Natural Induction 2nd Update #19

[ahdoula]

I have been leaking amniotic fluid going on 72 hours now with no signs of labor. My midwife said if I was willing to take my temp every four hours and start echenation and vit C I could wait it out longer (if I had been with an OB they would have induced after 24.) But she isn't thrilled with that plan and I am uneasy with making my midwife uneasy, she feels I should encourage labor along. I have religiously tried nipple stimulation to no avail so we are looking at doing cohosh or castor oil in the AM.

I need labor vibes sent my way tonight please!!

I am very uneasy about taking labor into my own hands, but equally uneasy letting my baby sit exposed to possible infection any longer too. Even though my water hasn't totally broken, the baby is still exposed. I am trying to dwell on the positive, like I may be holding my new baby this time tomorrow. But if my body's not geared up for labor, how hard and long will that make my birth? I have had two very easy natural birth in the past, what if this one ends up being longer than I am prepared for because I have to force it to come? I am terrified of transferring to a hospital because "I can't handle it."

I'll keep you posted. How on earth am I suppose to sleep tonight?

I need all the labor vibes tonight please!! I'll keep you posted...

[IamPink]

*praying for you*

[mamada]

Sending positive labour/birth vibes your way! I don't know if this will be of any comfort or not, but my understanding is that natural induction methods only work if baby and your body are ready. I think that if you try natural induction methods and then you go into labour it won't be any worse than if you spontaneously went into labour. It is my understanding that medically-induced labour is what makes birthing difficult.

For my ds we naturally induced him with a combination of intercourse/orgasm and acupressure. He was my first baby and my labour was very manageable - we had a beautiful homebirth. I think that if your natural induction works tomorrow then your birth will be manageable as well, especially since you have some experience with birthing.

I tend to think of natural induction methods as "encouraging" labour to start, rather than "forcing" labour to start.

Good luck to you, I hope you have a wonderful labour and delivery! And healthy baby (and mama, too!) of course.

[pwit]

I had a lot of natural induction methods tried on me with my first. None of them seemed to work but I did finally start labor on my own a few hours before I was scheduled to go to the hospital for a medical induction. If any of those natural things did help me go into labor sooner I don't think they made my labor harder.

[fw221]

Time to come out, baby!

[Lissybug]

I just wanted to reinforce what has been said by a couple others- "natural induction" methods are not going to force your body into labor if it is not ready. I tried Castor oil 4 times, blue and black cohosh, stripping membranes and just about everything else, and none of those made me go into labor. Maybe they helped get things started, I don't know. I had a successful homebirth in the end (42wks 4 days), and certainly don't feel they made my labor harder. If anything I think they may have helped because I went into labor 4cm dialated. I know the feeling of being desperate to go into labor. It's so hard. You are going to be ok. You are a strong mama even if you are not feeling like you are. That well of strength that comes with motherhood is inside, and however this baby need to be born, this will their story of birth, as unique as they are.

Alissa

[MamaSpruce]

Totally sending you labor vibes tonight!!!

But : about the natural induction too. With your waters releasing and being over 40 weeks, you should have a good chance of that being just the nudge your body needs. I have known several castor oil mamas that have gone to have wonderful births (though many intense) after the initial ick of drinking it and the purging. Good luck!!

[AutumnLeaves5]

Sending good labor vibes your way...I hope the natural methods work!

[DoulaClara]

You can do it! Come on, baby!

with your decision making process- it's not an easy one, but in the end you know your body, and already have excellent mom intuition.

Clara

[becoming]

I hope your baby decided to come on his/her own last night!

[ahdoula]

No baby yet. I am feeling a little better about it, after a good night's sleep and all of your encouraging words!

Tried an enema first thing (midwife wasn't hopeful about that, and she was right) I got some wimpy cramping, but nothing to set off my uterus.

DH chased down the blue cohosh tincture and is now off to pick up the pill format, the midwife is having me alternate one and the other because bodies react differently to different formats.

