Well ladies — I’m still pregnant! For the past few weeks, the question, “How can I start labor?” has been on my mind  … constantly. I have read blog after blog, and article after article, and tried everything. And unfortunately, my answer to “How can I start labor,” is that I am scheduled to be induced on Friday because this little Baby Boy is stubborn and does NOT want to leave his current residence in my body.

I delivered my first at exactly 37 weeks and the labor and delivery process was straight from the movies. Read the post that I wrote two days after delivering Emma about how “Exercise During Pregnancy Helps With Labor, Delivery, and Recovery.” The evening before I delivered, my husband and I worked out, carbo loaded, made love, cleaned the house, and early the next morning, my water broke. I had a very fast and easy labor and delivery, and was thrilled to deliver before my due date.

This time around has been MUCH different. I have been experiencing strong contractions since 35 weeks, been 100% effaced, and 3 cm dilated for 3 weeks, been in the hospital twice with false alarms, but yet — no true labor. Talk about annoying. Here are some suggestions that I found when I searched, “How can I start labor.”

• Walking — yeah … I walked 50 miles last week, and it did me no good. I run consistently and do plyos with my clients, so walking is hardly going to help get this baby into position and get contractions started.
• Sex — been doing the “dance with no pants” consistently as well. The hubs gets frequent booty calls when he’s at work. Once again — not helping.
• Evening Primrose Oil — I’ve been taking EPO since week 36. I am not sure if it is working or not, but I read a lot of blogs where women said it helped ripen their cervix. My cervix has been very ripe for a few weeks — not sure if it’s because of the EPO though.
• Red Raspberry Tea and Capsules — I have been taking red raspberry capsules and drinking the tea since week 34. My Braxton Hicks are definitely stronger this pregnancy than last — so perhaps it’s because the red raspberry is helping to tone my uterus.
• Bouncing on an exercise ball — Again, I workout every day — run, plyos, jump squats, lifting … a little bouncing is hardly going to put me over the edge.
• Eggplant Parmesan — I’ve eaten eggplant parmesan 2 times, and I am still pregnant.
• Nipple Stimulation — I can get some good Braxton Hicks going when I use my pump, but they usually stall after a couple of hours. I have 8 bags of colostrum frozen for Baby Cole when he arrives though!

So, there you have it — several ways that I have consistently tried to start labor. This Friday, I will be induced, so this baby boy will be here one way or another. I really thought I would go into labor early this time like I did with my frist, but unfortunately, I was wrong. I have been extremely impatient waiting for this baby boy to make his appearance, but I think he just needs a little “encouragement” from the doctors 🙂