Using Castor Oil to Induce Labor and Why It's Not a Good Idea

I consider myself a very protective mom. Starting from the moment I find out I am pregnant I try to be as healthy as possible. I eat breakfast daily ( which really is a big deal for me considering it is my least favorite meal), I eat more vegetables and fruits, take my vitamins, walk often, drink plenty of water, and follow every rule and suggestion that comes from my Doctor.

During my second pregnancy everything was going perfect. One morning I was trying to hurry to catch my bus but I lost my balance and fell on the stairs while I was going up to get my bus pass. I hit my belly and started feeling bad. I was only 32 weeks pregnant by then and it would have been to soon to have my baby.
I went to the hospital since I started to have contractions and they gave me a shot to stop the labor. Luckily it worked and I head home.

The next day I started to feel pain in my pelvis and it was painful to walk. The pain only got worse as the days went by and every time I'll cal the doctor the nurse would tell me that the pain was normal considering I had fallen days ago.

I was still in the middle of fall semester so I had to keep going to school and it was so painful to walk. One day I even had to call my husband to pick me up because I couldn't even move my legs and I was stuck in the middle of the street and somehow my legs wouldn't move.

Three weeks passed and I went to my Doctor again and he said that the baby was fine and I wasn't ready for delivery yet and that I probably pulled a muscle when I fell and that would explain my pain. I was very frustrated because it seemed nobody could tell that my daughter's head was already crowned and ready to come. It hurt so bad because she kept pushing down.

After a week I woke up having contractions so we headed to the hospital. Since I had 36 weeks already I was happy to be there and ready to have the baby. Even though it was safe for her to be born the nurse send me home since I was only two centimeters dilated.

I was done, I couldn't bear with the pain anymore so I started to do every thing I knew to naturally induce my labor. After a couple days of trying and nothing working I went on line and did research on other natural ways to induce labor. I found many articles about Castor Oil and after hours of reading I decided it sounded safe. The worse it could happened was having to go to the bathroom for nothing.

Many web pages said to take four teaspoons and the instructions in bottle said to take even more. I wasn't so sure about it so I only took two teaspoons. Nothing happened for hours, so I started thinking I took too little. Luckily I was too scared to take the other two teaspoons so I just gave up the idea of inducing my delivery.

I went to bed and three hours later I woke up wanting to go to the bathroom. I thought I was just there because of the laxative power of the Castor oil but the cramps started to get more and more painful.

Not having experienced a contraction with my first baby I was clueless about what a real contraction felt like. So for a while I just thought I had the worse stomach cramps ever until I went to the bathroom again and notice I was bleeding.

I started crying and called my husband for help. The blood didn't look like my water breaking but just plain blood coming and coming in crazy amounts. The contractions kept coming one after the other and I had to rush to the hospital. When I got there all I could think was ! What have I done !. I was worried that my baby was hurt or the delivery was going to end up badly.

The nursed checked me and told me everything was fine. I asked for the epidural and started to wait for the delivery time. The only thing was that I didn't told the nurse I took Castor oil. I felt embarrassed and I guess fearful to hear something bad about it. After talking to my husband and realizing that it could be an important thing to say to the nurse, we told her.

The nurse got so mad at me. She told me that Castor Oil produced fake delivery signs, and it is dangerous not only for the baby but also for me. If it wasn't a sure delivery I already had gotten the epidural and they couldn't just send me home after that.

I was lucky that my baby was born healthy, but the whole experience was very traumatic for me and since I was in pain, I am sure it was a very traumatic experience for my baby too. Sometimes Internet can be our worse enemy. We don't know who is writing these product reviews. Even if Castor Oil was good for them, we all have different bodies or health conditions that we forget to consider when taking a over the counter medicament. I learned to be careful and ask my Doctor before taking anything, specially if I am pregnant.