Black and blue Cohash to induce? Have you tried it « Back to Group Discussions

[hotmom]

So Im 40 weeks , Dr says fluid is low and I need to replenish. Shes looking to induce me by Monday , wed the latest =( . Any suggestions are welcome

[Runnerbean]

Hi, I have tried it, it helped with effacement but not dilation in my case. It was the sweep, and castor oil that worked for me in the end.  I was also told I had low fluid levels, and I queried what the number was. I was told it was an 8 and they wanted to induce immediately, but I had researched fluid levels and in my opinion if my levels had been 5 or lower I would have considered but 8, although low is still considered normal. I opted for a  trace to check how baby was doing ( he was doing great),  and declined the induction and offered to be retested for fluid levels in a few days to give me more time, as I was planning a home birth and wanted to avoid hospital if I could. The initial fluid test was done at 41+1 and ds was born on 41+5 and he definitely needed that extra time and even at that a bit of encouragement to come out!

Edited to add: My waters broke all over my midwife and she laughed and said no problem with low levels of water with you! The fluid level readings are subjective and the number is essentially determined by the person reading the scan and in my midwife's experience she has had clients have more than two scans for fluid with varying degrees of accuracy even in the space of 24hrs, when tested by different people, so that is also something to consider.

[hotmom]

yes she said I barely had a 8 and that was the lowest acceptable amount.

what can I do to induce this Labor? Im actually nervous about castor oil I read it may cause baby to pass meconium. I told the dr, I don't want Pit or any inducement. She disagrees.. Sigh

[Tizzy]

Castor oil and B & B cohosh do not do anything to ripen the cervix.

Taking either of them alone will not be very effective IMO.

For the fluid levels, try to drink as much clear fluids as you possibly can to get the levels up. How does baby look otherwise?  If there are no other signs of distress, I would wait it out just a wee bit longer.

[Thandiwe]

We were over 4 days and dilated to 4cm with 50% effaced, jello soft at my only cervical check.  I was restless and wanted to speed prodromal labor along, so she suggested sweeping my membranes.  She did a very partial job, said it was an easy job/very ready, and sent me home.  That was about 9/9:30pm, and then I awoke at 3:20am in labor.  It was about 6 hours start to finish.  I didn't feel comfortable with cohosh herbs and we found out at the birth that he had low fluid levels (never gushed, very, very clean birth surface, no rush of waters - couldn't even tell it had broken).  All turned out well except his cord immediately blanched, so we think the placenta detached at delivery.  He had the cord around his arm and body, though, so that may have pulled the placenta some too.
 

[Arcanefamily]

At 41.6 weeks I was having prodromal labor for several days completely softened, efffaced, and dilated to 2cm.  The only real hold up was that the position of my cervix was posterior.  I drank raspberry leaf tea, had an enema, and then started black and blue cohosh tincture under my tongue around 3pm.  Baby was earthside by 10pm.  Good luck.