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My step-sister SWORE by castor oil, but I was too afraid of the nasty side effects to try it. I tried the yoga ball, dates, pineapple, and spicy food to no effect. I had several people tell me that cleaning their floor on the hands and knees triggered labor for them, but yeah...no thanks. Same with sex. The thought just made me hurt.

I thought about asking my dr if I could have sex but considering my water broke weeks before I thought she would think I was crazy. Plus, the thought of doing it in a hospital bed didn't seem all that comfortable for either of us.

I found that bouncing on an exercise ball was extremely comfortable. So, I did that a lot leading up to the birth of M just because it helped ease so much of my pain. Not sure if it helped but it sure did feel good.

i tried having sex and it seemed to work because my water broke a couple of hours later. but i also can never be sure because i was 40w5d and it could have also just been a coincidence.

I did not. I did a lot of research, and all of the method I found either do not work, or they work but are more likely to lead to a complications (i.e. a C-section, which is what I was most nervous about anyway) than a medical induction. If I remember correctly, nipple stimulation and castor oil are the things that are supposed to work. I went into labor three days before my scheduled induction. I cried when I scheduled the induction, and even though it was not needed, in retrospect it would not have been so bad. It would have been really nice to have my OB do the delivery.

Nope - I had was induced with both kids, but with LO1, it wasn't scheduled. With LO2, it was scheduled, and I did NOT want to go into labor early because I wanted to be able to control child care arrangements for LO1!

I had an induction scheduled for 41+1, but my water broke 2 days before that. I didn't do anything besides walking, which I had been doing anyway.

A membrane sweep/internal exam worked for me within about 6 hours! I was 39wks exactly

My induction with LO1 wasn't scheduled so I had no chance. With LO2 I tried red raspberry leaf tea, walking a mile plus daily, near daily sex, bouncing on a yoga ball, nipple stimulation, membrane sweep (by my OB), castor oil. She stayed in until my induction date. I made progress doing all that but none of it actually got her out.

Right before 39 weeks, I was anxious and had plans to eat Italian that night with girlfriends. Since I'd read that eggplant parmesan gets things moving, I decided to order that and eat it. Figured why not? Well, I went into labor the next day and had my son the following. Perhaps it was just a coincidence but I figure... it certainly didn't hurt anything to try that - same with spicy food (if you like it), pineapple, etc). I don't think I'd ever try castor oil or more intense efforts. Sex, for example, was not happening.

I shared this story at a baby shower where a coworker was 36 weeks and one of the meal options was eggplant parmesan. She went into labor the next day. Again, perhaps a random coincidence but I'll certainly be eating it again when I'm past the 37 week mark.

@autumnlove: was your induction successful?