Pizza has worked for more than one of my friends. No kidding. At the very least, she will be well-fed for the big event. I remember being very hungry while in labor . . . and they don’t let you eat no matter how long you’re hanging out on the table (30 hours for one of mine!).

Truly, don’t rush it. As many have said, the kiddo is much more cooperative and easy to handle on the inside than on the outside. Especially 14 or 15 years down the road!

But, hey, keep trying the Oreos, because at the very least, you’ll have a cookie lovin’ kiddo coming out… important stuff, you know.

… tried the bumpy country road thing … it didn’t work.

… tried the spicy food thing … it didn’t work.

… tried the walking thing … it didn’t work.
(when pregnant with the twins, I went on walks with the just turned 2 year old sitting on top of by HUGE belly … still didn’t work)

… Pitocin is the only thing that seems to nudge my little ones out of their comfy waiting room. Yes, there are risks … but there are also risks in having 13# babies. I’m not in to record-setting, weight-lifting newborns. Bring on the Pitocin …

Baby #1 – induced 2 weeks late … came out weighing in at 10.1. Yikes!
Babies #2 & 3 – arrived just before their due dates
Babies #4 & 5 – twins – induced at 40 weeks … came out at 7.2 and 8.3. 15.5# of baby!
Baby #6 – arrived just before his due date … weighing 8.14
Baby #7 – induced 3 weeks early … still came out weighing 9.14 (really didn’t want to set any weight records)
Babies #8, 9, 10 – induced a couple of weeks early – all weighing over 8# – by this time I really liked the idea of scheduling a day, since I didn’t really want to go into labor while hubby was at work and I was at home on the farm with ALL the little ones.

Natural labor and delivery with every one of them. No epidurals … no pain meds … figured women have been having babies naturally for a few thousand years, so I wanted to do it the “old fashioned” way. Wouldn’t recommend any other way!

You are an AMAZING friend for Roomie. Keep up the good work! It WILL be more work once you have a new little roomie. But … you’ll LOVE it.

Blessings,

Laurel
mama of 13
http://ajourneyoffaith.net
(my new ministry website)

99.9% of the time a woman’s body knows exactly when it is supposed to go into labor and short of drugs or herbs that carry with them risks (yes, even pitocin/cytotec inductions in the hospital have risks), there really isn’t anything to persuade your body otherwise.

Castor oil is a bad idea on so many levels. #1 It tastes bad. #2 It dehydrates you (baaaaad idea) because of the runs you get as a result. #3 It can pass to Baby and cause a BM while still in utero. #4 It doesn’t work unless Baby is already ready anyway. Most of the herbal “remedies” can cause their own problems as well. And stripped membranes do too so HURT and can introduce infection and cause the cervix to swell and not dilate.

There are some things you can do to make labor easier when it does happen though…

Red Raspberry *LEAF* tea tones the uterus and helps make contractions more efficient. It can also help the uterus contract to its normal size more quickly after birth – which means less bleeding.

Walking, as uncomfortable as it may be, provides natural pressure on the cervix to dilate before labor even begins. The more “work” the cervix does now, the less it will have to do when the pain kicks in. But no one wants to go into labor *already* exhausted so Roomie should take it easy.

As everyone has said, as miserable as it may be right now, you will get a lot more rest with Baby inside than you will when he is out!

myself- i tried to induce myself with various methods (see above LOL) and then they tried (my Dr) inducing me for 3 days in the hospital- they kept stopping it because there was a baby boom too many women in labor not enough beds etc. on the 4th day i checked myself out of the hospital my contractions were 2 minutes apart but I wasn’t dialating. i went home and gorged on a 1/4 of a sheet pizza (just cheese) and was in labor 3 hours later. my labor was 17 hours pushing for 6. HELLLOOOOOO ouchies. I think the pizza *might* have been a coincidence. My son arrived exactly on his due date. Anyway…

I firmly believe that …

when the “turkey is done” he’ll pop out… OR
as my gram says
“when the apple is ripe it will fall from the tree”

LOL!!!

I was about 6 mos preggo one time and in a Chinese restaurant and the lady said, “No hot sour soup for you.” SERIOUSLY.

Then, past my due date and desperate, we went in for some hot and sour soup. The next day, I had a baby.