Hi,
Does anyone have any good tips on bringing on labour. I have just over a week till due date but I am sssoooo bored and tired of being pregnant and so excited about meeting my baby its unbearable!! Any tips would be much appreciated!
Thanks

Hi Claire,

Have you tried Raspberry leaf tea? Also nice hot curry, hot baths, clary sage essential oil (sniff it) and sex!!

Personally with both my boys I had Chinese then started 12hours later......but could be coincidence.

Good luck!!

Claire x
bump 9+4

Try burning clary sage oil before you have sex, it's a great mood enhancer for sex - you may as well get some flying sparks out of it!

I tried absolutely everything to induce my first baby but nothing worked. I did eventually go into labour naturally when I was 11 days over due. With my daughter, I had a membrane sweep when I was 9 days overdue. It was extremely painful but it did do the trick. I began having contractions almost straight away but my labour didn't really establish for another 24 hours. It was a much longer more complicated labour than my first and I am blaming it on not allowing nature to take its course. I can't be sure that it was the membrane sweep that caused the labour but I would never recommend anybody take the risk. My advice to you, frustrating as it is, is to wait for your baby to decide when it is ready to make an appearance.

Interesting point Tracy, other people I know who have had sweeps all went on to have more intervention of some kind during the labour. It's just anecdotal evidence but something I'll dfinitely bear in mind when the time comes.

Hi,
I am due for a sweep on the 6th when I will be two days overdue. Is it really painful? and now I am worried about a complicated delivery! Can you refuse a sweep if thats the case? I haven't had the brezziest pregnancy and would like something to go right!!!

I hate to terrify you, but it was complete agony. Maybe I have a low pain threshold. My sister also had a sweep which resulted in the onset of labour but she too had a very long and complicated labour. You don't have to have a sweep, though the alternative could be induction if you go too far overdue. It would be interesting to hear from other people who have had a sweep. I'm sure there are some positive stories.
Good luck

Hi Claire,

Don't panic! for a start you haven't reached your due date yet. It is true that once intervention starts then the chances of more intervention are higher, but having a sweep certainly doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to have a more complicated or longer birth. Your midwife may have picked up on the fact that you're impatient to meet your baby, and so have suggested a sweep to get things moving. Unless there are good medical grounds for having a sweep you don't have to have one if you're not comfortable with the idea, and if you're prepared to wait a bit longer for nature to take its course.

As Tracy says though, depending on the circumstances, if the doctors think that your baby has been in there too long then they might want to schedule you for induction if your baby is over a week late - it'll depend on the health authority. BUT, you can resist that to a degree too, and ask if they really think it's necessary. If you get the feeling that they're planning it for their own convenience then ask them to tel you why it's medically necessary / what the alternatives are.

Bear in mind that babies are only born on their due date 15% of the time. Also, your given due date is usually down to the vagaries of the pregnancy wheel, so may be quite a bit off.

If I were you I would call your midwife soon to discuss the sweep. Tell her that you have reservations about a sweep and would prefer, if possible, to have labour start naturally, if that's what you want. Don't be pushed onto anyone else's time schedule for their convenience, rather than for medical imperative.

As I say, she might be under the impression that timing is very important to you, if a fully natural birth is more important then it'd be good to discuss that with her. also discuss what it could mean in terms of induction if you go significantly past your due date.

HTH

im 39 weeks pregnant with my 4th child first came early, second castor oil worked, 3rd was 2 weeks over and this one ive had 3 bottles of castor oil, 2 bottles of liquid paraffin, pinapple juice, raspberry leaf, evening primrose oil, accupressure and still nothing!!! im gonna give up and wait now but good luck with the sweeping!

