Acupressure for Inducing Labor

This is a labor story, so stop reading now if you're not interested in (or too squeamish for) the details.  You've been warned!

I read on one website that Evidence has shown that stimulating specific acupressure points brings on labor in 93 per cent of women within 48 hours. So I went ahead and scheduled an hour-long massage, with the nifty tummy-cutout pillow.  I let the therapist know that since I was five days overdue, I would appreciate if she used acupressure to get things moving, in addition to all the luxurious and relaxing elements of a massage.  I wasn't sure if anything would happen, but our insurance will reimburse $50 of massage therapy AND it seems more relaxing than castor oil AND more fun that acupuncture AND it meant I got to go somewhere for over an hour with no children (except in utero) with me.  What a winning situation!  

At first I thought the tummy-cutout pillow was not going to be deep enough for my full-term belly, because while lying on my tummy, it still filled the entire void and was getting some pressure.  But, I found a way to adjust myself so that my ribcage and sides were holding the pressure, and it turned out to be quite comfortable.  It was nice to lie on my belly after not having the chance for ages and ages.  The massage included minty aromatherapy (peppermint and tea-tree oil) which I especially enjoyed with my recent aroma fascinations.  Actually, the whole experience was SO enjoyable that I kept drifting off to sleep (except when she really did press hard on the acupressure points, which was slightly bruisifying), and then afterward I reprimanded myself for wasting perfectly good massage minutes by being unconscious.

The therapist told me that most clients get back to her within 48 hours or so to tell about their new babies, so I was curious to see what would happen.  The next morning was Sunday and the day proceeded as usual with attending church and teaching hymns to the little children.  After church we took our kids to the neighborhood "just before school starts" gathering, where everyone chatted and ate root beer floats.  (Remember how much I love rootbeer during this pregnancy?!)  To go to the gathering and back required about 2 1/2 miles of walking (I was following Zoe on her bike) but I didn't feel anything exciting happening.  

As evening fell, I decided to borrow my friends hot-water-bath canner and put up some of the many pounds of tomatoes from the garden.  Amid the canning, I started having contractions (this was at 8:30 PM...26 1/2 hours after the massage.)  But, since I've had false labor FOUR times already with this baby (the most recent on Wednesday), I didn't get my hopes up too much, but just continued along with life (and got six really-full quarts of tomatoes into storage.)

After reading a chapter of Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnosis to Guy and supervising him brush his teeth, I went to take a relaxing bath.  Guy was VERY interested in the contractions and I let him know that maybe the baby would be born in a few hours, but maybe not.  I told him it takes many hours of contractions before the baby comes, and some strong pushes by me, too.  He came and soaked his feet in my bath and we chatted about the new baby and watched my belly every 5 minutes as it got round with early-labor (not painful) contractions.

After all the kids were in bed and it got to be 10:00 PM, I decided I should put my neighbor on alert.  I phoned Nancy and warned that we might be calling during the night.  The contractions were not really much stronger, but they weren't stopping whether I moved or lay down, either.  Since I had a sense of impending labor, I decided to put together the hospital bag (with camera and video camera), and then sit down at the computer to pay all the bills and renew all the library materials that would be due on September 1.  While working on the computer, I also started keeping the "contraction log" so I would know how far apart they were...usually 5 minutes, still not too uncomfortable.

When I got up from the computer to carry some laundry baskets upstairs, it was about midnight.  The moving around, after sitting for a while, caused the contractions to get closer together so that they were just under 3 minutes apart.  That never happens with false labor!  I called Nancy at 12:30, called the midwives answering service, and went to tell Doug "It's time."

I went upstairs to his office.  The light was on, but he wasn't in there.  He wasn't in bed, nor in the bathroom.  I went back downstairs and looked in each room, to no avail.  I checked the garage, and his car was parked.  I looked in the dark basement and hollered to no effect.  I stood at the bottom of the stairs and shouted, "Doug! Where ARE YOU!?"  

This reminded me a LOT of when I was in labor with Zoe almost 4 years ago.  The midwives had sent me home after I went to the birth center (a bad idea).  I was sleeping in bed when my water broke.  I jumped up and was immediately hit with STRONG contractions.  I started rushing about the TINY apartment shouting for Doug, and I couldn't find him.  It was a very disturbing few minutes until he came in the front door, having helped his mom with her bags (she arrived just in time for us to get going!)

So, I was imagining having Nancy show up, and having to tell her I need to go the hospital but can't find my husband.  Craziness.  Then I remembered that he carries his cell phone with him everywhere, for just this reason, so I quickly called the number.  Hey! I could hear the phone ringing upstairs!  He was asleep in bed with Guy, and although my shouts from the hallway didn't arouse him, the chime of his cell phone did.  He groggily stumbled out of the room and I said, "Let's go to the hospital!"

Nancy came in, we went out, and were on our way!  One of Doug's big goals for this baby was to NOT have to disobey traffic signals on the way to the hospital, nor have me deliver the baby in the car, so he was feeling pretty good when my contractions slowed down just a bit on account of the awesome heated seats in the volvo.  I was really starting to feel the contractions in my back...and really loving having nice soft HOT cushions to rest on. (Note: they're also great when the temp is -30 F outside.)

We arrived at the hospital (Doug felt very relieved to have that element of uncertainty removed from the picture) and walked up to labor triage, stopping 3 times to wait for contractions to pass.  I measured in at 5 cm (wohoo, my best yet for a triage check) and was admitted.  The midwife asked if I wanted to change into a gown and I said, "Yeah, my water is going to break anyway, so I might as well. "  We had to walk down a hall and take a short elevator ride to get to the room.  As I stepped out of the elevator... swoosh!  My copious water broke dramatically and my psychic powers were confirmed.

