Acupuncture in preparation for birth

[SamiH]

I was talking to a doula today and she mentioned having acupuncture to help prepare body for labour.

Has anybody done this or currently doing it? What aspects is it supposed to actually help out with and prepare?

I presume something to do with contractions as that is what we were talking about at the time, my body doesn't seem to do contractions very well ie no rhythym or not at all after waters have broken, which has resulted in having synto drip twice and I really don't want to have the drip again if I can avoid it cos you can't move around freely etc.

Thanks

[{sarah}]

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but if I go overdue I'm planning on getting it done. I'll tell you in a few weeks how it goes if I need it

[AndiE]

Hi SamiH,

I had a weekly accupuncture for about 8 weeks before I had my son (at 39weeks gestation). The main reason I had it done was because I developed gestational diabetes and I'd been told accupuncture could help. However, towards my due date, my accupuncturist said she was also placing needles to help my pelvic area "open up". She also gave me loads on information on massage that partners can do to help the birthing mum's pelvis "open", and gave me moxa treatments (you light a moxa stick and put it close to certain points on the skin for a few seconds). I was also given chinese herbs to take ... nasty, but effective. In my case, the accupuncture, herbs, moxa and massage all went hand-in-hand. The accupuncture itself isn't painful and I always felt very relaxed during and after.

All in all, the accupuncture made me feel terrific and certainly my gestational diabetes didn't affect the bub. Also, following just one week of treatment I never again had swollen ankles or reflux the rest of the pregnancy.

Keep in mind I didn't have accupuncture to bring on labour, but when I went into labour I had Cam in approx five hours and it was a relatively "easy" birth. I'm convinced the accupuncture assisted me to birth Cam, possibly by shortening my labour and possibly by assisting my pelvic area to open up. My Ob said she felt sure it would have helped with my labour also,

Hope my experience is of some help to you - when (hopefully) I've got bub #2 on the way, I'd definitely go back for more.

Cheers, Andie

[Astrid]

Looking into this as well. I will be calling one this week to see what they say about when to come in.

[Mumma2three]

I think it's like everything, works for some not others. I do love accupuncture and its' worked for me for many things. My friend had it when she was overdue and her waters broke during the treatment.
On the other hand I know my Dr treats women with infertility (Nicole Kidman for many years ) and a close friend of mine and neither had quick success. My friend is still not pregnant after a year of treatment, and Nicole was a lot longer. So Im not 100% sure, but I'd say it's better for during pregnancy than trying to get pregnant IYKWIM.

Also for me for preparing for labour I can't say enough about the chiropractic I had. I am certain it was the reason for my 1 hour 54 min labour. I was all straight and my body in a good way, so DD came out fast and easily (bloomin painfully though)!!!!

Good luck and hope the accupuncture works well. It is a great thing and i do believe it has endless benefits xoxoxo

[SamiH]

It is so interesting isn't it!

Sarah - will wait and watch with anticipation - and yes please let me know if you do have any treatments

Astrid - you too, let me know what they say

Ande - yes I thought it was something to bring the body into a good space and prepare pelvis - the doula also mentioned chinese herbs - we had a similar first birth with epi, synto etc (wish we knew then what we knew now!!!!) and she said she did acupuncture and herbs and a couple of things in prep for her second and it was great experience - I think I might engage that one now ....

webbmeg - yes i have heard about it for infertility and morning sickness too - might have to start researching who around here is a good practitioner ...

let me know how everyone goes - and anyone else who reads this thread!!

[krisp]

I have had 2 very different experiences with acupuncture in preparation for birth. The first was a wonderful woman in Newcastle who does Japanese acupuncture. She burns beautiful oils and plays lovely soothing music whilst you lie on a specially designed table for pregnant women. The needles didn't hurst and she was fantastic. At no stage did she say her treatments would bring on my overdue baby she simply said it would help me relax and give my body the best chance at reaching a labour ready state. She also did guided visualisations with me to help me 'see' my baby coming down and getting into position.
Then with my second birth I saw a very well known acupuncturist here in Melbourne. It was in a noisy busy sports medicine clinic, the needles hurt terribly and actually left bruises for 2 weeks. I hated it and did not go back for my third visit. I gave him 2 chances as I thought maybe it was just a bad day the first time. He also guarenteed me I would be in labour in 24-48 hour, I had my baby a week and a half later!

Do your research and find a practitioner that 'feels' right. It can be a really special experience.

[SamiH]

I agree Kris with the research. I definately did that, and it was nice when I engaged our doula that she recommended the same guy to me as specialising in all things women!

That is another reason I saw him now - see if I like him and trusted him and am comfortable with monthly visits until 37 weeks and then we will discuss from there. He seems great - his wife just had a second bub and they had a doula ( not mine ) so I think our relationship should be just fine!!!!

Mine stung a little bit going in - but really after that it is nothing - who said they were a wuzz - bigbubbabelly - lovey - you are going to go through labour hun, this is nothing LOL

[SamiH]

Hi

I ended up having monthly acupuncture until 36 weeks. My practitioner is quite conservative too - we then weekly for 36, 37, 38 - at the 38w3d appt we talked about induction and as the midwife had cleared me a couple of days earlier to start doing whatever I wanted to encourage labour - we decided to put just a couple of needles into "those" spots. He told me (and I knew also) that nothing would happen if bubs wasn't ready anyway.

So, Wed morning 10am was my appt - I had coffee with the girls at work at 9am and joked about having acupuncture at 10, waters breaking at 11am, and then a baby by midnight.

Went home - went to loo around 2.30pm for a wee, wiped and then thought, OMG I have wee'd myself again and didn't even feel it - DER my waters had just broken !!! I was in a good place for it to happen

So although contractions didn't start straight away and I negotiated going home etc - they started the next day around 2.40 (24 hours) and Zander was born at 8.58pm that night totally drug free and a-la-natural.

I strongly believe the acupuncture kept everything strong and prepared my body - contractions once they started were regular and intensified text book. I also took a raspberry leaf tincture that he made for me from 37 weeks.

Good luck - hope this helps someone else have the dream birth I had I know it could just be co-incidence - but I really feel it contributed greatly!!