In China there is a saying “when the vine is ripe the melon will fall”. This means when baby is ready labour will commence naturally and spontaneously. Unfortunately for some women the labour won’t start because the women’s hormones or nervous system has not triggered the uterus to start contracting and activate labour.
If you have passed the 40 week mark, or if you have an induction booked prior to this date, birth encouragement treatment aims to support labour physiology by strongly increasing blood flow and nerve activity to the uterus.
Your midwife may provide a ‘membrane sweep’ which can be uncomfortable or slightly painful and may also rupture the sac early making for a more uncomfortable delivery. Nor does it always work. If you are considering induction intervention acupuncture may be able to help.
We use acupuncture and electro acupuncture, which are both very safe when performed by our experienced and appropriately trained acupuncturists, to gently stimulate the nervous system to start contractions. This has more chance of being effective if the woman is in the right ‘headspace’ and is relaxed, so often we need to work on that by using ‘relaxing acupuncture’ as well as induction protocols and our own hand-crafted herbal induction oils to gently massage the lower back and lower legs.
To increase your chances of a smooth, calm, optimal labour process, we recommend patients commence prebirth preparation acupuncture sessions from weeks 36 onwards.
Even with acupuncture, sometimes labour won’t start. Unless you or other female family members have a history of early births, we recommend only starting induction labour from 40 weeks and we will, if appropriate also provide induction herbs if we feel they will be of benefit.
For all interventions we recommend being guided by your midwife and obstetrics team as there are complications that may require a medical induction.
To book an appointment please book here or call 0403 273 008 for an appointment