I can’t tell you how many women I’ve talked to over the years who fully intended to have a natural, medication free birth only to end up with an epidural or worse, a C-section, when their labor was late getting started.
This happens because obstetricians typically get really antsy when pregnancies go past their due date. Women prefer to induce labor naturally, but practitioners sometimes offer only drug based solutions. Since up to 10% of all pregnancies are late, this is a very common challenge women can potentially face.
Even when a pregnant woman is only a few days late, the nagging about getting labor induced usually begins along with all the fear based reasons why she should agree to pitocin right away.
“Your baby could be stillborn!”
“The placenta could fail and your baby be brain damaged!”
“The baby could get too big and you would have to have a C-section (OBs say this without ever telling the patient that accepting pitocin is itself a big risk factor for C-section!)”
Fear is a very effective strategy to get a patient to do what they want, and knowingly or not, many doctors use this to their advantage.
The problem is, once a woman accepts one intervention, in this case, pitocin, she has perhaps unwittingly boarded the freight train to a completely medicated, interventionist birth.
Do OBs know this when they are pushing for pitocin?
Of course they do.
It is well known that pitocin induced labor contractions are much more painful than natural contractions and very few women are able to withstand the pain without medication such as an epidural.
Pitocin = Epidural = C-Section
This is a common progression of events once a woman makes the first mistake and accepts just a little pitocin “to nudge things along”.
It is imperative for women seeking a natural birth to avoid induction at all costs as pitocin is a dangerous drug which has the very real chance of putting your baby in distress greatly increasing the risk of a C-section. Making the decision whether or not to induce is in no way insignificant.
This from the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA):
Pitocin can cause a tumultuous, difficult labor and tetanic contractions, rupture of the uterus and dehiscence of a uterine scar, lacerations of the cervix, retained placenta, or postpartum hemorrhage. Postpartum perineal and pelvic floor pain is increased as a result of augmented uterine contractions. Fetal complications might include fetal asphyxia and neonatal hypoxia, physical injury, and neonatal jaundice. The use of Pitocin also might be a factor in cerebral palsy, due to oxygen deprivation, and autism in the child.
Avoiding Pitocin with Acupuncture
My first pregnancy went past the 42 week mark so I know firsthand the stress that an overdue pregnancy can cause.
I was very much concerned that I would have to be induced and I was well aware of the dangers of pitocin.
Even though I was receiving prenatal care from midwives at a birthcenter who in no way pressured me to induce, they did tell me that the law in my state would require me to be seen by an OB and possibly admitted to the hospital for induction, labor and delivery if I went much past the 42 week mark.
Using the typical, natural methods to get labor started such as herbs, evening primrose oil, lots of walking etc was not working quickly enough and using castor oil as a last ditch effort was not very appealing to me.
Fortunately, my family doctor at the time was an MD as well as a doctor of Chinese medicine and she suggested I use acupuncture to induce.
Acupuncture to induce labor? What a great idea!
This is apparently a pretty common thing in China.
I immediately knew that this was absolutely the right way to go, so I made an appointment with the acupuncturist my doctor recommended who made house calls to come over that evening.
If I recall correctly, the acupuncturist used only 4 needles. Â I don’t remember exactly where he put the needles but of course it didn’t hurt at all and I was completely relaxed during the entire procedure.
He told me that the treatment would stimulate oxytocin to be produced, which is the natural hormone that initiates labor.
He also told me that labor should begin within 48 hours.
Shortly after the treatment I noticed that the spot at the top of the bridge of my nose between my eyebrows was quite tender if I pressed it. Â This is the spot also known as the third eye where Indian women frequently wear an identifying mark.
I found it very curious that this spot was tender as it had never been tender ever before. I pressed it lightly with my fingers and noticed that when I did so, I had a painless Braxton-Hicks contraction.
Figuring that this spot must be an important acupressure point of some kind that would faciliate labor, I continued to lightly press this tender spot periodically over the next 24 hours and continued to notice contractions occurring shortly after.
The next afternoon I went in to be checked by my midwife to see how things were progressing if at all.
She discovered that I was a full 4cm dilated!
She told me that labor would be starting shortly and to go home and make sure everything was ready to go.
Sure enough, that night labor started and my first child was born 9 hours later with no medication or intervention required. Â What’s really interesting is that the third eye acupressure spot was no longer tender immediately after my son was born.
What’s even more interesting is that with my subsequent 2 pregnancies, that third eye spot always got tender right before and during labor and delivery even though my second and third children were born pretty much on their due dates and I never needed to use acupuncture again.
Despite the effectiveness of using acupuncture to induce labor, it seems that this method is not typically considered or even well known at least in the United States.
Why not?
My hope is that more women will come to know about the use of acupuncture as a safe, natural, and effective method to induce labor and forgo dangerous intervention with pitocin.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source: Â The Truth About Pitocin
I am one of those for whom induction using acupuncture did not work. It was among the myriad of things I tried. And I was overdue – at 41 weeks and counting…with twins. You’re supposed to be at risk for pre-term labor with twin pregnancy but I couldn’t seem to make myself go into labor regardless of what I did. I ate a LOT of protein during my pregnancy and think that helped me carry so far. Anyway, I ultimately agree – there is a certain time that you are supposed to go into labor. If your body is not there, then lots of natural treatments are ineffective because they (rightly so) don’t force your body over the edge. Totally agree that Pitocin is a bad option no matter what.
