Thanks girls for all of your advice, I will definitely start doing some of those and just avoiding the castor oil.

Ended up calling the ob and as it turns out I got some things all confused in my highly emotional state. He said that yes my cervix was still hard but in fact the baby HAS NOT engaged whereas I thought he had said baby was. Hence the reason why he said he would prefer not to use the gel as if the baby has not engaged then he said it could lead to an emergency c/s which is something I would prefer not to happen. At least I now understand why he wouldn't use the gel. Felt like such a dill but he was very understanding as I was quite "abrupt" on the phone to him.

Now I suppose it is just a matter of waiting!!