39 weeks today, Castor Oil tonight.

[LAenne]

hi just popping in from 2nd try and thought this thread was interesting.

Just a quick note I know my midwife will give a bit of a inducing elixir. Of COURSE do your research and TALK to you dr or mw. but here it is.

3 tbl spoons caster oil
2 tbl spoons almond butter
5 drops Lemon Verbina
1/2 - 1 cup of apricot nectar

mix it up in a little magic bullet and drink. If NO response in a 2-3 hours repeat recipe. But again talk to your health care professional but I thought the recipe was interesting and it WORKS.

 

[Baby France]

I think you are completely right. I would hope that people would be more viligant, but the truth of the matter is, not everyone is.

And to be completely fair too, there are a lot of trolls and such out there too. They could claim to be a health professional (hell you could) and give lots of 'advice' over the internet.

So as you said, the best thing to do in regards to things like this is get it from the horses mouth. As in your own MW or healthcare professional (looking after you!). And ask for the pros and cons.

I was like you and impressionable in regards to RLT etc etc, but I also spoke to my midwife about it first (maybe not about the nipple tweaking though )

 

[LAenne]

I think you are completely right. I would hope that people would be more viligant, but the truth of the matter is, not everyone is.

And to be completely fair too, there are a lot of trolls and such out there too. They could claim to be a health professional (hell you could) and give lots of 'advice' over the internet.

So as you said, the best thing to do in regards to things like this is get it from the horses mouth. As in your own MW or healthcare professional (looking after you!). And ask for the pros and cons.

I was like you and impressionable in regards to RLT etc etc, but I also spoke to my midwife about it first (maybe not about the nipple tweaking though )

YES I guess if you really meant business you can add all sorts of things in. LOL a little elixir, some sex, a jog, and an hours worth of PUMPING but oh my your poor body. hahahaha

 

[babers]

Can I just say that I find it almost shocking that someone could get child protective services called on them for using castor oil to induce labor. Crazy!! So would getting an amniocentisis get them called on you too because there is a risk of miscarriage there? How about riding home from the hospital in a car? That is risky too you know. Castor oil is a laxative, not a concoction made to hurt unborn babies!!!! They can't prove that castor oil causes meconium in a baby. People who don't use castor oil have babies that poo and people who do it have babies that don't poo. I am not telling anyone to do it or not, but quit acting like people who do it are these brainless sheep that are just followers. If you are against it, don't do it. Plain and simple. My ob said I could do it if I wanted and he has delivered over 7,000 babies and he does high risk pregnancy's. The person that said they wouldn't just stop doing something that is cheap that works is not completely true. A doctor will get a lot more money from inducing a labor than having her come into the hospital already in labor from castor oil.

 

[arj]

If it was that bad, there would be a BAN! It would be seriously avioided like drugs and alcahol during pregnancy, and chemists wouldnt be allowed to just sell it over the counter to pregnant ladies!
It worked for me, it worked for my friends, it worked for OP, and I would use it again defnintely!
I know that there are opposing opinions, but as OP stated, she had made her choice and wasnt looking for judgments.

 

[Arisa]

If I get desperate enough I will be using castor oil too. Some women used it from 37 weeks onward and went into labour at 38 weeks and have had perfectly healthy babies if your body is willing, it just sometimes needs a little push in the direction of labour to get it going.

 

[MrsBandEgglet]

Chemists here won't sell it to you, it's quite hard to find I believe.

 

[pinklightbulb]

I wouldn't just for the taste Congrats OP, glad it worked for you.

 

[Baby France]

In the UK we have the NHS...the services are free and it used to be used as an induction tool and now it isn't the chemists over here won't sell it to pregnant womean either.

It is cheap and trust me...the NHS would use it, if they deemed it reliable and useful!

Again...what is the point in shooting someone down in having other opinions. I never said that EVERYONE would be a follower and decide to use it. BUT there are definately alot of people out there that would after reading this thread.

 

[magicmama]

There was a study on castor oil done on women 40-42 weeks at a hospital in New York. Almost 52% of the woman given castor oil went into active labor in 24 hours in comparison only about 4% of the woman who didn't receive castor went into labor. Of the group that took castor oil 83% delivered vaginally(which is really good considering 33% of woman end up with a C-Section in the U.S.)
Interesting study, I think castor oil should be considered before other methods of induction and more research should be done considering it's effectiveness.

I took it with my 4th after much consideration( using Ina May Gaskin's Midwife book as a reference for the dose) and delivered without complication 20 minutes after we arrived at the hospital!


