The Parenting Pod

to be Pregnant forever!

Let's here the old wives tales... I'm ready to start trying them!

I can't believe its almost time for you!

I tried all of the safe ones with DS. I ate massive amounts of fresh pineapple. Extra spicy food. Lots and LOTS of walking. Sex. Raspberry Leaf Tea. Peppermint Oil. None of it worked in the slightest. When I went in for my induction I was only at 1cm

Just goes to show that your first experience of having a baby/babies defines what you think is normal! With DS I was 9 days past 40 weeks when he was born, and then when DD was only 1 day over it was like, "Whoa! That was fast!" So, 38 weeks is still early, but to you must feel like forever since you've never been pregnant for this long before.

The old wives tales only work if your body is ready. Seriously, when I was 9 days over I tried them all!

What I found did help - though it didn't start labor, just helped my body get ready:

1) eating fresh pineapple really does help with effacement and dilation
2) sitting and swaying on a birthing ball can help baby descend into the pelvis - I FELT Malia drop after sitting on a birthing ball for a while
3) walking gets those muscles in shape and helps you with pushing, etc. when the time comes


Those are the things that were most helpful for me. I hope your little one has mercy on you and doesn't stay in there too long. But, try and remember that you are still early. The longer your little one cooks, the less likely you are to deal with jaundice and BFing issues should you give BFing a whirl. The suckling reflex is one of the last to develop.

I know!! I do know it's still early, really i do... but, I was holding babies by now last time! Thanks for the ideas, I'm going to go buy a pineapple today. She didn't check me today, said she will strip my membranes next week so.... hopefully! It's been miserably hot here, though today is much more bearable. Maybe we will go walk around Hersheypark tonight.

A good walk around Hershey should be good for you. Maybe they have chocolate dipped pineapple in the Chocolate Factory?!?!

I do want to say I am not meaning to minimize the fact that you are wanting to see your baby! Every pregnancy is different. With Malia I was so horribly sick that I actually was hoping NOT to deliver on time because I was too sick to care for a newborn. She came just as I started getting better. So, it was perfect, really. With DS, I was impatient for him to come not only because he was the first child, but because we were going to move and that was hinging on him being born. We were getting phone calls every day from the church where we were going to take a job asking if baby was here yet. It was kinda maddening!

Those last few weeks of pregnancy are the worst because you know that baby could come at any time or not for a few weeks and that is very hard to prepare for!

I didn't take it that way at all April! I think the hardest part of Baby 3 (or 2, for most) is that I need care for my boys. We have no family in the area so I have all of these people on possible stand-by for who knows how long. If it's in the middle or the night, I will call A, if it's the afternoon I will call B, if it's the weekend I will call C, either way I will call my Mom who will start heading here. That alone *almost* pushed me over the edge for a scheduled repeat section.

Oh honey, I so relate. It makes it so hard! We felt like we had no one in our area to watch DS when I went into labor and I was so freaked out. I *almost* had an induction scheduled just for that peace of mind. Most of our stand-by people lived in the country and I labor quick. The whole thing causes so much anxiety! The wonderful news is that the timing ended up perfect. My parents had just arrived in town to watch DS - they got here the day before I was due and I went into labor on my due date. I know it is oh-so stressful. Big hugs to you!

Have sex. Lots of it. I'm here to tell you, it works. Semen is a great cervix softener.

Just move a couple hours West...

go buy a whole cheesecake and eat as much as you can....I did that the night my water broke with Norah. it isn't an old wives tale, but those who saw me on my cheesecake mission say the determination in my eyes was scary.

Lay down in a peaceful environment (obviously the boys will have to be in bed ) and then just lay there relaxed and visualize your cervix opening. They told us this in my lamaze/birthing class when I was pregnant for Donovan, and they even warned us not to do it too early in pregnancy because it really does work. Once my labor started for each of the kids I did this and I dialated very quickly with all of them, almost scarily so! I really can't say if it helped or not, but it couldn't hurt

yup... forever! At 39w2d I'm not dilated AT ALL!

Sorry Noelle! I was exactly where you are around this time last year. Stay cool in this heat, it will be time soon!