Oh, honey, I'm so sorry for you!

If it helps at all, my sister-in-law was overdue as well, and kept resisting all plans to artificially (in other words, not the stuff you've mentioned) kick-start the birth... And when the little rascal finally decided to come out (also with midwife), everything was great. (But, of course, you don't want to go too far with the natural-moment thing; induce when necessary!)

Yeah exactly, it'll have to be induced next Monday as the placenta isn't so good at keeping the baby supported with oxygen etc at this many weeks. But wow, next monday is faaaaar away! :P

Actually I'm just annoyed that I didn't go into the labor yesterday, which is the father-to-be's birthday. Now how neat would that have been? Plus 10-10-05! Kewl!

baby is ok though, kicking moving, all that jazz. I just feel heavy and tired and haven't been able to sleep much at all this past month so it's really getting to me....

I understand! ...though not from first-hand experience (so I know how shallow this sounds).

It seems that the very last period of any pregnancy that I've personally known about has pretty much been unmitigated discomfort and anxiety, despite how much we don't want that to be the case, and how much it is constantly denied afterwards.

(The denying afterwards is also perfectly and wonderfully normal, so don't worry if you end up doing it too!)

Does it seem like you've been 9 months pregnant forever? Just hang in (out) there, unless there's a problem with the baby. Most first babies are "late". They're born when they're finished, in my experience.

Anecdote: I have a friend who was 17 days "overdue", so her OB decided to induce, though there was no evidence that her fetus was hypermature. The little girl's lungs weren't ready yet. Unfinished neonatal lungs don't function correctly. The alveoli are"sticky" and don't stay open. The body's ability to produce the required surfactant is one of the very last things done. I'm not into scare stories, but wanting to emphasize that babies are born when they're ready to function outside the womb.

Of course, induce when necessary, but make sure that it'sreally an issue of the infant's well-being.

Did i mention that mutliple orgasms are good?

I didn't mean to sound so matter-of fact. I know you're miserable and deserve hugs and cosseting and.. lightening. :)

I wish you had a good hammock.

hehe, yes I feel like this gal - 9 months foreverandever, huge middle body and tiny teeny feet. ≡ Click to see image ≡
And multiple orgasms are much much better than Castor oil but neither trick works. ;9
Someone suggested I go on the swings in the park (gently though). Strange idea.Wonder where they got all these tricks from? Another person suggested a cocktail will start it. I fail to see what that'll do except get the baby drunk.

Acupuncture sucessfully started contractions for my wife. Some were pretty strong but they did not grow into full-blown labor. Still, it's worth considering.

17 days overdue, wow, that sounds heavy. here they won't start me off without doing some super-radar-thingie check first, so yaknow, I expect they'll wait until baby really is baked. *knock on wood spit three times* and all that.

acupuncture is clever, it is my painkiller of choice during labor (when that starts.. gaah).

Has your midwife given you a "stretch and sweep"? That's supposed to hasten the arrival.

My sister-in-law was overdue with all four of her babies and had to be induced every time. I think she's part kangaroo. Her doctor had an inconvenient sense of humour. With her fourth baby, she was due November 20th. Come December 1st she still hadn't had the baby, and she demanded, "Doctor, when am I going to have this baby?!" He said, "I have a premonition that my Christmas Eve is going to be absolutely ruined!" Then he suggested that for her next appointment she have her husband drive her into town on his tractor. My sister-in-law would probably have strangled him had she been able to reach past her stomach.

*maoahahaha!* Poor gal. :))

Whats a stretch and sweep? My midwife will look at me again on Friday with the blippy radar-types machines. If nothing ahppnes, she'l induce it on Monday. She last peeked at me on the 6th and called me a "top tuned pregnant woman", which was nice even though I don't feel that way. ;)

Congrats, Ask!

Aren't you a pretty small-boned, short person? I've only seen that one MeFi photo of your tatt. It seems funny, picturing you preggers!

Anyway, congrats, and I'm sure it's a wonderful addition to the world you're bringing. Woo hoo!

