When you are near the end of your pregnancy, one thing that you most likely wonder about is when your baby is going to arrive. If you go past your due date, you might wonder about that even more often. Babies have little regard for due dates, they come when they are ready.
Near the end of pregnancy, your prenatal care provider is likely to be monitoring you quite closely, whether you are planning to birth at home or at a hospital. That is a good thing, because they can help you to determine whether your labor is beginning in earnest when you begin to feel things that you had not felt before. One thing that you can talk to your prenatal care provider about it whether it is advisable for you to try and encourage your body to go into labor.
You may or may not have heard friends, relatives, and others talk about the things that they swear set things into motion for them. If you are eager for your baby to come out already, these strategies may seem appealing to you. If you want to try and encourage labor to begin by using one of these often discussed strategies then read on – but as I said before, don’t try anything without getting the green light from your prenatal care provider.
Walking, nipple stimulation, intercourse, castor oil mixed with milk or orange juice, and eating spicy foods are some of the most common methods that people talk about when discussing things that are thought to get labor started naturally. With my first son, I had preeclampsia so I was told during one of my appointments that I would have to be induced later that day. In an attempt to avoid chemical induction we tried a few of the aforementioned things at home, but to no avail. I even ate a whole pineapple upon arriving at the hospital because I heard that that was something that would get things going, but no. Unfortunately, the same thing happened near the end of my second pregnancy. I also wanted to avoid being induced by the hospital and my mother – in – law suggested the old castor oil trick. Since it works by getting things going in your intestines, that method causes major bathroom activity if you know what I mean. I was too scared to try it, and so my labor did not start on its own that time either.
Photo by grietgriet on morguefile.com.