What Are The Ways To Induce Labor Your Self?
If you are searching for ways to induce labor your self, there are some questions you should ask yourself and some guidelines you should follow.
Firstly, why are you looking for ways to induce labor naturally? Are you exhausted of being pregnant and perhaps overdue? If there is nothing out of the ordinary wrong with you or your baby, it is preferable to let nature take its course and allow your body and baby to determine the correct time for the labor and delivery to start. Convenient scheduling generally should not be the reason to induce your labor. However, there are a couple of scenarios where you are justified to use ways to induce labor naturally.
If you have passed your estimated deliver date by several days, chances are that your doctor has probably already begun to mention labor induction or at least scheduled you for extra tests. Once you have passed your due date, it is safe to begin attempting some of the ways to induce labor naturally at home.
Another time when it is safe to begin using natural methods to induce labor is if you are scheduled for a medical induction in 2 to 3 days. Medical labor induction with Pitocin carries some well known risks. Often labor pains produced by a Pitocin are more intense than those that occur naturally. The majority of labors that begin with drugs will end up with other interventions such as pain medication, episiotomies, the use of forceps, and unfortunately often culminate in a c-section. Finally, many of the drugs themselves that are used for induction have unpleasant side effects, are not tested on pregnant women, are not approved by the FDA to induce labor, or may harm the baby in some way.
When you are deciding what natural ways to induce labor at home, remember that “natural” does not always mean “safe.” Methods for self-inducing labor such as walking, sex, bumpy car rides, and eating pineapple and Italian or Mexican cuisines will usually have no risks involved. Although if you have been advised by your practitioner not to engage in any of these activities (stay away from excessive walking if you are trying to keep your blood pressure under control, and do not engage in sexual intercourse if your water has broken), now is not the time to take them up.
Another physical method of naturally inducing labor at home is using the maternity acupressure. This holistic medical system is a certain way of touching the body — primarily using your thumbs and palms to stimulate certain acupressure points that have direct correlations to certain reactions within the body. You may seek out a specialist to perform acupressure on you, but it may be even more to your advantage to learn some acupressure techniques yourself or with your husband or labor support staff, since acupressure may be used during labor to cope with the pain of labor contractions. As with other induction methods, one should only use maternity acupressure points designed to induce labor if you have passed your due date or are trying to avoid medical induction.
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