Wednesday, March 10, 2010

How to induce labor

At 10 days post-due, I've gotten some great suggestions for inducing labor that I thought I'd share. I have to tell you up-front that we have not ignored these, but clearly they have not worked - so I'm on the fence about whether to recommend them. Perhaps for some other person, or at some other time, they would be useful - but not for me right now, unfortunately.

First, I'll start with the well-accepted ones (from the baby book and birthing classes) - these are accupuncture, accupressure, cod liver oil, walking, sex, and nipple stimulation - sorry to get you with those last two but they are big ones, and I've gotten a lot of whispered suggestions regarding those so I thought I'd just put them in and say that WE KNOW, so don't worry.

Here is the list of not-so-conventional methods of inducing labor (some are kind of logical, some not so much):

- Watch the Sound of Music
- Watch any movie with Johnny Depp
- Do 10 squats and then go to bed
- Walk backwards up the stairs (thanks Grandma! that was the best one!)
- Drink lots of water
- Drive over a bunch of potholes
- Eat spicy Indian or Thai food (has the same effect as cod liver oil - irritates your bowel)
- Take a hot bath/shower/drink hot tea (e.g. RELAX - but according to birthing class this can also slow down early labor, so beware)
- Play basketball (I personally don't recommend this)
- Play loud music and dance
- Drink cranberry juice
- Clean the shower
- Clean out a low cupboard

I gotta say, playing the waiting game is not fun. It's like being loaded up on a plane and then getting stuck on the runway for a week. NOTHING you do while you wait provides enough distraction or gets your full attention. And it is a hard transition going from 50+ hours a week in an established routine at a job I really enjoy to hanging around the house waiting for something that continually does not happen - I am grateful I was able to stay at work as long as I did (until 3 days post-due, when the doctor killed it by telling me I was going into labor) - 'working from home' is not nearly a good enough distraction, although at this point eating cake and watching awesome '80s movies wouldn't be a good enough distraction either, so I am doing whatever I can.

Thankfully neither the Studly Hubby nor I have super-strict leave time. I know one woman who had to go back to work 1 week after a C-section, which seems illegal but wasn't, because she had really unusual circumstances... and I am REALLY grateful that isn't going to happen to either of us. A deadline had to be moved, but that was it.

Well thanks everyone for all your support and sympathy - hopefully in the next week or so we will actually have some news to report!

6 comments:

Justin said...

Haha, pretty interesting post :-p

Never heard of someone sharing how to induce labor!

I especially like the "Watch the Sound of Music"

Kerry said...

Cod liver oil? I thought it was castor oil... hmm...ask your mother.. she took it...

Otherwise...have Derek jump up and down on a trampoline while watching the Sound of Music and eating spicy Thai... and watch from the rocker

Maybe then you'll laugh hard enough the baby will come out to see what it's all about

Uncle KT said...

Good luck!

great-uncle bruce said...

She got born. Name is Layla. More details to come soon, I am sure.

J-Funk said...

Haha, great uncle Bruce!! Pics and a story will be up on the blog as soon as mom and dad get some sleep.

Peggy said...

A thousand congratulations to J-Funk and Studly Hubby!

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