Expectant mothers hear all sorts of advice on how to induce labour, once they have gone past their due date.
Going for a walk, a hot bath, eating curry, castor oil, drinking raspberry leaf tea, or indulging in the kind of activity which got the expectant parents into the mess led to the pregnancy in the first place, are all said to be ways of bringing on labour.
Are they old wives’ tales or do they really work?
I can’t say for sure about all of the methods listed but I must confess – I know from experience that castor oil brings on labour!
Does Castor Oil Bring On Labour? My Story
Overdue with our second child, I’d had enough. My mother-in-law swore that castor oil would bring on labour, so I bravely gulped down a dose at 11 am (it tasted disgusting, even though I mixed it with honey!) and waited to see what would happen.
I spent the next couple of hours on the toilet, it certainly had a violent effect! At 2pm, shaky and exhausted, and with a sore bottom (ever heard that song about the burning ring of fire?!), I fell onto our bed and cried myself to sleep (Master 2 was visiting his grandmother). All that agony and still no sign of labour!
At 3.30 pm I woke to a familiar feeling – like a period cramp. Was that a contraction?!
I dozed off again, only to be woken by another cramp about 15 minutes later. Still I lay in bed, too drowsy and comfortable to be bothered moving.
By 4pm I’d had 2 more contractions so phoned my husband’s workplace, only to learn that he was in a meeting. I told his office not to interrupt him – I thought I still had a loooong way to go, after all my first labour had lasted over 18 hours!
Fortunately the message was passed straight on to my husband (as they knew I was overdue) and he arrived home within 15 minutes to find me unpacking the dishwasher, and fretting because I hadn’t hung out a load of washing. For some funny reason (nesting instinct perhaps?!), I really wanted to finish both of these chores even though I had to stop every couple of minutes for contractions!
I was feeling uncomfortable but not in pain, and I found that pelvic rocking helped a lot. My husband rang the hospital and upon hearing of the frequency of my contractions – by then every minute or two – they advised us to come straight in. I wasn’t convinced, but the midwife insisted.
Still thinking we had plenty of time, we stopped at my mother-in-law’s house to drop off an overnight bag for out little boy. M-I-L took one look at me and told the hubster to hurry! We laughed to ourselves as we drove off, thinking that she was being an over-anxious grandparent.
Just after 6pm we were ushered into the birthing suite. I begged for an epidural; I’d had one with my first child and was quite frightened at the prospect of labour without it. However the midwife explained it was too late – I was already 9cm dilated!
I made do with gas instead, which did take the edge off but also left me feeling pretty spaced out!
The midwife was filling in some paperwork when all of a sudden I had an overwhelming urge to push – something I’d never experienced, due to the epidural last time. Another nurse poked her head in and asked if she could help, my midwife said, “Yes, you can put your gloves on and get ready to catch!”
Only a few short pushes later and our baby came into the world, red faced and crying. Although I was feeling very sick and shaky (a side effect of the fast labour), when the baby was placed on my stomach I reached over to lift up the cord, because I still didn’t know if it was a boy or girl!
I was delighted to find we had a baby girl, just as I had suspected. She was born at 6.48pm, barely 45 minutes after we’d arrived at the hospital.
The whole labour had taken just over 3 hours from start to finish!
Has anybody else had the experience of taking castor oil to bring on labour – and did it work as quickly as it did for me?!
Oh the joys of labour! It’s such a primitive experience … not even the Princess is going to escape this without a messy labour story too 🙂 I was 2 weeks over with my first child, I feel sorry for anybody that has to wait past the due date … urgh! Thanks for sharing your story, it was lovely. Cheers, Alison
It’s amazing to think that birth is something we all have to go through, royal or not!
Thankfully I haven’t had to endure being a week overdue, that last week leading up to the due date was bad enough, just wanting it to be over. I never tried castor oil, but I can vouch for a hot bath! Castor oil doesn’t sound like much fun lol. Hopefully Kate won’t(or we wont) have to wait much longer for royal baby news.
I think Kate must have stopped by and read my post, because she’s gone into labour!
I was never brave enough to try castor oil, I was already paranoid about ‘having an accident’ during delivery. The only method that I think worked was I was pregnant with #2, it was five days before his due date and the day The Husband came home after he had been away with work for the last three months of the pregnancy. Husband arrived home around 11pm, we were…er, happily reunited, so to speak – and twenty minutes later my waters broke and unmistakeable contractions began! Maybe a coincidence, I don’t know!
I don’t think it was coincidence! Castor oil was pretty violent, I don’t think I’d do it if I had my time again …
I’ve never managed to get to a due date with any of my babies, the closest was one week before! How amazing to have such different labours for your first and second. I’d come out red faced too if I’d been born in such a hurry!
She actually had a bit of bruising around her eye from being born so fast! But it soon faded.
So glad everything ended well, castor oil or not. Gorgeous photo too.
Yes, a healthy mama and baby is all that matters 🙂
I had Mr 4 at 37 weeks so I was thankful that I didn’t have to resort to any ‘get this damn baby out now’ measures. One of my aunties went 4×4 driving with her 3rd and it put her into labour.
I was so surprised to go over with #2 as my first came early!
I remember being so impatient for Gilbert’s arrival. I would go for long walks trying to bring labour on but all I achieved was feeling nauseous and exhausted! Thankfully I didn’t have to wait too long for his arrival (he was only 2 days overdue in the end) while his sisters were both early. Glad to hear that the castor oil worked – you certainly wouldn’t want to drink that stuff down for nothing, would you?
It was completely gross!
Wow…this might be weird but it sounds like a great labour. Castor Oil – Now that’s something I hadn’t heard of. I must keep that one up my sleeve for any friends who need a helping hand.
Actually Jen, it was! The birth of each of my children is a very special memory to me.
Oh birth stories. My first was on just over 3 hours and the second under 30 minutes (five week’s premmie) and third just over 5 hours (ten week’s premmie). Apart from the first all rather traumatic and it is probably only now with the youngest approaching 13 that I could even consider thinking about them or blogging about them.
I’m sad to hear you’ve been a bit traumatised from your births. They were all pretty quick – I’ve heard that faster labours tend to be more “violent” though mine wasn’t too bad.