Bringing on labor- what do *you* do? « Back to Group Discussions

[WindyCityMom]

For those of us who go "late", what do you resort to during those last couple of weeks?

With DD1 I remember my husband coaching me as I ran up and down stairs.  Curb walking.  Mall walking.  Hardcore shopping.  Nope, induced at 42 weeks.  

With DD2 I took castor oil around my due date.  Very stupid idea, didn't work, didn't bring on more contractions, but it did clean out my colon pretty well!  I did do vaginal Evening Primrose oil from 38 weeks, I believe, and I did go into labor shortly before my external version at 39w6d. But she was a stubborn breech.

I couldn't do much outdoor walking with those two- it was December, lol.  It will be nice out this time.  I'm hoping to go apple picking at the beginning of September- maybe that will help things along?  Idk.  I feel like I need to start planning all of this- my DH is planning on taking vacation days around my due date so I'd like to have stuff lined up to do.

What are your go to tricks when that time comes?

My midwives won't let me VBAC if I pass 41 weeks.  I feel like I will.  Even if I don't birth with them, I'd still like their backup for NSTs and such, and if I don't consent to a c-s after 41 weeks, I'll be fired as a patient.  So I'd ideally like to have this baby between weeks 39 and 41.  One can dream!

[judybean]

I was induced (hospital) with my first three (between 41-42 weeks), so I was worried that with dd4 my body might not know how to spontaneously go into labor so I did what I could to encourage things. I did EPO orally starting at 36 weeks and vaginally at 38. I took Gentle Birth Formula from mountainmeadowherbs.com starting... gosh, whenever they recommend it... lots of walking, lots of sex, and I did go into labor all on my own at 41 weeks!! I plan to probably follow the same plan this time.

[dmpkmom]

starting at 40: EPO and DTD

starting at 40 and 2, I started accupunture.

then at 41 and 2, I had my membranes stripped and homeopathics

then at 41 and 4, herb tincture (grosser than gross..I will never ever do that again!)

then at 41 and 6: 10 AM: NET (neuroemotional technique) session, 5 PM: "preggo pizza" that my hubby drove an extra 1.5 hrs for (my birth story is on their website among many others), 11 PM: casteroil, 12:30 AM caster oil worked/water broke/labor started.

IF I could do it again, I think I would have tried an enema or a super duper strong starbucks over the Caster Oil b/c I really think the clean out is what it took.

[Monkey Keeper]

36w: oral EPO

38w: add 1 capsule vaginal EPO

39w: add 1 capsule vaginal EPO

40w: RRL tea infusions 1qt daily, sex/orgasm

41w: membrane sweep, chiro, acupressure, massage with clary sage oil

41w1d (while in early labor): acupuncture

This time, I think I will try to start acupuncture earlier, like in week 39. I'd love to get those pathways open and hopefully get the baby moving earlier than 41+1. One thing I hadn't resorted to was castor oil packs/abdominal castor oil massage, but that is in my back pocket for this go 'round.

[help007]

At 40 weeks with #2, I had been having regular contractions for ~10 days, and I was dilated to 3cm, so my midwife swept my membranes twice over the course of the week. Lots of walking.

41 weeks, acupuncture twice and senna tea (works like castor oil, but supposedly more gently- it was not necessarily gentle!). I was so, so not in the mood for sex, so I didn't even try that.

At 42w2d, my midwife said I'd have to go to the hospital if the baby didn't come within 48 hours, so she was willing to break my water (I was dilated to 6cm, but still no active labor). My lovely boy arrived 2 hours later with no further interventions.

[crystal_buffaloe]

I tried a lot of tricks with DD with no luck, but I didn't start my efforts until 41 weeks and was induced at 41+4 or 5, so I didn't give it a whole lot of time. This time around, I'm going to start a lot earlier.

What I'm doing baby-please-come-out-before-42-weeks plan-wise:

• doing stuff from Spinning Babies, and I'll ramp this up in the next month or so
• seeing a chiropractor
• planning on more aggressive acupuncture as soon as the chiropractor okays it -- 39 weeks?
• membrane stripping -- I'm not sure when I'll start this
• I thought I'd break out the breastpump if it really, really gets down to the wire, perhaps in some kind of combination with castor oil type thing? I actually had two 2-ounce doses of castor oil the day before I was induced with DD and it did *nothing* -- seriously, no cleansing of the bowels or anything. Coffee does make me go, though, so I was interested to see someone mention an extra-super-grande Starbucks. That seems much more pleasant and might even be more effective -- def. something for me to think about!

[ilovejeff]

Starting at around 27 weeks, I did EPO (orally at first, then vaginally), upped my RRl, lots of sex (DH is excited to help with that again, lol), and walking. Oh, a couple sessions of acupuncture and lots of listening to the Hypnobabies "Baby Come Out" track.. At 41w4d, I took a dose of casot oil, then I went in to have my membranes stripped at 9 am. I was not dilated at all, so my midwife did some cervical massage. (she told me after that she went home and told her husband at there was no way I was going to have my baby that day.) I went home and did nipple stimulation with the breast pump, took a long walk, and at some point did a second dose of castor oil. Active labor started around 3pm and DD was born at 11:53 that night.

I've already told my midwife that we will have to get pushy a bit sooner this time...I'm having the baby 2.5 hours from home and DH has to be back here 9 days after my EDD to start his last quarter of school. We'll be over there starting at 37 weeks and I plan to see the whole city of Seattle on foot if I have to....lots of hills and lots of stairs to climb.

[dmpkmom]

i'm not sure how true this is but my mw said that for the membrane sweep, the first one is the one that does the "most" prostaglandin release wise so you really do want to wait until your body/baby is showing other signs of being almost ready otherwise its a waste.  repeated stripping doesn't help, in her opinion.

