How to Induce Labor

Many of you have reached out wondering how we helped Melanie successfully induce labor. I thought that it might be useful to lay out last Saturday's activities so that those of you planning on having more kids will know how to get the ball rolling. The good news is that the formula is pretty simple--the bad news is that you will only be able to use this method if your baby is due in the end of November or early December.

The first piece of nature's birthing puzzle lies in the delicate wings of a butterfly--more precisely the Monarch butterfly. The butterflies spend the winter near Santa Cruz California and if you want to be successful inducing labor, that means that you will have to pay us a visit here in the bay area...consider it an open invitation.

Tyler and his friends Emma and Tyler Wirthlin walking down the trail to see the butterflies.

We're not sure exactly how the butterflies fit into inducing labor, but we figure that it has something to do with communing with nature. Living here in California has made us extra sensitive to mother nature and all of her granola goodness....

We had seen a few butterflies flying around and thought it was pretty cool, then another observer pointed out that the majority of the butterflies were still grouped together high in the trees.

Lots of butterflies.

The noble labor-inducing Monarch.

The next ingredient required to successfully induce labor is to be near the unending rhythm of the sea. We chose Natural Bridges Monument because of its proximity to the butterflies, but I'd guess anywhere with regular wave sets will do. It seems that the approaching and receding waves encourage contractions.

Big contraction-causing waves.

Grandma and Grandpa Lewis hoping that the waves get things moving with their very pregnant daughter.

Tyler looking longingly toward the sea for his soon to arrive little brother.

I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but Melanie is actually mid-contraction. Note the smile on her face indicating that we are still missing a key ingredient to full-blown labor.

The final step is to locate and fell your family Christmas tree deep in the wilderness. You will have to go full on Griswold on this one. To make sure that we were in the right spirit everyone but me got into the cheesy elf-face insert for the above photo, while I filled the mountain air with echoes of O Tannenbaum. Magical...

After hiking around the side of a mountain for the better part of an hour, my proginy laid claim to the tree behind them in the picture. We had heard that the scent of evergreen sap helps to lure out the baby, so we kept Mel's nose close to the saw as I took down one of mother nature's best.

The sacrificial tree strewn with ornaments.

Butterflies + Ocean Rhythm + Felled Evergreen=Austin

We've proven this can work--now we are offering the recipe to all of our friends and family before we go to market with this to turn a buck or two. Let us know when you want to come out!!!--Mike