The Last Place You Look

I'm truly not going crazy with every overdue minute that passes, but it is fun to read about and try to induce labor, old wive's tales or not. Most of them I find harmless and actually healthy, so I've been checking things off the list.

Here's what I've done:

Tuesday (39 weeks): foot massage with my good friend Heather
Thursday: ate an eggplant sandwich
Friday: ate another eggplant sandwich
Saturday: prenatal yoga; pineapple smoothie
Sunday, Monday: pineapple smoothies
Monday: induction massage (heavy on the feet pressure points!)
Tuesday (40 weeks): pineapple smoothie; swimming laps
Wednesday: prenatal yoga; pineapple smoothie, pedicure with foot massage
Thursday: induction acupuncture; pineapple smoothie; ate (somewhat) spicy black bean soup

Then there are a bunch of things I've done daily, like sitting on a yoga ball, dancing, walking, drinking raspberry leaf tea, cleaning and organizing. I've also heard that eating extra salt can help because you actually want your body to retain fluid. So I've been trying to enjoy salty things. And constipation is a labor killer, or so an acupuncturist told me when I was pregnant with Cora, so extra fiber and aloe vera juice (a gentle, natural stool softener) have been on my daily menu. You might be wondering what I think about evening primrose oil. I took it from 38-40 weeks (half the recommended dose of 1000 mg per day) but stopped when my midwife told me I was almost fully effaced. It seems to be well documented that EPO won't induce labor, but it will prepare the cervix by thinning/effacing. The only thing I won't try is castor oil. I've heard it just wrecks you.

Yes, of course there is a rumor about sex, but because this is a family blog, I won't recall when or how often we've tried that.

Nate asked me today if I'll swear by acupuncture if I go into labor tonight. It made me think of a funny story from a family friend who was looking all over the house for something and when she finally found it, she exclaimed, it's always in the last place you look! That's how I feel about my induction attempts...it's going to be the last thing I try. May blogging about induction be the last thing I try!