My mother said that bellowing and rolling her eyes for a few hours did the trick.

About the "induce if necessary": my mother ended up giving birth vaginally to a baby way, way too big, which was a major mistake on the part of her doctors (but it did mean that my sister has a seriously significant birthday - Alaskan earthquake, 1964. Woohoo!).

So after that, they just told her sternly that she mustn't ever, ever get pregnant again. Fucking twats.

(on the bright side, it sort of put the mush on that whole Catholic thing that had been carried over in my immediate family. Oh yeah.)

A "stretch and sweep" means your midwife will stick her fingers in your cervix and "stretch and sweep" - this is supposed to trigger the release of prostaglandins. My friend had this done on her due date last June and went into labour the next day.

This is so exciting! For us, definitely. For you, maybe not so much.

This works. I absolutely guarantee you that it works. Nipple stimulation. Yep. Do it, or have someone else do it, which is even better. I've told 6 people about this, and all 6 tried it, and all 6 had their water break within 2 or 3 hours of doing it. All of them were overdue or right around their due date.

That's a 100000% success rate, sister!

I would be comforted by the thought that well done is better than undercooked in this arena.

There is always at least a little uncertainty about dates too.

If a girl with whom I held any influence was in a similar situation, I would encourage her not to try old wives tale inducements. I would encourage her to rest when she could but otherwise continue life 'normally'.

I would rather that she rely upon the wisdom of a midwife than the quackery of superstition, as some old inducement methods themselves might end up reeking havoc on mum or child perhaps.

But she probably wouldn't listen to me anyway. So it goes..

Good luck Åsk, I'm sure everything will be weird and amazing and go well :- )

Well, the midwife told me that what got it in there will get it out, so give that a try hon. ;-)Whether it works or not, it's enjoyable.

I wrote an eviction notice to my first baby and read it to my stomach - it seems to help when you're totally fed up and refuse to take it any more. Castor oil theoretically works and the midwife gave it to me to speed up the contractions on my 2nd child, which definitely worked. A whole nasty bottle of it. It might be better to be pregnant forever.

With both of my kids, I had false labor one week before the real thing, and both times the false labor came after an enormous meal - Thanksgiving, in my son's case. So as a mother of two, I say, have a huge meal and great sex and whether the baby comes out or not you'll still be cheerful.

Yes, for many people the natural insemination process gets them in and then gets them out.

Try a very deep, relaxing foot massage. It works by the same means as iconomy's nipple stimulation (well, er, not stimulating iconomy's nipples; that's a different thing entirely), and your feet could probably stand a massage about now anyway...

Hehehe, any trick that has daddy-to-be helping out is tried twice. ;P This includes massage of course. Thanks for the best wishes peacay. I will try that eviction notice thing mygothlaundry, that is funny!

shane, yes, I'm a pretty small girl. Or I was. ;) You saw the belly before? This is the belly ten minutes ago. Scary huh? :) (the lop-sidedness is actually the countour of the babies back on the (your) left, my right.)
≡ Click to see image ≡

Whoa. That's a big belly! Blessings to you.

seconding the nipple stimulation, and the sex (it may be your last chance for a while), but what got my last one out was evening primorose oil on the cervix. You can buy them in capsule form and use one or two as a *cough* suppository, then take a nap. It supposedly helps the cervix soften.

my massage therapist ex explained that massaging the heel can induce labor...she was studying for a perinatal massage exam and was explaining everything to me...

so maybe massage your heel or have your luvah do it

That's an awesome photo, Dabitch. Have you shown off your belly (in public) whilst pregnant? I'm just nosy as to what kind of responses you might have had.

Whenever your labour starts, I hope it's an easy one.
:^)

Heh, great pic, Åsk! Good luck!

Yeah, very cool pic.

You have started to drop, Åsk. :)

hehe, that's what it looks like? weee!

