny to think about.

I'm planning to skip the EPO on my cervix and go straight for the borage oil but am curious if I can take BO orally or if I should use the EPO I have... I couldn't find anything stating it was bad and I found some very old MDC threads about people taking omega supps that contained borage oil... But I'm wondering if anyone here as any experience or knows where I can find more information.

On the upside, my body has started it's natural process and I'm already a teeny bit dilated (a fingertip) and 50% effaced as of last Friday. Without any EPO or anything this time. So I'm confident that the epo and/or borage oil will help ALOT more than it did with DD.

Thanks for reading my rambling post...

[Baby~Braatens~Mama]

Thanks for writing your rambling post! I really don't have any good input... but congratulations on your body starting the process without help. And good luck, mama!

[xekomaya]

Are you asking if borage oil is safe to take orally at all? Or if its as good as EPO? Sorry I'm a little confused

My EFA mix has borage oil in it so it is something you can take internally and I'm certainly doing it during pregnancy - never heard any reason not to.

[WifeofAnt]

Oh shoot I didn't realize it did that!! Its in my omega vitamin... that I forget to take most of the time.

[sattygirl99]

Oh no, I know it's better than EPO... LOL. I just can't find anything concrete on consuming it orally when pregnant! Everything out there is all "EPO EPO EPO!" but the EPO didn't do it for me and I'm just wanting to skip it at this point and go straight for the stuff that's more potent. I think I have the cervix of steel lol, as DTD and the direct prostiglandins didn't help either. But the borage oil seemed to help greatly and I only took ONE night of it (though it was 3 of them vaginally lol).

Thanks ladies! I know it's in my omega supplement that expired and I took early in pregnancy without even thinking twice. I can't imagine it'd be bad if it's in so many supplements (it's not like it's cohosh or something LOL) but I was hoping someone had something I could read that didn't have a blanket CYA 'if you're pregnant or nursing' label on it.

I'm off to buy some borage oil today! I should have done it at the beginning of the week but oh well...