She feels confident that in my situation this will work, so I am hopeful. And everyone is right, it's not like it is pitocin. It will just encourage my body along. Her expectation is to hopefully be in active labor by evening. I am just going to keep busy today and maybe I'll be busy enough I won't feel like a watched pot. Between a husband, 2 kids, 2 midwifes, a doula, a back up doula, and a midwife assistant, a mother/sister/father who all seem to know we are labor watching today- whew! Sometimes I think you UCers are on to something!

[happymom83]

well good luck. hope it goes smooth and easy!sendlabor vibes my way,lol today is my due date.thinking of you.keep us updated!

[Panthira]

Good luck to you and I hope it works!

[pilllowhead]

Oh, I wish i'd seen this earlier! I hope everything is well, this was me 3 days ago!

Don't try intercourse after waters have leaked, that poses a risk of infection, as does a bath. Showers are okay. If you have a birth ball, sit on it and bounce and rotate your hips. Do squats and walk, walk, walk the baby out!
In the end what worked for me was watching a sitcom, just stepping out of my worried head and forgetting about things, that pretty much brought on the contractions. I wish you the best of luck and send really positive labour vibes!!!

[ahdoula]

Yeah, I thought of you pillowhead! The only difference is I am just leaking, I haven't fully ruptured. So I am keeping everything out of "there" like you said-but it's not like there is all this EXTRA baby pressure on my uterus like ther would be in my water was broken (which I think would send a stronger LABOR signal to my body) because the bag is still intact. It's just drip drip drip every once in awhile.

So I am doing my birth ball (bouncing and rocking and rotating), lots of stairs, more nipple stimulation, and the Cohosh.

I am contracting some more, not in any pattern or anything consistent. Maybe a little harder than the past braxton hicks...enough to keep me encouraged at least. I always have castor oil as a last resort!

[phathui5]

Could you borrow a nursing baby from someone? Or do you have a pump?

[ahdoula]

I have a pump, a double wisper wear which is perfect for this. My midwife had me do an hour of it today, straight! I seem to get more contractions on my ball more than anywhere else. I think I'll stay parked on it for awhile

[manitobamama]

Macrina,
I've been thinking about you all day! I do hope things speed up for you soon!
Have you and dh had any alone time to snuggle and kiss! It sure helped speed things along for me and it was lots of fun too! We thought about dtd but I was too uncomfortable but snuggling worked! Perhaps a long walk!
Holding you in my thoughts and sending you energy and easy labor vibes!

[ahdoula]

Nothing in the end, after that whole day. Just wimpy stuff that didn’t seem all that different from what I have been having the past week anyway. So I went to bed, slept OK (I sleep better going to bed KNOWING I won’t go into labor over the night, I used to get insomnia and I realized it was from labor watching myself in the middle of the night!) So this AM at 7:45 took 2oz of castor oil mixed with 4oz of OJ, drank it quickly through a straw and chased it with plain OJ and managed not to throw up (really if you don’t think about it, it’s not as bad as they say.) I am still waiting on something magical to happen to my intestines or preferably my uterus! I am about to take my second dose here, same thing, 2oz mixed with cranberry juice and sparkling water this time. Midwife says it generally gets labor going within 9 hours. She talked to DH today and said "see you tonight! So she is very confident....(I wish I was that confident!) My body is being so stubborn, I am sure I would have had a 42 weeker if we didn’t have to mess with this fluid leaking thing, which was a lot heavier last night. During the day it gets plugged up with the babies head. If this doesn’t work I think I can buy myself another day by going to an acupuncturist. Still no infection or signs of it. The midwife's assistant came last night-checked on baby and my blood pressure-everything was fine. No internals of course, and the babies head is still floating....but I am a multip, so that can be OK.

[DoulaClara]

I'm keeping you in prayer! I hope this works.

Clara