Still pregnant. . .

Here I am, 38 weeks pregnant. My baby is not even born yet and already she's not listening to me! (re: previous post)

Interestingly enough, as soon as I hit 37 weeks, DH and I began engaging in "natural ways to induce labor," some of which include:

1. Sex
Semen supposedly contains prostaglandins, which can soften or 'ripen' the cervix. They say whatever got the baby in will get the baby out. So far it's done nothing but given me false labor, which is NOT fun.

2. Spicy food
Spicy food inducing labor is one of those old wives' tales that everyone hears about, but no one personally knows a pregnant woman who ate spicy food and went into labor. Oh well. I ate spicy pad thai one night and spicy pho the next night, and NOTHIN.

3. Castor oil
There are plenty of "recipes" for castor oil that women swear by, but I draw the line there. I refuse. Plus I've read that it can cause lots of painful contractions, with no real labor. It can also cause diarrhea, which just does not sound fun during pregnancy, or ever, for that matter.

4. Walking
Lots of women say that they went for a long walk, went home to shower and had their baby later that night. There's no research or evidence that supports walking will lead to labor, but it's good exercise anyway.

5. Accupressure
Some believe that there are certain pressure points on one's body that will help induce labor. See here for more information

6. Nipple stimulation
Who knows. See here.

7. Pineapple
Pineapple supposedly has some sort of enzyme that can induce labor, but only in large amounts. (??)

Well, we haven't tried EVERYTHING, but we've tried a lot of it (walking, sex, spicy food, pineapple), and nothing but false labor [I started having Braxton Hicks contractions around 34 weeks-- my stomach gets as hard as a watermelon and I can feel intense pressure... but they are irregular and don't intensify]. I woke up today (for some strange reason) in a very peaceful, strange mood and I realized that I don't really believe in any of these "natural induction" methods anyway. My baby will come when she's ready. And most likely, she's in my belly just cruising, not wanting to face the world yet. So while Mr. Shopasaur and I are extremely anxious/nervous/excited to FINALLY meet her, I guess she's not ready to meet us yet. But she'll let us know when she is. :)