Spicy foods are supposed to help because they loosen the bowels - the movement of the bowels is supposed to kind of stimulate the uterus to start moving too. At least that's what I always understood. However, it's probably not terribly effective. There's a whole list on here which includes explanations. You might be interested to know that according to that link, the prostaglandins in semen is more effective if ingested, rather than applied direct to the cervix (you might want to keep that information to yourself).

My wife had an all natural birth, she was 2 weeks early. However we took a Bradely Method class and one of the best ways its Castor Oil.

Well, there is a natural method that should ONLY be done by your OB, and is older then old. It's called "stripping". If your OB is concerned, the OB may suggest this. Basically, and it sounds scary but it isn't - I've had it done to me, and I heard it doesn't hurt from others (although it is strange/uncomfortable) - you can manually induce the dilation and the rest follows. My OB chose to do this to me when I was one week away from my due date and was 0 cm dilated/not thinned at all and it was my first. I didn't ask for it, my OB chose to do this. It should be up to your OB. It is a non-chemical way. That's all I'll say here, you can look up stripping on webmd or something. I would be careful with eating anything new, the last thing you want is some food reaction (even if it's just gas) while going into labor. Just eat what you normally eat as advised by your OB. If you want to do natural stuff, again, better talk to your OB and see what they think about you eating all this stuff that people wrote about.

As far as walking - that's a good idea anyway because it'll help build up strength for the pushing. I walked 2-6 miles a day and had actually walked to the hospital to deliver :-) (but I was a marathoner and a triathlete before getting pregnant) - let me just tell you, I actually liked the active labor, it was great to really get a chance to work out after being only allowed to walk or swim (slowly at 140 heart beats per minute or less) for the pregnancy. Also, walking and doing stairs helps rotate baby to be head down and all that, or so I read. I wouldn't do any of that if I wasn't in shape though, to begin with. I walked until it was almost time to push... just walked around the delivery floor until the contractions and the pressure got to be too much.

As far as spicy foods, I can tell you that I ate a whole bunch and nothing helped besides the stripping. And even that's supposed to take effect within 24-48 hrs and took over a week, I ended up being 4 days past my due date. If it wasn't for the stripping, I would have probably had a hellish labor.

I used evening primrose oil, in capsules I bought at the local Whole Foods. My midwives assured me that it helps to soften the cervix (important for effacement), not induce labor directly.

Of course, I went into labor mere hours after taking it for the first time, which doesn't mean causation, just my personal experience. I also had a huge jar of capsules left over!

I ordered Red Raspberry Leaf tea from www.mountainroseherbs.com and followed the directions on their site, which says to drink 2-3 cups per day. Here's some more info regarding RRL tea.