The study is at a website called pubmed. I couln't post a link because I don't have enough posts

 

[Jai_Jai]

Additionally there is a lot of research and papers that show that castor oil does not change the outcome, if you were going to labour it worked if you weren't it didn't:

Castor oil for induction of labour: not harmful, not helpful.
Boel ME, Lee SJ, Rijken MJ, Paw MK, Pimanpanarak M, Tan SO, Singhasivanon P, Nosten F, McGready R.
Source

Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, PO Box 46 Mae Sot, Tak, Thailand. [email protected]
Abstract
BACKGROUND:

Castor oil is one of the most popular drugs for induction of labour in a non-medical setting; however, published data on safety and effectiveness of this compound to induce labour remain sparse.
AIM:

To assess the safety and effectiveness of castor oil for induction of labour in pregnancies with an ultrasound estimated gestational at birth of more than 40 weeks.
METHODS:

Data were extracted from hospital-based records of all pregnant women who attended antenatal clinics on the Thai-Burmese border and who were more than 40 weeks pregnant. The effectiveness of castor oil to induce labour was expressed as time to birth and analysed with a Cox proportional hazards regression model. Measures associated with safety were fetal distress, meconium-stained amniotic fluid, tachysystole of the uterus, uterine rupture, abnormal maternal blood pressure during labour, Apgar scores, neonatal resuscitation, stillbirth, post-partum haemorrhage, severe diarrhoea and maternal death. Proportions were compared using Fisher's exact test.
RESULTS:

Of 612 women with a gestation of more than 40 weeks, 205 received castor oil for induction and 407 did not. The time to birth was not significantly different between the two groups (hazard ratio 0.99 (95% confidence interval: 0.81 to 1.20; n = 509)). Castor oil use was not associated with any harmful effects on the mother or fetus.
CONCLUSIONS:

Castor oil for induction of labour had no effect on time to birth nor were there any harmful effects observed in this large series. Our findings leave no justification for recommending castor oil for this purpose.

 

[XfairyhopesX]

....

 

[Excited4First]

Congrats to the OP on her successful labor and birth of her little girl! I just read through the entire thread - it is natural for everyone to have their own opinion. The OP did her research and made her own decision - just what everyone else will do when it comes to motherhood.

 

[zabka78]

Congratulation to your baby girl , I'm happy for you

 

[m3mommy]

Ok so it's been a week (sorry!) since I updated. It's been a very busy week with the little ones. Here's the story.

I arrived at the hospital with contractions coming anywhere from 1 min 30 secs to 4 minutes apart. They NEVER got regular. Nurse checked me and I was at 3cm. She called my doctor to come in. He arrived 30 minutes later and I was at 4cm. He decided I was progressing nicely and said that if all lab-work came back ok, he would come back to administer my epidural and break my water. He came back 3 hours later to do so, and I was at 5 cm. It took 3 hours for me to get from 5 to 6, but I had been laying on my back. So I decided to sit up. I immediately felt the difference. The pressure increased on my cervix. I went from 6 to 8 in 30 minutes, 8 to 9 in an hour, and 9 to 9 1/2 in 15 minutes. The nurse decided to have me start pushing while she pushed on what was left of my cervix to thin it out. 3 pushes later she made me stop. She called the desk and said "I need her doctor and 2 baby nurses STAT." They rushed in immediately and started dressing and prepping everything. He got to the foot of my bed just as another contraction started. I pushed for ten seconds, stopped, pushed again, then was hit with an "uh-oh" by my doctor. Her shoulder was stuck. He told my DH to pull my leg back and told me that I "better push hard." I pushed as hard as I could and she came flying out. She immediately started crying, and so did we. My doctor said "This is supposed to be a boy right?" Then, still holding her, he said "Geez, how big was your last baby?" My first was 7lbs 6oz, 18.5 in. This babe was 8 lbs, 12oz, 18.5 in (at 38+6!). Doctor said if we had gone next week, it would've been a very traumatic experience, as she almost didn't make it out at the size she was. I'm SO glad we didn't wait.

Her Apgar was 9&9, and she passed every test with flying colors. Perfectly healthy.

We came home 24 hours later with our beautiful baby girl. We are so blessed to have her. She is a great eater, great sleeper, and she has every one of us spoiled to pieces.

I'm glad there were people who enjoyed following our story. It was a great experience.

Here are a few pics from her birth through today:

https://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/alliemel/r1.jpg https://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/alliemel/r2.jpg https://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/alliemel/r3.jpg https://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/alliemel/r4.jpg https://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/alliemel/r5.jpg https://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/alliemel/r6.jpg https://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/alliemel/r7.jpg https://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/alliemel/r8.jpg

 

[PegLeg2na]

Aww congrats!!! I love the last two pics of her yawning and smiling! Well they're all very cute! Well done!

 

[ClairAye]

Congratulations! And well done!
She is adorable! I love the picture with the cherry top!

 

[JessPape]

Congrats she is adorable, your family looks amazing

 

[hnaturally]

Congratulations! She is beautiful!

 

[Kristina6292]

Congratulations, she is beautiful!
Glad the castor oil worked for you and she is prefectly healthy!