Abbi's Birth Story- The Backstory

So, I was 2 weeks overdue.  Yeah.  It sucked.  Wilson and I were super impatient and stressed. We were doing EVERYTHING you've ever heard of to bring on labor...and some stuff you haven't heard of.  The common stuff:

• Walking (I gave myself shin splints, bruised my foot, and got multiple blisters in the month prior to going into labor.)
• "Quality time" with the husband...yeah, you know what I mean.
• Sitting on the birthing ball (basically just one of those exercise balls you see women at the gym using.)
• Using the breast pump
• Jogging (see first point)  (Also, I'm pretty sure my neighbors were laughing behind their curtains at the hugely pregnant woman running through the neighborhood.)
• Bumpy car rides. I'm pretty sure Wilson found every. single. speed bump. in. Jacksonville... Seriously.
• Eating spicy, greasy food.  Besides making me feel like a fat slob, this did nothing.

And some less well-known ideas:

• Taking Evening Primrose Oil.  It's supposed to ripen the cervix in preparation for labor.
• Taking Red Raspberry Leaf supplements.  It supposedly strengthens the uterus to help labor go more quickly and smoothly.
• Acupuncture.  Yeah, I did this.  It's a little weird and all but I figured, hey, what's it gonna hurt?  Well, it did hurt a little and certainly didn't bring on labor so whatever.
• Taking a laxative.
• Sitting on a heating pad to bring extra bloodflow to that general area of my body.
• Drinking a half glass of wine and taking a hot bath.  Random woman on the internet #4,782 said it put her into labor so I tried it.  Nothing.

So, the day before I was 42 weeks pregnant (Wednesday, March 21) I went to the midwife.  She told me that if I hadn't gone into labor by that Friday I would be admitted to the hospital for a medical induction (break water, pitocin, etc.) so we really needed to get stuff going.  The only thing I hadn't done to try to bring on labor was take Castor Oil.  This stuff is a stimulant laxative. Basically, it speeds up your body's natural process of contracting your intestines, making you have a bowel movement.  Well, the uterus is made of the same type of muscle that your intestines are made of, so castor oil also causes the uterus to contract.  Ta-da!  Labor!!

The downside of this is it's a pretty...um...violent way of inducing labor.  It's also not super comfortable and can cause dehydration so they don't recommend you try it until the last. possible. moment.  Well, we were there, so after the midwife appointment Wilson went into Walgreen's and got me some *gag* castor oil and we went home, hoping to meet our baby soon.

Next up...Labor and Delivery!