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Inducing labour the natural way

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ImageAt the time of writing this post my wife was at the very extreme end of pregnancy. Life had become a waiting game and we expected her to go into labour at any moment.

I remember from when our eldest was born that this is an odd stage of pregnancy and second time round is no different. I don’t want to venture far from home in case I am needed and I’ve been feeling tense for days knowing that I’m going to be dashing off to hospital at any moment.

This is also a time for swapping dubious suggestions about how to induce the birth. You’ll have heard them a hundred times; eating spicy curry, eating pineapple, stimulating the nipples and of course having sex.

I’ve never felt entirely comfortable with this final suggestion. On the one hand there’s a perfectly viable theory behind it. According to Baby Centre semen contains prostaglandins which can relax the uterus. On the other hand, this is a, well, messy way to encourage the baby into the world.

We all know the medical team must deal with blood, placenta, urine, amniotic fluid and so on. Having to deal with the father’s semen on top of this is surely above and beyond the call of duty?

To my surprise, however, my wife has been given detailed instructions by a health professional about how to induce labour by having sex. This individual clearly isn’t bothered about dealing with a little additional mess.

On the other hand, if you feel the urge at 40 weeks and are capable of acting upon it then I wish you all the very best. After all, it may be a little while until you get the chance again!

7 thoughts on “Inducing labour the natural way”

  1. Many things were suggested to me during my last pregnancy… by other mums, a doula friend (and, yes, I read all the BabyCenter stuff too ;)). Unfortunately at 42 weeks I had to be induced and the whole snow-balling interventions thing unfolded. I hope your wife had better luck 🙂

  2. Interesting take on the ways to induce labour. Did you try the spicy curry route? Your post reminds me of the episode in Friends when Rachel is trying to encourage Ross to have sex as she is desperate for labour to start. As soon as he gives in to the nagging the process starts of its own accord

    He was the same, thinking it was weird. But I have never encountered anyone who worried about the resultant bodily fluids. Perhaps it’s more about people finding out that you had sex in order to set off labour? A little ironic, perhaps.

    Looking forward to more posts. LG x

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