Midwives inducing labor naturally?

Have you heard about midwives especially homebirth and traditional midwives inducing labor naturally, with herbs such as blue cohosh or castor oil? If you are planning to give birth with a midwife at home, you might be wondering about this. Perhaps, going over your due date will risk you out of a homebirth. Perhaps you have high blood pressure and your midwives recommend inducing at term, or perhaps you are over 42 weeks and that baby needs out.

There are different powerful natural labor induction methods that work just like medication, some of which you can read about in detail by clicking on the link. Remember that just because blue cohosh and castor oil, are "natural", that does not mean they are not powerful drugs just like Pitocin. They do have side effects, and can make your labor unpleasant. Both have been used by midwives out of hospital for a long time. Visualizations are also sometimes recommended by midwives. Tell yourself things like, "My baby will be born soon, and I will go into labor." Relax, and tell your baby that you welcome them and that it is time for them to be born. Try visualizing your uterus contracting, your cervix being ripe and opening, and your baby moving downward. Some midwives will break your bag of waters to induce labor. Remember that ruptured membranes without labor starting can increase the risk of infection. Should this happen in a hospital setting, policy would generally be to not let the bag of waters be broken for longer than 24 hours. That would mean induction starting soon after, if contractions did not follow. Your bag of waters being broken may result in a transfer to hospital. You can also try some of the old wives' tales methods of inducing labor. You can read about them here How to start labor.