Well, there's nothing like the fullness of time. Make friends with Mother Time and her daughters Trust and Patience eh?
There's a difference between giving things a gentle nudge when you *feel* you're ripe and ready, and panicking because you're trying to beat an arbitrary dead-line. The problem there is not that your body isn't performing, it's that old problem, 'Failure to Wait' on the part of your scareproviders. The solution is - change careproviders! Midiwfe Lisa Barrett took on a woman who'd been dumped by her Ob at 43 weeks because she kept refusing to be induced. Two days later, she had her baby safely and easily at home, with Lisa attending. It's never never too late to change careproviders.
Practical strategies:
* OFP - if bub is anterior, the pressure on the cervix will be just right. If your babe is right-lying, be aware s/he might want to rotate anti-clockwise to ROA - or clockwise (usually preferred) the long way round - through the posterior position, round to left side and finally to left front. So, if your right lying baby keeps moving to posterior, don't be doing OFP trying to get him/her round the ROA! S/he might be trying hard to rotate clockwise - be aware of your baby's game plan and work with, not against, what baby is doing.
* Chiro care can help balance the pelvix and encourage optimal postioning for the babe
* Evening Primrose Oil late in pregnancy help the body produce pre-cursors for prostaglandins
* Other GLA -rich sources will do the same.
* Avoid sugar and complex carbs - now's not the time to paralyze your system with sugar. Insulin is the 'Mistress' of the hormones, and you want your birth hormones surging right - so, the sugar will have to wait!
* Lots of long walks (do nothing to the extreme)
* Relaxation. Swimming is beaut.
* Dinner with friends - yep, it actually promotes the flow of oxytocin! Works best when you boycott labour and totally forget you were trying to get into labour, and you just relax and genuinely enjoy the moment.
* Birth Tea - RLT, lavendar, basil and grated nutmeg. RLT - old folk-lore has it that a super-strong brew of RLT will act on the uterus - I used a whole packet. I figure it couldn't do any harm - it's very rich in nutrients.
* There's a beaut acupuncturist in Melbourne with a good rep for successful inductions. (Any induction method is STILL an induction - pointless, even dangerous to do if your body and the baby are not ready. Preferable to a medical IOL for sure - but herbal and acupuncture inductions I think should be a last resort.) His name is Andrew Ramsey - Meridian Wellness, Warrrandyte. PH: 9844 0111.
* A herbalist can help you out with black & blue cohosh.
* A combination of long walks, sex, OFP and pelvic rocks & rolls worked for me. Oh and I was skulling the RLT as well.
If you're ripe and ready, it does not take much to tip the balance. It's like when an apple is ripe to be picked, you barely have to touch it. But if you are not ready - or the baby is not - we can cause more harm than good by interfering. You might be going "overdue" because your baby is still busy organizing an optimal position for him/her. Inducing a first time mama whose baby is not engaged is a recipe for a c/s. So much better to wait with a careprovider who trusts you and trusts your body - if you don't have one of those, time to get one.
If you are are well, and your baby is well, - you're feeling kicks, the FH is fine, plenty of amniotic fluid shows placenta is also just fine - then the safest course of action is to await the fullness of time. There is intense pressure to induce - in Australia they call it the 'induction seduction' - but it's born of the fear and lack of trust in women's bodies and capabilities. They may even attempt to scare you with classics such as 'do you want your baby to die, your placenta is failing' etc. That's when it's good to do some independent research and know your facts and stats.
Last edited by Julie Doula; August 31st, 2008 at 05:00 PM.
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