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This is a great post and unfortunately I know nothing about. So I am interested in what will be said too.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but after like 2 weeks and the baby isn't out, don't you need to be induced to prevent harm to the baby. Preventing it from digesting it's own secretions? I have no idea where I heard this from so clarity on this subject would be great.
I've had it done- I was a week before my due date and the doctor did it. It hurt a little bit, and you can get spotting after it. It did NOT work for me. I personally did not have any opinion on it, my sister was an OB Nurse and she said it was pretty normal for doctors to do. My doctor didn't even tell me that she did that to me until after. On my due date I went for a pedi and shopping with my mom lol, it was a pretty relaxed day. But I tried castor oil a couple days before my due date which didn't work. The second time I tried castor oil it was 3 days after my due date and it worked. I think it only works if you are ready though.
I didn't have it done with my son, but I knew another mom who did. She said it was painful. I was induced and if I could go back and time and not do it I would.
I was in the hospital for 6 days with the help of induction meds and still nothing. I was told I was going to get a C-section if I didn't go into labor by my doctor. The nurses told me I could leave and come back a few days later. Which we left. (I was 2 weeks past my due date when my son was born)
I really think your baby will come when he/she is ready. I know once you get to being uncomfortable you just want the baby out. But Woman have been having babies for hundreds of years..and all of a sudden if you go past your due date they want to get the baby out ASAP!
If there is a medical problem I'm all for getting the baby out. But I would just relax and wait for the baby to come on his/her own :)
These issues are all very controversial with little evidence one way or the other to support effectiveness. I think there is little risk, however to the procedure.
Link:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/894653
And there is no evidence to support the use of Castor Oil:
http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD003099/abstract.html
Remember, this is in no way medical advice, just some of the info I've read in trying to make some informed decisions about these things :)
I was scheduled to have mine stripped, but then went into labor 2 days before. My Dr told me it may or may not work, its not guaranteed and its not risky or harmful. The nurse told me to drink PURE raspberry tea though, and it took 3 days of nonstop drinking of that before i went into labor. You could try that. The baby won't come unless its ready, but if its ready, this could help it alogng!
As far as induction methods go, I'm an advocate of acupressure techniques. Amazingly effective if done by someone who actually knows what they are doing. The easiest ones to hit are the webbing between your left thumb and pointer finger, your trapezoids, and the webbing behind your achiles tendon. You don't have to be an expert to massage those, and they cause your uterus to contract.
Raspberry tea also causes uterine contractions, as does black cohosh.
Acupuncture has some great chi spots to hit for this as well, but for that I would only trust someone who's been doing it for years and knows what they are doing.
Walking, lifting, or other exercise can cause uterine contractions.
My favorite method though...is sex! 
DH likes it too...
Gotta put my disclaimer on my advice that uterine contractions are not equivalent to labor, and that just because you found ways to make your uterus contract doesn't mean your cervix will efface and dialate for you. You may just end up having endless bouts of BH contractions.
I don't recommend castor oil, laxatives, or enemas. Pregnancy is uncomfortable enough at the end without pooping yourself. Plus there's no medical data to support the idea that making your bowels move does anything to your uterus.
As far as induction goes, I personally don't want pitocin, cervadil, or any other induction medication. No thank you. I also don't want my membranes stripped and have told my doctor already. But that's a personal preference. If I was past my due date, I may change my mind just because the chances of meuconium aspiration exponentially increase every day you are late, and I don't want BabyMighty suffering from pneumonia or respiratory illnesses associated with it. Not to mention the fact that I'd prefer not to deliver a 10lb baby. But I really think it's more of a personal preference, so to each her own.
In addition to Mighty's list, my midwife recommended evening primrose oil starting at 37 weeks to help ripen the cervix... I dunno. Also, I know it's a bit of an old wives tale but eating pineapple is supposed to help as well, I just got one a few minutes ago because it sounded so delicious! I personally wouldn't want anyone doing anything to my membranes until an induction was absolutely necessary... but that's just me. My midwives will let me go to 42 weeks before I need to see a Dr and we need to start talking about all that. Hopefully you're little on is on it's way!
Trust me I did everything on my due date to go into labor...pineapples, pizzas, mixtures of hot sauces, sex...whatever I could find. I dunno if it was the castor oil that triggered labor but I'll take it, and I am kind of glad I did because I had a clear bowel for birth. It helped my daughter come out quicker lol. I was only in labor for maybe 12 hours. I had a natural birth which was the best! I can't wait to have another baby ( after the wedding of course ) lol
Just curious if anyone has anything to add re: stripping the membranes. My doctor mentioned it at my last visit but I'll only be 39 weeks at my next visit on Tuesday. I don't really think I want it done at this point...
I had heard of 'stripping the membranes' and wasn't real keen on it (as I was anti any intervention unless absolutely necessary) - but hadn't done any in depth research.
I had a doc appt 5 days past my due date. I had started feeling very light contractions at about 5am - and started losing my mucus plug (heavy brown discharge) - so by 9 am when I saw the midwife it seemed like it was the real deal and that was the day.
When she checked me I was only 1-2 cm and she said 'I'm going to strip your membranes' and I was just kinda like 'OK'. If wasn't painful for me. And labor had already started - so I don't know if this had any affect on things. The contractions (which at that point were like very mild gas cramps) continued to increase in intensity throughout the day. Active labor (4cms) was at about 4pm and baby was born at 8:33. So maybe it helped speed things up. Or maybe it was the amount of walking I did that day :)
I also had my water broken by the midwife which was something I wanted to avoid... but when I was 9.5 cm dilated and it still hadn't broken on it's own I was just like 'whatever' :)
If I were in the situation again and labor had not started I would try 'stripping' the membranes as a way to induce at the 10-14 day past due date mark.
I was also really interested in using the Foley Bulb to induce labor which is inserted to encourage your body to dilate. I was told since I was already 1-2 cm it would have done nothing for me - but if your body isn't doing anything on it's own it may be an option to discuss with your doctor :)
I also walked at least 2 miles every morning, drank the red-raspberry leaf tea (it was august so I made this into sweet tea!), used evening primrose oil, had sex, and tried to eat spicy foods! Who knows if any of it worked... but none of it was really a burden to try!
Thinking about you and looking forward to your big news soon :)
Go get a foot rub. It's supposed to be good at sending women into labor. It's actually one of the many things I'll be doing to go into labor as we don't want to be induced and our high risk doctor doesn't want me to go past week 39. Also, get REALLY friendly with your partner. You can also try accupunture. most important: don't stress. Relax. Good luck.
I had to done 4 times. She first did it on my 38 week visit and each week after. It didnt work, but I found it incredibly painful !! I had cramping and light bleeding each time. I was 11 days overdue !!
I had my membranes stripped at 37 and 38 weeks, and went into labor on the day of my 39 week appointment. It didn't hurt for me (any more than a regular old cervical check, anyway). I don't know for sure that stripping my membranes helped me go into labor sooner, but I personally think it had something to do with it.
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I'm now due in 5 days and our midwife has started talking about what to do if the baby decides to take his/her time getting here. They generally induce 10 days after the due date but I'm not a big fan of induction; I know there's a medical reason for it but I also think that the baby will make an appearance when the baby is ready. So she mentioned non-drug forms of induction such as stripping the membranes but, after doing some reading on it, I'm still not really sure how I feel about this. Hopefully it's not something we even have to worry about (still keeping my fingers crossed for an on-time arrival!) but does anybody know anything or have opinions on stripping the membranes? Or induction in general?