Cohosh Tea, Enemas, and Boiling Your Pee...OH MY!

Maternity Leave has commenced. Still no baby (obviously), but due date is Thursday. Just playing the waiting game. Feeling good. Not feeling too anxious--just excited and nervous about the unknown, but I know I have a GREAT support team and I'm in good hands.

I thought we'd start out this soggy, Fall Seattle day with some interesting "facts" people have shared with me, or friends of mine throughout our pregnancies. "Surefire ways" to tell the gender of your babe, how much hair your kiddo may don, all about breastfeeding, and of course ways to get labor under way.

Some I'm sure you've heard before:

1) The more heartburn you have during pregnancy, the more hair your baby will have when he or she is born.

2) If you hold a pendulum above your belly, if it swings in a circular motion, you're having a girl. If it swings to and fro...a boy, of course!

3) Breastfeeding is much more painful for blonde women.

4) Redheads bleed more, so they need Pitosin during labor.

5) If you carry your baby high in your belly, it's a girl. If you carry low, a boy.

6) If the baby's heart rate is below 140 beats per minute, most definitely a boy. Above that--girl all the way.

7) And my ALL TIME FAVORITE: If you boil cabbage in your own pee and it turns purple, you are having a girl. (Wait...is that purple or green cabbage...and wait...whaaaaaaat???)

A list of things you should most "DEFINITELY" do to get labor started:

1) Eat spicy foods

2) Take castor oil, or maybe a nice relaxing enema. (Um, no. On both accounts, NO!)

3) Cohosh Tea (not really proven to do anything, nor particularly safe)

4) Parsley... eat lots of parsley. (mmmm....cups and cups of parsley)

5) Eggplant Parmesan (Not sure the thought behind this...but if you insist)

6) Take a bouncy ride in an SUV (Oh, okay. Why didn't I think of that. Shake the baby out!)

Not surprising that these old tales exist...what does surprise me is to what extent people actually believe these to be true. I have really enjoyed just sitting back and letting people give their advice. What's more fun is deciding who really stands behind what they're saying, and who is just passing along what they've heard.

I won't pretend to be an expert, but I feel like I have a pretty good BS meter. From what I've sussed out, and also discussed with my Midwife, there's really only a couple of things that are safe and/or have much medical credibility to possibly getting labor underway. Here's the very short list:

Sex

Nipple Stimulation

These things "work" because they produce specific hormones that your body produces when it goes into labor and starts contractions. Walking is another one that is often recommended. Though it seems that walking itself probably doesn't induce labor--rather it seems to help move the baby down into the pelvis.

Other things that have been interesting are people's theories on my size. I had two separate instances of people asking me if I am having twins. When I said no, one of them followed up by saying I was definitely going to have a huge baby then. But other people have told me separately "you're all baby--the rest of your body is totally normal". Oh...thank you. I'm happy to report that I am normal! I honestly haven't been upset by these comments...I mean, not that I want people to walk around telling me how giant I am, or that I really do look normal. Mostly it just makes me laugh. I will admit I do get a certain satisfaction out of giving a vague and sarcastic response.

People's bodies vary so much, and every woman has a different pregnancy experience. In my opinion, the VERY BEST thing you can do for a pregnant woman is just to tell her how wonderful she looks! :)