How many acupuncture sessions did you have Sara? Sometimes you need more than just one or even two.
>>Fear is a very effective strategy<<
The fear of man is a snare…Proverbs 29:25
used accupressure for my second!! awesome 🙂 i love acupuncture too!
Interesting about the pitocin. I was induced with my second son and it was the best labor I had. He was born 5 hours later. We had no problems, and I think the labor was less painful than with my third son. My third was a week late, and that was a bad labor. It was only 3 hours long but it hurt very badly. I was not induced with him. Thanks for posting the information.
So many things I wish I had know…. My water broke at 37 weeks exactly. I was, of course, told that it’s dangerous to go past 24 hours with that. I tried to wait, but I wasn’t going into labor and yes, they used fear to get me to take pitocin. I held out as long as I could before giving in. And yes, that led to an epidural because the contractions were so painful and intense and back to back, that after 6 hours of contractions my body couldn’t relax enough to dilate. Thankfully, after the epidural things progressed well enough to avoid a c-section. And now I have a beautiful 8 year old. Still, this was not my dream birth…and I’m only having one. Then there were the breastfeeding problems (mastitis 4 times in 6 weeks), but that’s a whole other story.
I had acupuncture while in labor with my first to make the labor stronger and more effective. I was in labor for 17 hours at home and was still stuck at 1. Sadly I ended up going to the hospital because of a suspected complication that resolved itself w/o intervention while riding in the car on the way there. My m/w now recomends a car ride for women in similar situations. #2 was a week past my due date when I started acupuncture induction. My friend is a TCM practitioner and came to my house to do induction 4 times in a week. It also didn’t work but I did go into labor 2 days after my last induction visit and had that baby two days after that, one day shy of 42 weeks. Also a hospital transfer from a planned home birth, this time because I was having trouble pushing her out (very big baby with a very big head, but she came out w/o help eventually).
I had the odd experience of going to church with both a nurse who urged me to go in for an induction asap once I got past 41 weeks and a woman who had all of her babies at 44 weeks and thought I was a little strange to be even mentioning that I was past that 40 week mark.
My experience with the induction was that it was quite uncomfortable, used several needles and produced lots of contractions that then petered out. My body/baby weren’t ready till they were ready. I don’t think doing it was the wrong thing and I wish it would have worked for me like it has worked for so many other women. I also went to my chiropractor many times and even had a professional maternity massage where she rubbed those inductions spots in the last couple of weeks.
I, too, was pressured by all the doctor’s in the practice BEFORE my due date approached to consider an induction. In fact, on my actual due date, they wanted to schedule an induction. It was embarrassing how they sent in all four of the doctors to try and “warn” (read badger, intimidate, whatever word you think fits here) me about the dangers of going over my due date. I was even told that if I hadn’t delivered within the week, then I would have to come in everyday for an hour while they monitored the baby’s heart beat. Considering that I felt wonderful and had no issues whatsoever throughout the entire pregnancy, I stuck to my guns. I had a normal delivery with no complications 10 days later, and then promptly changed my doctor thereafter.
How awesome! I wish more women knew about the dangers of interventions. My cousin was told by her doctors that “normal people don’t go into labor by themselves anymore.” They actually told her that!! And she didn’t change doctors! So they scheduled her for early induction for NO reason, with pitocin and epidural and all that. Makes me so sad. Luckily my boy came on his due date with no intervention whatsoever!
Abnormal, interventionist birth is the new normal which is why clueless OBs spout this type of nonsense.
After six babies all of whom were “late” I think I’ve finally come to realize that babies come when they are ready. My fourth was my latest at three weeks late and while I love acupuncture and have used it very successfully in pregnancy and birth, I tried it (along with any other safe “natural” method I could think of) with my fourth baby to no avail, I remained pregnant for a whole week longer. Babies know when they are ready. If a care provider pushes any type of induction, even “natural” interventions, (unless the baby is in obvious distress) find a new provider!
The problem is that in some states, induction is required after a certain period of time. Sometimes more than one acupuncture treatment is required to get labor going as well, I should add.
In Canada they induce after 10 days past the due date!
Yes that’s a sad reality of our times. In our state Dr.s and licensed midwives are not allowed to let a woman go past 43 weeks but thankfully here we still have the option of using unlicensed midwives who choose to remain unlicensed in order to allow women more choices. Sadly there are many who are actively working to take that right away from us.
and I did try several treatments 😉 some babies are just happy where they are.
That’s right — sadly there are many who are actively working to take that right away from us by passing laws requiring licensure for all kinds of things, especially natural health modalities (nutrition, acupuncture, massage therapy, you name it). It’s always presented under the guise of “public safety” but it actually is done to promote one group at the exclusion of others (and with the officially sanctioned group, the profits surrounding their approved education, required purchase of insurance, etc.). It’s a big issue that most people don’t know about. You can learn more and help out here:
I have a friend who’s an acupuncturist, will have to show her this post. What great information!