It's official - I'm 37 weeks making me full term Woo Hoo. January when I was a measly few weeks seems like a lifetime ago. I guess I now have the go ahead to try and get this labor and delivery under way over the next few weeks. Although the thought of being in labor is quite daunting and scary. I do think labor is pretty much determined by nature and your body and Baby Hahm will decide when he wants to come. There are a few scientifically proven techniques that may aide in getting your body headed towards labor, but the majority of what people suggest are pretty much for fun and have little proof of actually working. I am only referencing the stuff you do at home to try and get yourself to the hospital not what actually happens once you are admitted to the hospital.
A couple of things that could be done over the next few weeks and have more of a chance to work and get this party started are the following:
1) Letting gravity do its job. I'll call this Newton's method. This means doing anything you can do that places your body in some sort of gravity favorable position. Walking, standing on your head (j/k), gravity positive yoga moves (cat/cow pose or child's pose, etc.), pelvic rocking also known as the windshield wiper, relaxing on an exercise ball, sleeping at more on an angle on your left side, etc... you get the point. Gravity is awesome and is your friend as you try to get a baby's heavy head to point south and towards the exit.
2) Natural hormonal or bodily stimulants. I won't go in to detail on these or how these become released as they are quite personal, but sometimes these natural processes can trigger the right cycle to begin.
a very iffy 3) Acupuncture or acupressure. While not proven to work unless your body is already starting to head in to labor there is some scientific merit to these techniques. Most of the success shown has been when people do multiple sessions of either and the body is already showing signs of early labor. Either way it probably feels good.
a very iffy 4) Primrose oil. May release something similar to a natural prostaglandin. The jury is still out on this one though too, but at least there is something similar to what works on your cervix naturally.
Now for the more rumored and hot topic ways to induce labor (of course this is not exhaustive, but here are few of the most mentioned):
1) Castor Oil - Yuck. It causes diarrhea and digestive upset, which some people think leads to starting labor due to the tightening of muscles etc.. I am thinking to myself why would I want to have contractions and diarrhea ..hahaha.
2) Spicy foods. I love spicy foods, if this were the case I'd be in labor my whole pregnancy!! The reason people think it works is similar to the Castor Oil reason, it gets your digestive system moving. There isn't any scientific correlation to the stomach and the utereus though to induce labor. But hey I'm up for eating more spicy food.
3) Raspberry tea and other teas... the raspberry tea has been used by native populations for a long time, but other than that it hasn't been shown to really affect labor.
4) Driving on a bumpy road. This feels like it may have a similar affect as bouncing on an exercise ball and maybe has some 'gravity' merit. Mostly, I think if you go into labor on a bouncy road it is probably just uncomfortable timing.
5) Eating pineapple. Pineapple does help release an enzyme that may work on your cervix. However, you'd have to eat a TON and i mean TON of it and it would have to be fresh for enough enzyme to even be generated. You'd probably have a billion mouth sores from all of the acid before this even started to work.
Well, that is just a few I thought I'd mention. Lots of people swear by these methods, but most doctors and scientists believe it is almost always coincidence. Hey more power to anyone though that it may have worked for - I guess you never know if it was good timing, luck or actual proof. Just because they haven't proved it yet doesn't it mean it doesn't work. One thing that is mentioned is women back in the day would scrub their floors (on their hands and knees) and swear they would go in to labor. I do believe this one as they were basically using a yoga pose for at least an hour so maybe just maybe gravity worked its magic! I do get why women are willing to try anything that has even a hint of success. Why not, you don't have much to lose as long as you do everything safely. I mean you are uncomfortable, you can't sleep and you know that baby is just getting bigger and bigger in there and you would like to avoid medical intervention if at all possible to get things started. I'll let you know if anything works for me - whether it is coincidental or not! :)