Deborah, yes I showed off my belly most of the summer, luvvin' the symbolism with the biohazard tat on a pregnant belly and peoples reactions varied - but oh boy did they react. Men and women would nudge their pals to turn around while sitting at outside cafés as I passed by, people would totally forget not to point and lots of times there would be hilarious rushes to grab their camera-phones and get a shot of me. But I've also seen the super dissaproval, a few dirty looks, and this one woman who gasped so loudly and recoiled in horror when she saw me, it was as if I was clubbing baby seals to death on a public street. Couldn't tell what bothered her the most, the ink or the fact that I was showing off a lot of very pregnant belly - she seemed to think it wasn't decent. Since then I've gotten silly big and now cover up in my collection of huge bowling shirts - you can fit a lot in these babies!

For comparison, this is me a week before my 10 pound baby boy was born - who'll be 14 on Dec. 8, sigh.

≡ Click to see image ≡

Dabitch = coolest moms ever. That tattoo is awesome.

My moms, fwiw, walked from soho to harlem. Something like 8 miles in rubber boots. I don't know which part worked.

I'm going to bracket this by saying you are the coolest moms ever.

dabitch - the tat just rocks!
mygothlaundry - that's a gorgeous shot.

A friend of mine was two weeks late. One night, I stayed with her and made her laugh until her water broke. *poof* Instant baby.

Comedy fixes everything.

If it's not too late, I second iconomy's suggestion, which has worked for us once and also the concept that what put it there will get it out again, which has also worked.

Good luck.

I have reservations about nipple stimulation at this stage. It's my considered advice to wait until labour has actually begun, and then use nip stim to encourage the contractions.

lovely full moon at sunset, mygothlaundry. ;) Åsk ( I love it that your name is "thunder", btw) - your tat is perfect, pregnant or not.

awesome shot mygothlaundry! Full moon in the sunset indeed... teeheehee!

I'll try comedy. ;) Maybe with all these massages I can hang in there until the midwife checks me out. gaaah. getting some sleep would be real nice though...

reflecked it gets more complicated than that, while modern Åska is indeed thunder (and subject to many a pun on my name in Swedish) it actually stems from an old norse word meaning wish, and since my mother wanted a girl I'm the answer to her wish. ;9

Incredible pic, mygoth!!

my first reaction seeing the post was to say nipples nipples nipples
and sex
but good googly mooglies, Åsk, i believe you have superceded supa cool

if there haven't been premium shots of that belly yet, get on it. I want some and maybe the kid's a camera hog.
Was the tat prebelly? during? i'm enthralled. i want post pics.

back to the topic, i've heard more than nine months is not unsual (sorry) and i'm glad that you don't live in a place where they pretty much induce you with nary a warning or go straight for the c-section (has happened to friends)

there are all sorts of things that will cause contractions but i'm not sure you wanna go there without having worked up a bunch of stuff about it before hand.

coincidentally, i caught some people trying to jiggle their kids out on the telly earlier (it was not reality tv) and the midwife wanted her to lie on her side to get use to it (something about how they were doing the home birth) but i've also heard first hand accounts of baths to help you relax your muscles, at least so you can get some sleep and alleviate the weight, and massage (as pains in the lower back are to be expected)-- i'm babbling as i am full of nosy questions and those are mostly to help you relax and rest up, not get it out, and i'm a bit concerned if you have small hips--

for some reason going for walks and singing come to mind, different exercises--

it's such a portenous time, too, and i'm so glad i'm finally not in a totally crapacious mood to be so happy for you--

i'm going to stop babbling for now, but i hope you get to be in the best state to make the most of the next eclispe (next sunday, coincidentally my real birthday) which is favorable to most everyone to get festive ('cept me)
i'm stopping before placenta eating questions--

Thanks for the old Norse answer, Åsk. "Gift" is sweet; if it were "thunder", at some point you'd have ended up being "the little fart". heh.. I should know better than to trust my skills in "Scandinavian" languages (selv om Dansk er belærende).

Placenta? Taste and texture is closest to pork liver; no particular health benefit to the diner, any more than a serving of fresh meat. Unless there's no one to forage for you, i'd pass. ;)

but when else do you get to have it? i rarely see it on a menu