I hobbled the rest of the way to my room with several assistants trying to hold towels here-n-there, then stood over the tub for a few minutes.  With the other 3 labors, I've always delivered a baby within 20 minutes of my water breaking, so I thought for sure the end was near.  When the nurses wanted to put in an IV of antibiotics since I was GBS positive, I told them, "I'm sure there's no time anyway - the baby will probably be here any minute!"  But, they persisted.

So, for the next several contractions (that were getting VERY intense), I had an unexpected coping methodology.  Simply put, I had the nurse insert the IV DURING a contraction, so that I could focus on the pain of the IV instead of the contraction.  Wacky, huh?  She tried TWO different places in my left hand and could not get the IV in, so another nurse came in.  She also tried TWO different place in my right hand, and finally got the IV in and started the antibiotic.  Sheesh.  Between contractions, I was always lobbying that we were wasting our time since the baby would arrive "any minute, I'm sure."

But oddly, a half hour passed, and then an hour.  Even though the contractions were intense, the baby hadn't arrived.  Baffling!  The upside was that I had time to send the midwife to get the birth stool, yoga mat, and exercise ball, and fill the whirlpool tub with hot water.  Nice!  In every birth, I've always wanted all of these things, but NEVER had even remotely enough time to get them out.  

I liked the stool very much, but then had so much pressure on my hips from the descending baby, that I decided to do yoga stretching on the mat to open my hips.  The triangle poses were helpful for several contractions, and I did lunge poses to stretch the hips in between contractions.  I did some cat/cow poses, and they were even better when I rested my arms on the exercise ball.  I was feeling lots of pressure in my back, so Doug pressed on my low back.

I put my headphones on and listened to the tunes on my ipod.  I had filled it with mostly Enya and Lullabies and relaxing-hypnobirth-meditation-tunes.  As soon as I heard these tracks, I realized I had NO interest in listening to that stuff!  I quickly skipped through to the Coldplay and U2 and upbeat music with a strong, fast beat.  In previous labors, I visualized and meditated and relaxed during contractions, but THIS time I only visualized a boot-camp-aerobics instructor barking out motivations.  Every contraction was like interval training.

The good news about interval training (complete with motivational music) is that I've already learned that I can push myself really hard...but not for longer than about 60 seconds.  Keeping this in mind kept me sane through contractions that were getting more and more uncomfortable, especially in my back.  I would count and sway in time with the beat, keeping track of how much longer I expected each contraction to last, and then rest gloriously for a few minutes before starting all over.  

At one point I asked Doug if he's ever run so hard that he made himself vomit.  It was about at that point that I did empty my stomach, (don't worry, the midwives were totally prepared with handy catch-bags) making my analogy all the more real.  I was also finding that even between contractions, I couldn't relieve the discomfort in my hips and back, so I decided to move into the whirlpool.

The tub was fabulous!  You know, I took another jet-bath on Monday afternoon, and it was not nearly as transcendental as it seemed during labor.  Maybe because I didn't have the rockin' music blaring the second time around.  Anyhow, I labored in the tub and loved the hot water, up until it was FINALLY time to push.  By then I had had 3 hours of hard, active, labor.  So much for my scientific predictions of "another precipitous birth."

Upon my request, everyone helped me move over to the labor chair/stool.  After a grand total of about four or five pushes, Clementine arrived!  Let me just add that the stool is five million times better than birthing in the ridiculous semi-reclined position (which I am somehow always coerced into with every other labor).  Gravity was given for a reason, clearly.  Gravity was my friend!  All women should be allowed the God-given right to enjoy the assistance of gravity while birthing!

We saw immediately that Clementine came out sunny-side up, with her eyes to the light.  That explains the longer, more-intense back labor (and matches her sunny-side-up name and disposition).  She had the cord once around her, which was easily un-looped even before her shoulders were out, and she began to cry and squirm immediately with no extra stimulation.  I was able to hold her against my chest for a good several minutes until the cord stopped pulsing.  She opened her eyes and was even ready to root around.  Smart girl!

The midwives had hung Christmas lights in the room, for a dim, gentle effect (except for, um...is that a Metallica song playing?)  When she was out, we switched back to the gentle tunes and looked the baby over.  She had some red spots around her eyes (broken capillaries from coming face first) and a little bruising on her nose and forehead for the same reason.  Otherwise, she's perfect!  Being 7 days late (same as Guy was) she weighed 8 lbs 4 oz (same as Guy did.)  The data point fits in perfectly with my previous curve-fit equations!

With no stitches needed, my recovery is the best ever and I'm feeling excellent.  I decided to be the hermit and "vacation" in the hospital for as long as possible.  I'm thinking it was a good choice, since Clementine has the odd idea that NIGHT begins at 4:00 PM.  She nurses and dozes until midnight and then is basically awake until 4:00 PM again, nursing and taking annoying catnaps that don't give me much time to sleep.  We've got to get this worked out ASAP.

The other children are excited and happy.  When Doug went home on Monday morning and showed Zoe a photo of Clementine on his phone, she cradled the phone, cooing and kissing the photo of her new sister.  Good practice!  The kids came later that day (the last day of summer vacation) to hold and meet her.  They'll definitely have some good stories to share on the first day of school, and Clementine (successfully born before the September 1 school cutoff) will probably have a few birthdays ON future first school days.

So now that I have a healthy Little Cutie (and an unused reserve bottle of castor oil in storage) I can testify that acupressure does work for inducing labor!