I took my first dose yesterday around 2 PM - 2 tablespoons mixed with orange juice. Almost immediately, I had to go to the bathroom. It wasn't painful or anything - I was actually pretty shocked at how fast it worked! I had really minor cramps throughout the day and I took my second dose around 7 PM - another 2 tablespoons mixed with orange juice. Soon thereafter, I started feeling contractions that radiated from my back around to the front. I was like, "OMG it's working", until that pain just didn't go away. I thought it was pretty weird that these "contractions" didn't come and go but rather became dull and then REALLY strong. Around 11 PM I tried to take a bath to see if that would soothe them - NOPE! I tried to ensure the pain until about 3 AM only to determine that I had to go to L&D to get checked out.

Once I got there, they hooked me up to the monitors and I was contracting pretty irregularly. I would have one big one and then 3 small ones, followed by another big one. There was no rhythm to them. 

The nurse checked my cervix and told me I was still only dilated 1 cm 😱. I was like, HUH? How is this possible? I've been contracting for hours! She said the doctor would be in around 8 am to do another check to determine if I was in active labor. 

I was in a LOT of pain and couldn't sleep from it obviously. I waited and waited until 8 am and the doctor gave me one hell of a cervix check. It felt like someone was trying to stab me from the inside! I had dilated to about a 2 in those few hours, but still not enough to classify as "active labor". Doc told me my cervix was super long and my pelvis was pretty narrow. Baby's head is measuring 2 weeks ahead of body, so he/she is having trouble scooting down lower. AKA I'm going to have a super crap time delivering naturally. 

Anywho, I'm back home now and the contractions have dulled quite a bit. Not sure of it was the castor oil or something I ate, but the baby was moving SO much and probably situated in a weird position that caused my contractions to feel more intense than they were. I had to sit in a bunch of different positions to get the baby to finally move, which brought me a ton of relief.

Bottom line, I do think castor oil kick started contractions and helped me dialate to a 2. I've been 1cm for about 3 weeks now! I won't take it again because I'm scared the intense back contractions will come back, but for someone whose body is more ready than mine and whose baby has already dropped, i think this might really help move things along. I'll be 40 weeks on Monday and couldn't be more anxious to get this child out! Wish me luck!