Before delivery:

My eighth baby was born on his due date so I had thought I didn’t have to be concerned about being a week overdue like I had been with several of my babies. I did take the Caulophyllum 6 Joette mentions in her blog to help be prepared for labor, but I admit I only remembered sporadically. After my due date I was also doing other “labor inducing” activities like eating pineapple, walking around, drinking red raspberry leaf tea…. All the things I had tried with other pregnancies hoping it would work this time, but nothing seemed to get things going. Then, searching online for other things that may help increase my chances of labor I found this labor inducing workout video. The first time I did the workout some light contractions started a few hours later but were gone when I woke up the next morning. Discouraged but not giving up I did the work out a few more times over the course of a couple more days. Happily those light contractions eventually stuck around.

Labor:

The contractions had eventually gotten a little stronger so I was hopeful to go into real labor soon. I had tried Caulophyllum 200 for the weak and irregular contractions hoping they would get stronger and I would finally see my baby. Nothing seemed to change. Then my water broke and I thought things would speed up… but they slowed down instead. Thinking back to my days as a labor and delivery nurse, I hypothesized that her head was probably not in optimal position for descent. I resorted to multiple position changes trying to nudge her to put her head in a better position. Things finally seemed to be picking up a little bit. I took another dose of the Caulophyllum to help things along. I also took some Arnica to aid with the discomfort of the contractions. Contractions continued to get more intense and the midwife arrived just as I was starting to think I couldn’t take it anymore. At the time I didn’t realize it because I was in the midst of the experience, but that is the classic sign the end of labor is near and you just need to persevere a short time longer. After a few seemingly never-ending contractions later I met my baby.

Post partum:

After I was tucked in bed and we were snuggling I took another dose of Arnica to aid the healing process and prevent excess bleeding, I used pain as the indicator when to take another dose as bleeding was not an issue. As healing happens I use less Arnica. I’ve also been taking Calendula 200 twice a day to speed healing. I was happy to have my homeopathic knowledge and remedies available throughout the process and prepared for what the day would bring.