Photo by Skip Lawrence Yoga helps some pregnant women prepare for delivery. Practicing yoga at Sol Yoga in Frederick recently are, from left, Kristina Molinari, instructor Dorcas Quynn McWilliams holding Jonah McWilliams, and Lane Karmiol.

Now you ache, you're uncomfortable, you're two days past your due date and you just wanna get that baby born!

Friends and family willingly share advice and folk wisdom passed from generation to generation to help you get the labor process started.

Walking, squatting, riding a four-wheeler through water, bouncing gently on a beach ball, even bowling are some things women have tried. How about eating pineapple, spicy foods, mac and cheese with A1 Steak Sauce or Heinz 57 Sauce on it, or drinking raspberry tea or papaya juice?

Many of these bits of advice or old wive's tales, while amusing, are unproven or disproved. Some can be downright harmful. So we don't advocate trying them. It's best to seek advice from a medical professional.

Castor oil, sex and jumping

"A friend of mine did castor oil. Another swore by it. She took a dose of castor oil and it sent her into labor, but she ended up having a C-section," said Debbie Vogel, 38, of New Market . The mother of 3-year-old Cullen and 2-year-old Caden, Vogel's third child is due in April and she's not planning to hasten the process. "I think it's easier when they're inside."

For Julia Remsberg, 25, castor oil did not work. It just made her nauseous. "It (tasted) awful. A midwife told me afterward I should have put it in a chocolate milkshake," Remsberg said.

According to WebMD, who queried two ob gyns about a couple of folk labor inducers, a dose of castor oil might work, but you could just end up with diarrhea and intestinal cramping.

Remsberg, who has a 22-month-old daughter, Brianna, and is expecting her second child in May, nixed the suggestion to have sex to induce labor. "That's not that easy at that point in time," she said. It was also suggested she eat spicy food ("I eat that all the time so I knew that wouldn't work") or sit on top of a washer while it's washing clothes. She didn't try that.

A WebMD study showed that of 102 pregnant women surveyed, two out of three believed walking would help induce labor and about half thought sex would speed up the labor process. Friends and relatives delivered most of the folk advice, but 12 percent said they heard about it from a doctor or nurse.

And it was a nurse who suggested Remsberg try jumping off the bed. She started with something lower -- an ottoman. Brianna was born two days early.

"I heard from several people to walk -- didn't work," said Jennifer Snook, mother of three, including twins. "I went shopping at the outlets in Hagerstown three days after my due date with nothing even close to a contraction. I had also heard, from my doctor, the sex thing was supposed to help -- didn't work.

"I also heard spicy food. I had tacos and salsa sometime around my due date and still nothing," said Snook, who lives in Williamsport. "I had heard castor oil, but was uncomfortable ingesting something like that, so I opted out of that one." Her labor was doctor-induced one week after her due date. The twins were delivered by Caesarean section.

The evening before her daughter Nyhla, 1, was born (one week before her due date), Roushan Rice was on her hands and knees helping husband Kevin assemble a rocking chair. "My mom says that's why I went into labor," said Rice, 30, of Frederick . "I told my husband that was the first day (during pregnancy) I was miserable." Friends suggested she eat spicy foods or have someone scare her.

During a prenatal massage, a then very-pregnant Tricia Johnson was asked if she wanted the pressure points on her hand massaged that could induce labor. She declined.

"My thought was that as much as I wanted her to be born soon, God had a special day picked for her to be born and I didn't want to mess with that," said Johnson, who leads StrollerFit/Restore the Core exercise classes for new and moms-to-be, and is the mother of 31Ú2-year-old Amelia.

When the time is right

That's the advice registered nurse Nancy Lord offers -- it's time when it's time. "The main thing is that this little chickadee needs to cook until the last minute, even though mom wants the baby out," said Lord, who is the coordinator of the Family Focus program for the Frederick Memorial Healthcare System, which includes birth education classes.

Before exercising, including walking, she suggests women check with their doctor. "It's between the mother and her obstetrician and only he or she should make those recommendations," Lord said.

She said there are a number of things that will give an expectant woman "peace of mind," like getting plenty of rest, eating healthy, taking a childbirth class and touring the hospital's birthing facilities. "It can relieve anxiety," Lord said.

"Knowledge always makes you more confident and working hand-in-hand with your obstetrician is one way to get that knowledge," she said.

Dorcas Quynn McWilliams said the day before she went into labor she did yoga. "I don't know that it initiated it, but I think it pushed it along. It was a pretty quick labor." Her son, Jonah, is 5 months old.

Quynn McWilliams is a registered yoga teacher and owner of Sol Yoga in Frederick and practiced (prenatal) yoga throughout her pregnancy. Yoga helps maintain flexibility and balance with body changes. "The relaxation component, with focused breathing, will help you maintain a calm state of mind, which travels with you into delivery," she said. And there are poses that can help with labor, such as squatting. And there are poses that can help with the body aches and pains of pregnancy to increase comfort.

She said labor and delivery was the "most intense and focused yoga class I've ever had." Her son was born a week early.

Quynn McWilliams advises getting doctor approval before beginning a prenatal yoga class and to choose an experienced instructor. There are some poses pregnant women should not do, as well as some things not to do in general, such as twisting early on and avoiding inversions later in pregnancy. Prenatal yoga focuses on the hips, the breath and relaxation, she said.

Katie Hammond didn't take any birthing classes. "I figured my body would know what to do -- and it did," said the Ijamsvlle resident. Her son Noah, 7 months, was delivered a month early ----on the living room couch by her mother.

"My water broke and 90 minutes later my mom delivered him," before EMTs arrived, said 23-year-old Hammond.

Amanda Fleming's daughter, Sydney, 2, was born the day after her due date. "If she had been later I may have tried something," said Fleming, 29, of Urbana . She suggests taking a hot bath and "try to get your husband to give you back rubs to relax.

"My best advice is to enjoy the last few moments of freedom."