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I find myself 41 weeks and 1 day pregnant today. As Delene was born 11 days after her due date, I had made up my mind since the very beginning of this pregnancy that this baby was going to be late too. I told everyone that too. I wanted to save myself the hard realization that came to me by the due date the first time… I have to say here that there was no chance that my due date could be uncertain.
All health professionals assured me that this time it would go faster. I believed them up to a point. I agreed that I was a lot more active this time around and a lot more fit. One day, when I was 36 weeks pregnant and cycling through the city with my daughter in the buggy behind the bike, I looked down at my gears and realized that I could not gear down any further… And that was on a down hill! That and the fact that my baby was kicking me quite a bit when cycling made me stop cycling.
At around 38 weeks, I had serious cramping. It was so heavy that I got quite exited! I even got a friend around to come help pack my hospital bag… It was just cramping. When I saw my gynaecologist that week, she said that I was 1cm dilated… I read about it and knew that one could be up to 4 cm dilated for four weeks, but I have to be honest and say that I did get my hopes up! Then at 39 weeks, I lost my mucus plug. I was so exited that I managed to draw blood whilst shaving my legs! Well, yes, they say that this too could happen long before delivery. When another friend went into labor on her due date and delivered the next day, I was green with envy. Then I realized that I had let go of my instinctive decision that I will not expect to have this baby on or near the due date.
Still laughing about all the tales about things that could bring on labor, I started reading about them. There are so many! Some completely silly, but some I can see working. So when the due date came and went, I started trying some… I
- walked… a bit. Pain in my pelvis made it a bit hard to go too far.
- tried drinking raspberry leaf tea… Uggg! I don’t like tea in any way, but the stuff made me feel quite unwell.
- had acupuncture. Three times. Once a week. The last one was 4 days ago.
- ate pineapple
- ate curry
- drank sparkling wine
- had warm baths
- had sex
- tried nipple stimulation
- got a gym ball and bounced around my home
- nested
- stop nesting
- got bored
- watched a weepy movie
- drank the verbena* tea the midwife told me about. Well, I have been drinking it now for 4 days.
- had some fresh dates
So, I have tried many things.
There are still some other things I could try, if I want. These are:
- drinking Castor oil with orange juice…
- Having a membrane sweep by your health care professional
- Homeopathy
- Evening primrose oil on the cervix
- Using the herbs blue cohosh and black cohosh
- Blowing up balloons
- Wearing my best underwear… sods law…
Trying these things made me come to the point where I realized that if the baby isn’t ready and willing to be born, trying these things may not help at all. So, should I continue trying these remedies until they do pay off or should I just relax and allow nature to take it’s course? I don’t know yet! I would like to have my baby soon and I would do just about anything to avoid being induced when my 42 weeks are up… But would it work?
Does anyone know of a different remedy? Has something worked for you? Let us know!
* Verbena Tea: Boil 1l water with 2cm of ginger, a cinnamon stick and 10 whole cloves for 15 minutes. Add 5g of Verbena tea leaves and stand for 10 minutes. Strain. Drink 3-5cups of this per day diluted with orange juice or apricot juice.
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Nipple stimulation worked for me. I would do one nipple at a time while I looked at stuff on the computer. 3 minutes on one side, wait 5 then the other, all the time I was on the computer.
Patience is good too.
I can’t wait to see how you do! Good post!
Membrane sweep worked well for me in my first pregnancy. It wasn’t painful at all.
I can recommend some balloons to blow up! The ones I got for Clair’s birthday were so tight that it felt like my cervix would blow out when I tried to inflate them!
Good luck!
Heard that castor oil is a BAD idea since it gives you diarreah and if it does work… well… you know the rest…
Primrose worked for my sister, within hours
Good Luck!!
At last my little boy was born. I was induced in numerous ways ranging from gentle to breaking my water in the end…
It seems that I may just be one of the few woman who just don’t go into labor (this is my second induced labor) by themselves.
Membrane sweep can work if your body is ready, but it hurt like hell with kid 1. I declined with kid 2. Glad to hear it worked out for you. That had to break my water both times, but then my body figured it out and kids were born within 6 hours!!!!