Due Date

Here I am, on our due date:



We thought Matthew might come on his exact due date (only 5% of babies do) because I had contractions about every 15 minutes throughout the night last night.  At 6am, I got up to see if they would continue once I was up and active.  Braxton hicks contractions can stop, but real labor will persist no matter what you are doing.  Well, as you can see, I am not writing about the birth of our son.  Contractions came to a complete halt.

One of the natural induction techniques that we have learned about is drinking castor oil.  We heard of a "castor cocktail" today, made up of castor oil, almond butter (which will definitely be eaten on an apple ASAP...mmmmm...yes, I'm still pregnant), apricot juice, and white wine.  It was a tolerable, but not an enjoyable drink.  How it works?  It causes unspeakable bathroom experiences which can instigate contractions/labor.  Did it work?  Um, step one did.