Pineapple

I've been cramping & contracting all morning. & I realized there is one other natural labor inducer (in the form of an ol' wives tale that some woman will swear to!) that I haven't tried, but did pick up @ the store.

& since I probably won't be able to get back to sleep till either 1.) this pain goes away, or 2.) I take enough drugs to make me pass out, then I might as well give it a try.

Ah, yes. The beloved pineapple theory. Not as painful as the spicy foods, the castor oil, or even the sex. Quite refreshing & delicious. Not to mention nutritious. But does it work?

Pregnancy.lovetoknow.com say's that tropical fruits, such as kiwi, mango, & pineapple, carry an enzyme that may produce mild contractions.

Howtodothings.com claims that these tropical fruits & their enzymes don't actually start labor, but tone the cervix, which may in return help labor run smoother.

I've also read on some message boards (my favorite being from BabyCenter.com) that woman swear that eating 8 pineapples after her due date has come & gone is what caused her labor.

But what the hell, you know? I'm sitting here, slightly awake, & in worse pain than I was last night @ 5 am. Phil's asleep. Even Caesar is sleeping. Why not try a little pineapple & see where that goes? What's the worst it could do?

Note: Remember a few posts back when I tried castor oil? I remember asking myself the same question, "What's the worst that could happen?" My answers were, "I could induce labor." Which was the point. "I could get diarrhea." Which I totally did. "I could make myself sick from the taste." Which I didn't. So by now you've probably assumed I create for myself a self destructive streak. & if you have assumed that, I'll admit now that you're right.

1 hour later...

While I ate my pineapple slices, I read a few things on a message board. A few women said that they heard pineapple can cause miscarriage early on in pregnancy. Other women claim that this specific enzyme is only in fresh pineapple, & not the canned kind. (I'm not going to run out & buy an expensive imported pineapple, & try to harvest it myself.) I wonder if maybe the preservatives cause this enzyme to disappear? Or if the crazy pregnant woman mind just thinks that nothing will help unless it's fresh from the source. Who knows.

Either way the pineapple tasted delicious. I even drank the pineapple juice it came in to add the dramatic affect.

My favorite account that was relived via this message board, was the fact that one woman said all the pineapple made her do was poop a lot. She claimed, "Maybe it has the same effect the castor oil does, in which it must stimulate your bowels to get labor going?" The reason I laugh @ this is because when you are pregnant, you can eat absolutely anything & almost it always results in a bowel movement. This is guaranteed. Another reason I laugh @ this, is because this same exact thing is also guaranteed for people who are not pregnant. Brilliance, I tell you.

Any way, I'm going to go crawl back into bed & hope that I can get a few more hours of sleep. If anything happens that's drastic enough to blame on my delicious twilight snack, I'll let you know!