Just to be clear, I wasn’t overdue with my kids Spencer or Elka. Both arrived three days early actually. But I felt like time was moving sooooo slowly towards my due date and I assume other people have felt like that too?
For some reason the first trimesters fly past while you’re busy working, cooking, remembering to take folate, forgetting to take the bins out, trying to find a pair of pants to fit until… suddenly – Maternity leave! And then time drraaaaggggs on and on! I was so excited to meet our new little baby that the thought of waiting another week was just excruciating! #impatient
So, I’ve been doing what all good women do – googling. And these are some of the inventive, weird, gross and old school ways I’ve discovered to induce labour ‘naturally’.
#1 Raspberry Leaf Tea
This delicious stuff not only means you’ll need to go to the toilet even MORE often, it also (apparently) tones the muscles of the uterus to help it work more effectively during labour. So it doesn’t necessarily bring labour on, but makes life a bit better once you’re in labour. If only there were types of tea that helped tone my triceps, bum and inner thighs…..
I have drunk a few mugs of raspberry leaf tea in the last week of both of my pregnancy but I’m not sure it really did much toning. It did give me an excuse to do some Yoyo biscuit dunking though.
#2 Sex
Let’s be honest. Sex at 39 weeks pregnant is just awkward. But, according to Mrs Google, there are some lovely wriggling hormones that help ‘ripen’ the cervix, encouraging it to contract. Right.
*Caution: sex after your waters have broken is not recommended! I mean, as if!
#3 Curry
Lots of friends have recommended devouring spicy food to encourage labour. According to them, the hot deliciousness of Thai or Indian cuisine encourage the uterus to bring those contractions on.
#4 Cod Liver Oil or Castor Oil
While this sounds gross, it is apparently even worse than it sounds. So bad in fact, that it seems the mums from childcare who told me about this method assure me it’ll get the baby out so quickly that you’ll think the baby hated it as much as you did! I’m not that keen on this idea, so I’ve never tried this. I’d love to hear from anyone who has and whether it had any impact?
#5 Acupuncture
I had acupuncture in the last week of my pregnancy with both Elka and Spencer. With Elka, I slept fitfully that night then went into labour the next day and out came Elka! With Spencer, I had acupuncture on a Friday then again on Sunday and that night I had my second baby girl… lovely little Spencer!
Although I did find the needles in my skull a bit weird, the relaxation and meditation aspect really allowed me to focus on readying my mind for labour.
#6 Walking
I’ve heard that walking a lot not only helps bring labour on, but also helps the baby get into a good position for delivery. Some people say that walking up stairs or hills during pregnancy isn’t recommended until 39-weeks. I walked a lot throughout both pregnancies and had no problems. I also found that walking in my last week of pregnancy was a great way to keep my mind busy, my body healthy and Elka happy (as we usually walked to the park!). I’m not convinced walking helped labour commence for me, but it did help once I was actually in labour. Pacing, pacing, pacing during contractions!
I hope these help, if you have any other great ideas (from google) let us know!
Fleur xx
