"This'll get your baby here"

[Azreial]

I've been talking to dh about the different things people told me started labor when I was over-due with ds. Some of them are pretty funny. I thought it would be nice idea for a thread becuase I'm sure everyone has soemthing to add. I'm not talking about things like herbs and nip stimulation, more like "jump up and down"

Ok, here's some of mine:
Scrub all your floors on your hands and knees
Walk up and down stairs over and over
Go for a bumpy ride

I had more but my mind is blank right now

[LEAW]

Hehe Az, the sad thing is that if we try *really* hard we can connect each stupid and silly thing to an old wive's tale or a real way to get labor going..

- Take an aerobics class is the only one coming to mind right now.

But most of the physical activity ones are for getting baby better engaged, while the food and herbs ones are for starting labor... isn't this fun?

Maybe we can make a list of how many annoying ways people can ask if the baby has birthed yet.

[Malama]

My annoying neighbor told me to eat spaghetti

My dh wants to tickle me into labor

A friend told me to play leap frog

I know I've heard WAYYY more, but these are recent ones that have come up.

[Mama2Chloe]

I've heard eating Eggplant parmesean

[LEAW]

There are tons of food.. pineapple, papaya, anything spicy/bbq, eggplant parm, and lots more that are culturally specific.

Oh and my other all time favorite, if I'd just not shave my legs for a few days, Murphy's law would make sure I went in with hairy legs.
(Except I hardly shave in the winter anyway!)

[jessitron]

My mom tried to get me to come by driving over railroad tracks over and over.

OT on the hairy legs - DH says he likes them freshly shaved, but yesterday he said "What nice smooth legs you have" and I hadn't shaved in three days! Can they even tell? After that, I'm not shaving half as often.

[Azreial]

Originally Posted by lisa2976

There are tons of food.. pineapple, papaya, anything spicy/bbq, eggplant parm, and lots more that are culturally specific.

Oh and my other all time favorite, if I'd just not shave my legs for a few days, Murphy's law would make sure I went in with hairy legs.
(Except I hardly shave in the winter anyway!)

: If that were the case I would have had this baby months ago. I think I've only shaved 2x since October

[Azreial]

Originally Posted by Malama

My dh wants to tickle me into labor

I think I'd quickly be short on dh if mine ever tried that

[Human_Being]

what makes people go into labor? What ever they happened to do the night before they went into labor...it takes on a magical significance- eat at Applebees, pizza and bowling, swimming and sex....the list is as long as the number of babies born!

[jessitron]

So we can all start our own silly wives' tales after we go into labor? That sounds like fun. We'll have to pretend to be very serious when we tell people the trick.

[LEAW]

Oooh yes I agree... we can all start our own wives tales. And spread them like wildfire around the globe. Mamas everywhere will be asking for advice.

[mamabeca]

I'm convinced my parents think I keep my babies in just to spite them. So attitude is a factor (did we already know this?), but perhaps less so than stress - more stress (like a war) can bring on babies (not recommended for people from Ohio), just some stress (like too many visitors) can delay birth. Is there no winning? There is no stress free existence... is there?

A good one the other day that someone told me was to go to a tanning parlor. The heat would bring out the baby...and all the cancer cells! Yikes... I'm not a tanning type person - burn, blister, peel...that's what I do.

Also have heard before that mowing/raking/shoveling is a trick, one which doesn't actually work (I REALLY tried with dd), and also dancing (which I think might work, but you'd have to be ready anyway and dance kind of a lot to someone like gabrielle roth). Ecstatic dance to bring on ecstatic birth... worth a try? My wives tale might then include some kind of ruby slipper...

[Pam_and_Abigail]

http://gentlebirth.org/archives/natinduc.html

Here's a link from another thread with some ideas. The note about spicy foods dulling the g-spot is interesting.

[Karennnnn]

Visiting from the June boards
My mom went into labor twice after eating creamed spinach.
Not sure if I could stomach that, but it seems like maybe that's the reason why lol! A castor oil effect ;o)
Good luck in the coming weeks ladies!
Karen