Success with Castor Oil?

[vespersongs]

Hi there,
Just wondering if anyone has had true success (or not!) with castor oil induction. I just had some in a smoothie and am...*gulp*...waiting...
Thanks!

[Wackadoo]

I sure did! Chugged 4oz blended with some ice cream around 8pm (and I hadn't had ANY contractions) and was easing out the babe at 5am! Granted, all the pooping is no fun whatsoever, but 100times better than the Pit I had with dd#1!!

Good birthin to ya, mama!

[Plady]

I had success. I took some castor oil around 4 pm, nothing (not even poop) happened for a couple hours. Finally around 8:30 I started feeling weird, by 9 I realized it was contractions I was feeling. DD was born at 12:57am. I will say though that with such a fast labor there was no between contractions time. It was like having one 4 hour long contraction so it was very intense. There was a wee bit of meconium in the water (which broke one push before she came out) but her apgars were 9 and 10.

Good luck!

[vespersongs]

dosage?

I took the CO at 9:30am this morning (1 oz in a smoothie) and just had some again (1 oz in cranberry juice) at 11:30. Not a whole lot of poop, but several mild contractions.

Since she is already engaged and I don't want to do too much, I am just doing an ounce every 2 hours instead of a huge dose all at once.

Any thoughts?

[burke-a-bee]

I did! I took castor oil at 8:15pm. Pooped some (nothing too bad) but didn't have any contractions until 11:30pm. I had the baby 35 minutes later. (I was already 5 cm for a week before labor started.)
My mom took castor oil and so did both of my grandmothers.

[Sharlla]

I drank 3 oz at about 2:30 pm and started having contractions about 6 hours later. Had my baby a 12:07 AM.

[alicia9178]

SO ladies I have a quick question for you all....how many weeks were/are you when trying this??? I tried with dd#1 and had a whole buncha pooping but never got a baby out of it....though I was a few days shy of 38 weeks and trying to avoid an induction. Maybe I was just to early???
Alicia

[alegna]

Personally I would not consider any induction method before 42 weeks minimum.

Just asking for trouble IMO.

-Angela

[burke-a-bee]

I was 41 weeks and 5 cm dialated and no labor. My midwife said that I would need to go to the hospital if my labor didn't start soon. I knew they would want to induce, so I decided on castor oil.

[Wackadoo]

In my case, my water had broken on a Sunday at 39 weeks. My midwife recommended the oil on Monday night after no contractions in that timespan.

[MsMoMpls]

I was working at having Zach early to avoid my third C-sect. I started pumping and accupuncture at 37 weeks and then at 38 weeks, when I was starting to show signs of engagement and thinning, I did one dose of castor oil. I think it was 3 oz in a smoothy. I drank it at 4 and went into a fantastic labor at 11 pm and gave birth NATURALLY!!!! at 9 am to my tiniest little baby- 9lbs 4 oz. I wouldn't have pushed for an early delivery without lots of evidence that my babies are huge and he was ready to go.

[homemademomma]

ive seen this scenario happen at least 3 times: mom's water breaks, she induces with pitocin, she gets to 6-8 cm, and labor peters out. 2 of these 3 women got a c/s. i dont know if the diarrhea causes your electrolyte balance to get whacked out, or just exhausts you, or if once the intestinal upset slows down, the ctx peter out, or what, but thats just something to keep in mind when considering castor oil. there is (ime) a HUGE increase in "failure to progress" or "stalled labor" when induction methods of any kind are used.



eta oh shoot i just reread and saw that you already took the castor oil! well then forget what i said- you are going to have your baby without any problems!

[UmmBnB]

At 42 weeks I induced with castor oil for ds. The next day I would have had to schedule an appt with the MD for a non-stress test (by law in Co at 42 weeks for homebirths). It was horrible but it worked. I took it at 9 or 10am (4oz), spent the day in the bathroom then went to bed at 10pm contractionless and crying.

I woke to my water breaking at 1:30am and had an amazing 6 hour peaceful labor.

When I was at 41 weeks with dd I mixed up a smoothie of 4oz castor oil but never could bring myself to drink it. All I could think was that if I managed to get it down, I'd just puke it all up again.

Went into labor on my own at 42 weeks.

