Epo

[Sunshine4004]

I began taking my Evening Primrose Oil today. Anyone else using EPO to prepare for birth?

[RainRaven]

yup, I am taking it 3 times a day. and i will start inserting at 39 weeks once a day before bed.

[KerriAZ]

Nope! Too early yet for me! Besides, with my PTL issues, I don't think I'll be needing it! LOL

[julesinottawa]

I've heard of people taking it but I don't know what for. Can you give me a brief summary?

[Sunshine4004]

Originally Posted by julesinottawa

I've heard of people taking it but I don't know what for. Can you give me a brief summary?

EPO is supposed to soften the cervix to prepare your body for labor. Here is a link with more information.

[firespiritmelody]

Bought mine yesterday, probably will start taking it today.

[lorelei]

I might pick some up. I am ready to help things along- I wanna meet my babe!

[delicious]

oh, i didn't realize we were that far along. to start EPO.

i still feel like i just found out.

[DawnaRose]

I'm planning to start taking some next week, when I hit 37 weeks

[mommymia]

I may start at 36 or 37 weeks but want to do a little more research first.

[Tiffanoodle]

I've been taking it once a day most days for a few weeks now. On the days where it feels like I'm having more contractions, I tend to skip it. With my previous children, I didn't actually start progressive contractions without Pitocin. I'm really wanting to avoid that this time. I'm well on my way to 37 weeks and will be getting an u/s tomorrow to see where things are at with the baby growth-wise.

[njbeachgirl]

Originally Posted by delicious

oh, i didn't realize we were that far along. to start EPO.

i still feel like i just found out.

LOL- I just told DH, it feels like I just peed on the stick!

I did start taking it once a day, but I suck at remembering to do it everyday.

[wryknowlicious]

I'll start taking it at 36 weeks.

[AnnieMarie]

I plan to start taking it next week 35+ weeks, as soon as we are back from our long weekend away.

[AmyC]

I did take it (orally) in my first pregnancy, when I was almost 41 weeks along. I had gotten checked (it was a Friday) and was 0% effaced and not dilated at all. I knew the NSTs and extra scrutiny would be starting up on the coming Monday (I was 41 weeks that Sunday) and I wanted to increase the odds of avoiding induction at 42 weeks by having the baby sooner if I could.

The midwife I saw mentioned sex, walking, EPO, spending time on hands & knees to help the babe's positioning (just kneeling at the couch and leaning against it, reading in that position to pass the time, whatever.) She had been breech until very late, and I think she was posterior at that point, so there wasn't a lot of help from her head in moving things along...

I started the EPO capsules that day, along with all the other stuff (plus drinking copious amounts of water), passed the mucous plug at 11 p.m. and started with contractions almost right after. It was a long haul, though. The next evening we went in and met the on-call midwife just to get checked and find out where we were....I was effacing but still not dilating much beyond a few centimeters. We opted to stay home and keep going there.

We went in to the hospital's alternative birthing center (no OBs, no meds) first thing Sunday morning and I birthed the baby Sunday night at 11:12 p.m.

Honestly, I don't know that I would do the EPO again. I know someone whose midwife did a retrospective study with a small sample of women (not a closely controlled clinical trial) who used ingested EPO before term, and found that in their sample it increased the duration of labor for some women, shortened it for others, and increased problems with descent.

I just did a quick search on the study and a lot of hits came up. The title is Oral evening primrose oil: Its effect on length of pregnancy and selected intrapartum outcomes in low-risk nulliparous women and the midwife's name is Dorinda Dove. Here's one link to the abstract; there may be full-text available free online elsewhere, as well.

[AmyC]

One of the links that came up in my search was an old thread on Mothering. It mentions the same article:

NameThatMama
10-27-2005, 03:46 PM
There's only one study that's been done on it, and it actually indicated that EPO might prolong and complicate labor!

Dove D, Johnson P., Oral evening primrose oil: its effect on length of pregnancy and selected intrapartum outcomes in low-risk nulliparous women. J Nurse Midwifery. 1999 May-Jun;44(3):320-4.

I dunno! I think it did move things along for me when I wasn't showing any signs of getting going, but I had the long labor and problems with descent. (Again, I used it at almost 41 weeks, not before term.)

[elf]

I started taking it orally at 36 weeks (I am now 37 wks) and with talk of induction for other medical problems, I inserted one vaginally last night. I did not like it. I started contracting fairly soon after and barely slept all night. I took multiple baths and sat on my birth ball. At times my uterus was continually hard and it made me nervous that they baby wasn't getting much of a break. Maybe it was just a coincidence but I don't think I will be doing any more vaginal doses.

[Sunshine4004]

Hmm...interesting....now I don't know if I should keep taking it. I only took 500 mg (orally) that past 2 days but intended to continue until birth.

[RainRaven]

I did not take it with DS and I had a very hard labor with him, I started taking it at 36 weeks with DD and vaginally at 39 weeks with her and a very easy labor.

[ekblad9]

Aviva Jill Romm recommends EPO (500 mg) once/day starting around 37 wks, I believe. She says to only increase it if you're post dates.

I took it with baby 6 and 7 and will take it again this time. I do think it helped my labors along.