Moms Are Convinced This Pizza Induces Labor

Pizza: the source of all happiness, creativity, and a fair amount of lactose-related digestive problems. People have long suspected that each pie has magical, mystical qualities baked somewhere deep in its gooey cheese and crispy crust. Well, I have, at least. Now, we have proof. According to expectant moms in Charlotte, North Carolina, one pizza can actually induce labor.

Multiple women have credited the Buffalo Wing Pizza at Hawthorne’s New York Pizza & Bar with jump-starting their birth process. “The Inducer,” as the pizza has come to be called (and which sounds like the name of Marvel’s worst superhero), is made with grilled chicken, mozzarella cheese, spicy buffalo sauce, and apparently some sort of fertility spell. Ali Aldrich was the first to discover its magical powers seven years ago, when she gave birth to her daughter Elyn ten hours after eating the Buffalo Wing Pizza. When Ali’s friend Kristin Kogan was ready to deliver, Ali suggested she try the pizza. Sure enough, Kristin finished one slice before her water broke.

So far, seven women credit The Inducer with prompting their babies to set out for the real world. mystical abilities. Most recently, Henley Jones Schmiedel gave birth to her daughter, Madelin, four hours after eating a slice.

“It’s a good pizza,” she told Babble. “Four other women have eaten the pizza and gone into labor in the last month. I’m not kidding.”

Hawthorne’s owners, meanwhile, seem both delighted and perplexed by their famous dishes

“I think it’s amazing,” said Michael Adams, owner of the Hawthorne’s chain. “When the first person posted that the Buffalo Wing Pizza induced their labor, several new moms followed up to say the same thing. I bet my wife wished she had known about the inducing pizza when she had two kids at nine-plus pounds.”

Although the relationship between pregnancy and pizza has been woefully understudied, experts are quick to point out that there are no proven medical ways to induce labor at home.

“Most evidence points to a signal from the baby’s adrenal glands — which is released to trigger contractions,” says Charlotte Ob/Gyn Dr. Leslie Hansen Lindner. “Spicy foods may cause some digestive upset, which in turn may cause or even feel like contractions, but this most often doesn’t lead to labor, unless the baby has already given the signal. It remains a mystery if this pizza actually works to cause labor.”

Also a mystery is how the pizza affects non-pregnant diners, though I imagine it imparts some low-level superpowers like always catching green lights, or the ability to eat food without spilling on yourself. Regardless, it seems like as good an excuse as any to buy a slice.