[flapjack]

At 43.5 weeks, I took one tablespoon of castor oil with some chocolate milk, went to bed. Ctx started at 3.30am, bowel action at 5am, ctx got strong enough that I couldn't sleep through by 6.30am. 3 cm dilated by 9am, 8cm by 2pm, baby out by 5.30pm. No meconium, no difficulties, BUT it was a comparatively small dose and I truly believe that it was the psychological act of saying "that's it, I'm ready for baby now" that tripped me into labour, because I didn't have any of the griping pains or diarrhoea other people talk about- I was begging for an enema when his head and membranes crowned
My second was an indirect castor oil induction- found the bottle, realised it expired at the end of the previous month, put it in the bin. Baby was born at lunchtime the next day, 2 weeks early but a much harder labour.
This time, I'm going to go and buy the castor oil the day I get to the point of totally fed-up, tie a "Drink Me" label on it like in Alice in Wonderland and put it somewhere obvious that I can meditate on it (like a high shelf where I see it every time I go past.)

[dukeswalker]

I was 41w6d and I took 1 oz in a smoothie - about 2 hours later I had one good poop! and then ctx started and within 7 hours of taking it dd#3 was delivered au natural!

I know in Ina May Gaskin's new book she actualy has a section where she recommends her dose of castor oil as 1oz in some scrambled eggs - and then another 1oz later (I think....anyone have that on hand? I loaned mine out)

[homemademomma]

woops, i meant to write induced with castor oil.

[Defenestrator]

Originally Posted by homemademomma

ive seen this scenario happen at least 3 times: mom's water breaks, she induces with pitocin, she gets to 6-8 cm, and labor peters out. 2 of these 3 women got a c/s. i dont know if the diarrhea causes your electrolyte balance to get whacked out, or just exhausts you, or if once the intestinal upset slows down, the ctx peter out, or what, but thats just something to keep in mind when considering castor oil. there is (ime) a HUGE increase in "failure to progress" or "stalled labor" when induction methods of any kind are used.

A lot of times when water breaks before labor it is because of a posterior baby. Many moms with babies in posterior position will have a "stall" of some kind at around 6-8 cm where the baby will not make any more progress until a turn is completed. I have seen these stalls last 8 hours or more, but if enough patience is there, the babies can turn and be born vaginally.

The castor oil may not be helping matters, because it interferes with the body's own rhythms and forces labor before all of the chemical factors have lined up to make it the easiest it can be, but I doubt that it causes the stall in these cases.

If you are in a homebirth scenario, what is the harm in such a stall, anyway? If midwives are under pressure to have a baby be born within a certain timeframe after waters have released, then they will need to do what is necessary to help that baby be born, whether it be castor oil or pitocin or nipple stimulation. But if they are not, then a stall at 8 cm is really no different from a labor that never began in the first place, as long as the baby is still in good shape. You just take a nap, have some food and drink, and wait for things to start up again. They often will.

[pamamidwife]

agree with Defenstrator. I often feel like the biggest reason for pre-labor rupture of membranes w/out labor starting within 24 hours is malpresentation, specifically posterior.

I've had a couple clients who were really sensitive to castor oil. It's made me rethink my 2oz at a time regimen. I think now I'd recommend 1oz at a time until we know for sure how sensitive a woman is.

[vespersongs]

Success!

Well, it worked! i took 1 oz in a smoothie at 9 am, then another 1 oz in juice 2 hours later, and it was enough to kick things over the edge and I had Arden Lille Evangeline at 8:34 PM...wonderful, really laborious 2nd homebirth...really had to work for her once i got into transition...but I caught her...what a wonderful feeling...gave birth with a HUGE smile on my face... and it was LOVE at first sight...

I was glad not to have to take the full dose as I had read in several places...we felt if the lowest dose wouldn't work, we didn't want to do it. It wasn't unpleasant, either, in taste or in effect; turned my poop to water, basically, but wasn't explosive. ANYway. enough of that.

Things are going beautifully, a lot easier than the first time, i think because i have no agenda...just loving my kids and taking things VERY slow...

Lots of love to you all!

[vespersongs]

Ps

PS, I meant to say that was Monday night. So from taking the CO to birth was a little less than 12 hours.