I also noticed a `change in how baby was "floating" in that last week..i really don't think I was ready before that (and my dates were not off) so caster oil or the like at any time before 41 and half would have not helped. you aren't offically overdue until 43 weeks and in some countries 43 weeks is still okay...try to give it time ladies. its painful but your body is getting ready even if you don't think it is.

[judybean]

dmpkmom -- Certainly!  Nothing will happen if your body and your baby aren't ready.  I don't do things to bring on labor so much as to simply try to make conditions as favorable as possible. When pg with dd4 I really was terrified that I had totally betrayed my body with being induced three times (and honestly, in those three times only with dd3 did I even feel a contraction prior to induction)... so I just made sure to try to make things as favorable as possible for labor to naturally occur on its own.  I figured that was really all I could do anyway.

And honestly, it's GREAT that in some countries you're not overdue until 43 weeks -- I truly wish that was the case here in the states -- ... but... since it's not, many midwives are bound by state laws and laws of their licenses and can get in a lot of trouble for practicing beyond those parameters... and thus, the issue of a time crunch comes into play and trying to make things as favorable as possible to birth within the parameters of those timelines. It's not ideal and it sucks, but I'd rather birth with my midwife within her timeline than go beyond and probably be forced into a cesarean (because of course in a hospital it would freak even more people out to be *gasp* 42 weeks... and various medical inductions would occur and any interventions will simply increase the odds of a surgical birth).

[crystal_buffaloe]

This might be interesting, for research-minded types: full-text Cochrane review, methods of induction of labor.

I'll pull quotes about a few techniques that look promising:

Membrane sweeping significantly decreased the number of pregnancies progressing to 42 weeks' gestation

Compared with standard care (oxytocin, prostaglandins, or "routine care"), more women undergoing acupuncture did not require the use of other induction methods

Breast stimulation decreased the number of women who were not in labour within 72 hours

There is a possibility that I could drive 2.5 hours away to find a CP willing to oversee my pregnancy if it goes past 42 weeks, but the 42 week deadline was the best I could do in my area. I wholeheartedly agree that it's not ideal.

[MamanFrancaise]

I say this now but ask me again at 41+ weeks... I don't think I will do anything this time. I just know what is on the other end of birth. Yes, a baby I love and really want to meet but also a baby that will require 24/7 of me and while I am looking forward to that, I am in no rush. LOL

If I do change my mind, I will only do the membrane sweep and maybe sex. No way am I drinking castor oil again. BARF.

[crystal_buffaloe]

Originally Posted by MamanFrancaise 

I say this now but ask me again at 41+ weeks... I don't think I will do anything this time. I just know what is on the other end of birth. Yes, a baby I love and really want to meet but also a baby that will require 24/7 of me and while I am looking forward to that, I am in no rush. LOL

Oh, man -- yes. I had such an easy pregnancy. Really, I was still feeling very good at 41.5 weeks. And then good lord above, I got whacked in the face with PP recovery and a non-sleeping newborn. It almost boggles my mind that I'm trying anything to evict this one (as much as I will love him when he lands earthside -- and surely he won't be a worse sleeper than his sister -- surely).

[ArtificialRed]

I definitely don't want to be induced, so if 40 weeks rolls around we'll be trying different methods to bring on labor. Hypnobabies has a "baby come out" cd that I will probably invest in, as well as some of the other things mentioned. I will definitely be praying for a lot of patience. I don't want him to come before he's ready, but I guess I'm afraid when I'm ready and when he's ready won't be the same.

[dmpkmom]

judyean, I know what you mean 100%. that is the only reason I took casteroil b/c it was the last 12 hrs before my home birth plans might have been removed (I was scheduled for my 42 week NST at noon the next day and was afraid the MDs would tell me not to leave and being a vbac, I was afraid they'd say section.)

just my lesson learned from 2 weeks of trying to get baby out is I should have waited until 41 for any efforts b/c the signs were just not there at 40.

[crystal_buffaloe]

dmpkmom - I'm VBAC hopeful, too.

Anyway, I just found out that my dad's birthday was on September 19th (he passed away when I was a kid, and I guess I never really knew when his birthday was). We made the decision a long time ago to name a boy baby after him, and my due date is September 23rd. It would be incredibly awesome if this baby had his birthday, too. I'm not going to start trying to induce any earlier or anything, but maybe the stars will align and I won't need to try anything on this list.

[MissE]

With DS we 'only' DTD quite a bit. I thought for sure labor would just start one day...well..then I got induced. I never went into labor and our kid probably had a slight concussion from all the 'relations' that were going on before induction LOL.

with DD I wanted to make a possible induction 'easier' so I started taking EPO at 36 weeks orally, vaginally at 38 weeks. I also took 5W every day and had my membranes stripped at 40 weeks. I tried the usual walking, stairs etc. I got induced with the plan to eventually rupture my bag of waters. That didn't happen so I was sent back home. Went back into the hospital two days after but the day before I had some wine and I honestly think it relaxed me enough to just say "whatever happens, happens" and sure enough the day after, when I went back to be induced my cervix was at 6cm and 80% effaced. They broke my water and birth was a 'piece of cake' so fast and easy, I'm really hoping it'll be like that this time around. I also hope I will go into labor on my own, drive to the hospital, have my waters broken and baby will come out. That's my plan.

[activealli]

Does anyone know if the trader joes EPO is ok? Saw it there today. I have no idea if I am a late or early laborer because i had a c section at 38 weeks last time due to high risk pregnancy. I am having a home birth this time and dont want to go overdue as my only hospital choice is another c section (with probably a lot of extra attitude thrown in because I attempted a home vbac),