Well, it's official! I'm 38 weeks pregnant which means that any day now I could have a new baby! I'm extremely excited to meet my little one but at the same time I don't think that it feels real sometimes that I am going to have a baby. Just about everything is ready, baby clothes are washed, bags are packed and family and friends are on standby to look after Livylu... all I need now is for baby to be ready to make a move!
I'm only allowed to go 12 days over, which means that by the 17th of August I will absolutely have a baby. There are a few problems with this though. First being that I'm extremely impatient and will probably go nuts once my due date hits, second- my Birthday is on the 16th and I don't want to be in the hospital or preparing to go to the hospital on my birthday and third - my parents come on the 5th for 2 weeks, which means that they go home on the 18th... they could potentially miss meeting their grandchild!
I belong to an online birth board and a number of ladies on there have been talking about ways to induce labor naturally. I've done a little of my own research into this and am still both very skeptical and wary about some of these methods. They range from aromatherapy to eating certain foods. Some are simply Old Wives tales and some have medical backing. I must say that I am more inclined to try to Old Wives tales than some of the others because I don't see them as potentially harmful or even possible. For this reason I've had curry for dinner the past 2 nights! Delicious, but so far ineffective.
Some of the other methods I've read about include:
Aromatherapy
Certain essential oils are meant to help induce labor. These include Clary Sage, jasmine and lavender
Raspberry Leaf Tea
Is meant to help by softening the cervix and preparing the uterus, it is said to make labor quicker and less painful
Nipple stimulation
I believe is meant to release a chemical in the body called oxytocin which is said to encourage contractions
Sex
Yes, apparently the way the baby got there in the first place is also supposed to help and get it out! Not only can an orgasm help to start uterine contractions by causing the release of oxytocin but semen contains prostaglandins, which are said to help ripen the cervix.
Eating Spicy foods
The theory behind this one says that the spicy foods will irritate the intestines causing them to go into spasm, because of the proximity of the intestines to the uterus this could help to start contractions.
I am at the point now where I am quite happy to allow things to progress naturally without too much encouragement. Perhaps in another 2 weeks I'll start trying a few of them...
