To Get Labour Started

TO GET LABOUR STARTED

HOT CURRIES …

HOT BATHS ….

HOT SEX ….

RELAX :

Forget about your due date. Only 4% of births happen on the due date. Your anxiety causes the release of adrenaline, and this works against natural oxytocins, an important hormone for birth. So take a warm bath, eat a favourite meal and just relax. Let nature take its course.

MASSAGE :

Massage your nipples. Apply a warm compress or flannel first.

Roll nipples between thumb and forefingers for 2 minutes.

Rest for 3 minutes.

Repeat resting and rolling for 20 minutes.

This releases oxytocin, a hormone that wil ripen your cervix.

HERBAL REMEDIES:

Drink raspberry leaf tea, 3 cups per day, at morning, noon and night.

Drink Cumin tea: 1 tsp of cumin seeds in a cup of hot water (traditionally a cube of raw potato is added to remove the bitterness of the cumin).

AROMATHERAPY:

Use 4 drops in total of lavender oil and clary sage into a teaspoon of a carrier oil (grapeseed, sweet almond, or olive oil). Add this mixture to a bath a relax into it. Alternatively, use it to gently massage your abdomen in a clockwise direction.

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DIET:

Soak a good pinch of saffron in a cup of milk during the day. In the evening warm it up and drink before bed. Add sugar to taste.

Eat fresh pineapple, it won’t give you heartburn and it is believed the enzymes in the pineapple will ripe the cervix.

GET ACTIVE:

Walking, dancing, “nesting”, any kind of activity to help the baby come down on to your cervix. Try and go for a good walk every day - climb some stairs, or go for a bumpy car ride, anything to help to bring the baby along.

PROSTAGLANDIN:

This is the hormone that softens the cervix, preparing it for the birth. Two ways to introduce prostaglandins are:

Making love to your husband or partner once a day, don’t get up right away, let the semen coat your cervix, this will help to ripen it.

Take Evening Primrose Oil (gel-caps) orally 3x per day and insert 2 in the vagina at bedtime. Remain lying down or they will fall out. Try to go to toilet beforehand so that you can remain lying down for as long as possible.

Remember that prostaglandins will only ripen the cervix they will not start labour.

Try to remain relaxed and patient. The best things are always worth waiting for…..

GOOD LUCK !

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