Inducing Labor with Acupuncture

Yesterday a woman came in to see me who was 41 weeks pregnant. She was pregnant with her second child. Her first baby had come on time and with ease. She was in great health but wanted to see if acupuncture might speed things along.

I took her pulse and she had a nice pulse for a pregnant woman. Full and slippery in quality and a bit on the fast side. I also would have guessed correctly by her pulses that she was having a boy. I noticed that her liver pulse was overly strong, and she was having shooting pains along the liver channel. I thought that moving her liver energy might help smooth things along and encourage her baby to start coming.

I needled her sacrum and put on some gentle electro-stim to get the energy flowing in her lower body. I also opened up the liver channel and needled the points traditionally forbidden in pregnancy because they can induce labor. Her baby moved around a bit, knowing something was happening. Hopefully that night she went home and went into labor. I'm hoping also that what I did for her would also smooth the delivery process to make it less painful. I recommended that if she didn't go into labor in 24 hrs she come back for one more session. She was much more eager to do that than take the drugs her doctor would give her, which can make labor quite intense.

If you are beyond 40 weeks of pregnancy and interested in labor induction give me a call at (707) 775-8311 or visit http://www.SantaRosa-Acupuncture.com for more information.