Ways to Naturally Induce Labor to Avoid 2Nd C Section

Please be careful with trying to induce labor after a C-section. There is a reason your doctor won't do it. It's dangerous.

What was the reason for your prior C-section? If it was failure to progress.. you might be in trouble as far as going in to labor early.

I would just wait and see. Honestly.

1 mom found this helpful

Well I really like the pedicure idea posted earlier~
I went into labor with each of my 3 children within hours of being intimate with my husband. I think climaxing triggers a release of helpful hormones.

I have heard that there are food that you can eat that will naturally induce labor. I have heard many swear by eggplant parmesan, and I know there is actually a resturant, I believe downtown Chicago, that has a wall of fame for all the prego women who have eaten their eggplant parmesan and gone into labor that night.

There is no calendar in there. Your baby does not know his due date and will come out when good and ready. You may not dilate until the last minute, just be patient. Imagine you will be spending more time pregnant, but less time recovering from major surgery with a 2 year old and a newborn!
My first birth experience was not at all what I wanted, and was utterly determined to have a better one the 2nd time. At 41 weeks I was facing pressure to accept an induction from my husband and my doc, and it was driving me crazy! Finally the contractions started, slow,slow, slow and after 37 hours I delivered a healthy boy without epidural. I was thrilled and am so glad I let my body do what it is designed to do.
Now, I also ate pineapple, brewed tea from raspberry leaves, used my breast pump, had as much sex as my hugely pregnant body would allow, and took walks. (those are the natural induction remedies I recall) I also sat up at night rubbing my belly, having very serious talks with it and the little one that would become my son.
The best possibility to not have another section is to let nature take its course, be patient and trust your body to do it's very powerful job!

Stimulate your nipples and have sex, try and stretch out yourself down their, look up website for natural childbirth with doulas and it will teach you how to do it the correct way first ok, there are tons of thngs like castrol oil the old wives tale etc but for me it was the nipple thing and the stretching.

Hi i have three kids the first two i had to be induced and were four days late my Dr. was going out of town for Thanks giving when my daughter was ready to be born and i did not want a strange Dr. delivering so i tried castor oil a friend of mine gave me that advice i took one shot that morning chased it with oj and went into labor that night after a long day in the bathroom ugh but i got to have my Dr there and no complications it worked for my friend as well good luck

I think they say semen is a prostiglandin and induces. Also evening primrose oil orally and vagiinally -- and A LOT OF IT put me into labor.

Good for your for trying for the vbac. I had 2 successful vbac's and the recovery time after a vaginal delivery is just a fraction of the time.

Just keep moving, walking, stretching and having sex. The fitness will help you in delivery as well. Good luck.

Massage therapy. There are some points in your body that can induce labor. talk to an EXPERIENCED massage therapist.

Try to get a pedicure- at a place that really massages your feet. There are pressure points that can induce labor. My husband told me this when I was pregnant with our first child. (He heard it on the radio.) I thought he was full of garbage until I had a pedicure on my due date and went into labor that night! If it doesn't work- at least you'll get an hour of pampering before your little one arrives. Good luck!!

Try Acupuncture. I'm 24 weeks Pregnant and I have very high blood pressure normally. I'm getting acupuncture to help keep it in the normal range. So far so good. I know their are spots that he won't put needles in because they can make your uterus(?) contract.
Good luck

I have heard all the things mentioned plus drinking a glass of wine with dinner would help. I never did them. I really hate eggplant so wasn't going there. Anyway, I was not dilated at 40 weeks. We scheduled a u/s for 41 weeks to see how she was doing. I started contractions the night before. I was only a centimeter and they said it could be a couple of days. But she was born the next afternoon. I also really wanted a VBAC. They were going to allow me to go to 42/43 weeks as long as everything looked okay. So even though things don't seem to be going anywhere now, they can change. Oh, and light exercise may help if you are able to do anything. Brisk walking, etc.

Yoga for pregnant moms and sex - not necessarily at the same time! =)

There are trigger points on your feet. Go to an accupuncturist or a massage therapist. Good luck & congrats.

I hope you have more than 3 weeks left! If your doctor is actually supporive of VBAC he will not give you a "deadline". You can ask for a membrane sweep at every visit from now on, and this may help. You can also try sex, though in my experience that didn't help - my VBAC was at 41 weeks 2 days. Ultimately you do not have to consent to anything. You can always agree to have a nonstress test at 41 weeks if you haven't gone into labor by then. This is a routine check to make sure the baby and you are ok. At the end of the day not inducing is a good idea, since inductions in the past have been linked to higher risk of uterine rupture. However, this seems to really only be the case when prostaglandins are used. Induction or augmentation with pitocin is ok, but I would only use if medically necessary (ie they're worried about the baby and you're not laboring on your own yet), and then only very judiciously. Ultimately though, induction + VBAC is better than a repeat c-section any day, I htink.

So... my advice would be:
get a membrane sweep every week
do not consent to be induced or a repeat c-section simply because you hit 40 weeks
ask for a non-stress test at 41 weeks instead of consenting to anything. if the baby looks fine there's no reason you cannot wait it out a bit longer
if you get to 42 weeks and still have no signs of labor and the baby looks ok, try castor oil.

best of luck! If you haven't already, consider joining the chicago ICAN mailing list - we have many helpful resources and the members of the group have a good idea aobut how to deal with this sort of thing, since many of us have been there or are planning to be there.

If you and your hubby are not too wiered out intercourse works.

First of all, I commend you on the decision to try for a VBAC. Having said that, as long as baby and you are both fine at the end of it all it doesn't matter so much how you get there. You've received lots of great advice, so I don't necessarily have any more suggestions regarding natural induction, just a couple other things:

- Ask your doctor to let you go beyond 40 weeks if necessary. Realistically, your due date is an estimate and there's no harm in allowing the pregnancy to go to 42 weeks.

- Regarding the myth of "failure to progress". The medical industry has this unfounded idea that labor should only last a certain length of time. This is not scientifically or historically based, it's just that doctors prefer to get everything over and done with. Women can labor for days. I hope for your sake you don't, but it's no reason to push you in to a c-section. If the baby is doing fine, everyone needs to have a little patience. As an aside, docs love c-sections because they get paid more for them :O(

Good luck with everything and I hope your little one decided to come before your doctor loses his patience :O)

I was in the same situation last year. My doctor told me that for some reason after a c-section it is common for women not to start to dilate as early. He wasn't surprised or concerned that I didn't start to dilate until a week after my due date. I went into labor on my own 10 days past my due date but ended up having a repeat c-section as I started bleeding and they couldn't identify a cause. I had tried for weeks to do everything I read about inducing labor because I was desperate for a VBAC. In the end we were both healthy and my recovery was MUCH easier than with my first. Good luck!

Hi N.,

All I did was walking and have sex with my husband to induce labor.

Here is another website about naturally inducing labor http://www.maternitycorner.com/mcmag/articles/preg0007.html
I think Oregano and Basil can help induce labor so maybe cook all your recipes that have those.
Raspberry leaf tea probably won't actually induce labor if you are just drinking a cup of it. I hear that if you use 1 ounce of raspberry leaf tea (loose leaf) and steep in with 1 pint of boiling water for 1/2 an hour, then that super strong concoction will sometimes induce labor.

i would avoid vaginal exams entirely! therefore not putting you on a time schedule, it is quite common to not be dilating yet, you're not due! relax and enjoy this last stretch of pregnancy, the baby won't stay in forever. if you doctor is ok with you going a little past your due date i would leave things as they are. you can ask for non-stress testing at 40 and 41 weeks, just for peace of mind.