With my first child, (hes a boy so a stubborn lil sod lol) i was 40 weeks and 8 days, but because of my age at the time (16) and i didnt find out i was pregnant untill i was 3 months passed they didnt want to induce me just incase it was too early.
I went to see the doctor to sort out a date to be induced, but also had a sweep the same day, that night i started geting cramps (this was wednesday night) by friday night i couldnt stand the pain what so ever, got taken into hospital 3cms dilated, this was 7.30ish friday night.
As i was young and didnt really understand what was happening they decided to fill me with paracetamol to take the edge off :S i might have been 16 but paracetamol and labour really dont work lol.
i got examined again and within 5 hous id only dialated 2 more cms.
But from walking to the lift to the labour suit id gone upto 9cms, and within 2 and a half hours at 7.21am i had the most handsom little boy.
So for me it was all down the the sweep, it is very very painfull but i really couldnt hang on anymore.
Sorry for the life story lol,
take care all
Hannah
xx

im a week over due now, i had a sweep on my due date (which i was dreadin because of all the horror stories but it was actually fine!) uncomfortable but not sore!!

snap i had a sweep on Wednesday but i'm still here :( i was 2cms dilated then but nothing has happened since no twinges or anything I'm really fed up and sore now on my last scan at 38 weeks my baby's weight was estimated at 8lbs 6oz i dread to think how much more weight he's put on as my other 3 were relatively small (7lbs 4oz being my biggest) i'm terrified of giving birth to an elephant! i wish they would just induce me and let me get on with it.

Raspberry leaf Tea
Hot Curries
Power Walking
Sex
Fresh Pineapples

May help

If you have a breast pump trying using it last 2 weeks of pregnancy (does not matter if get milk or not). The action the pump makes on your nipple is like a baby suckling on it & this can send a message to your body & hopefully induce labour. Saw this on Baby channel on TV other day. My first baby was 13 days late but 2nd baby was 4 days early, I think the breast pump & all the above must of worked. I recommend a electric breast pump though as hand aches with manual one. Also manual breast pumps take forever to get milk out of once baby is here. I saved points at Boots to pay for mine as they cost nearly 50 pounds.

Bobbi my cousins last baby was nearly 9lb (which was bigger than other babies she had) & she said she was surprised to find it was the easiest birth she had.

PINEAPPLE, PINEAPPLE AND MORE PINEAPPLE!!
Do you know, towards the end of this last pregnancy, I was bored and tired and wanted to meet my little person. I had started the raspberry leaf tea too late (although got a good couple of weeks in before I had my first baby and she shot out early).
I went for the pinapple thing. Didn't consider it would work but snaffled a full half of a huge fresh organic one on the Tuesday tea time and went into labour a mere 6 hours later. And it tasted yummy too.
Having said that, once my little boy was fully integrated into family life and I got through those first couple of bleary weeks, I actually missed being pregnant and wished I hadn't rushed that last couple of weeks away.
Angiexxxx

hi every one i m 38 week preg n really desperate 2 meet my baby shall i take castor oil next week or pineapple which doese really work. i m due on 4 of april but im 2 tried can someone give any good adivse what shall i do.
sadia

I got told castor oil is dangerous so I would ask your midwife first.

See what I wrote above. I swear using a breast pump helped stimulate my labour. I would recommend a electric breast pump but a manual one will do.

Best Wishes
Let me know when you have your baby.

I'm nearly a week over due with my second baby! my first was 12 days late. i had a long labour with him. Nearly 3 DAYS! i put that down to trying the hot curry and sex to induce labour! He just wasn't ready to come! There's also evidence to suggest that the longer they're in there (Up to a couple of weeks over due) the healthier and stronger they are when they do arrive! so for me this time, although i'm desperate to meet my new addition, i'm not trying anything to make him come before he's ready! i'm scheduled to have a sweep tomorrow but will try to get out of it if i can! it's so much easier with them in than out! i'm just making the most of the little me time i have left!

I'm now 10 days overdue with my first baby and desperate to avoid hospital induction! I have tried everything walking, sex, raspberry leaf tea, bouncy castle, spicy food, clary sage oil, evening primrose oil, reflexology and last week the doctor tried to do a sweep but he couldn't get into my cervix! (thats just my luck)! seeing my midwife tomorrow and i hope she can try again. Any other tips are very welcome .