Midwife Vanessa Butera shared this story with us about her use of acupressure with a pre-term mum in labour.
First-time mum whose waters broke at 30 weeks but was not contracting. She went home with observations and weekly appointments, then at 33 weeks started pre-labour. I met her at the hospital where they admitted her onto the ward until she was in active labour.
The points I used with her consent were BL-31 and BL-32 throughout most of her labour. These were used to help keep the contractions going and help with pain relief. The lady really enjoyed it and in between I would also use light touch flowing downwards. It never restricted her movements and in fact encouraged her to sway and rock her hips.
It only took a couple of hours to start seeing things really heating up to the point where she began to get a bit anxious and irritable so I showed her husband the KD-1 spot which he used while she was sitting on the toilet. She wanted to be alone with him (he is her rock) so I left them in there for a while.
It didn’t take long before she was out of there and feeling and looking much calmer and more relaxed. She got back onto the bed on all fours and was in active labour.
By the time we were taken to the labour ward and was examined she was fully dilated with anterior lip but a high head so I then used the point GB-21 on her shoulders. She kept holding her shoulders up and tightly in a ball so it was good to use these points to make her relax those shoulders and to focus downwards, where the baby needed to go. Her support team gave her all the verbal encouragement needed throughout and literally half an hour later she birthed a beautiful baby boy.
We both felt that these points helped and aided in the great result of her labour progressing the way it did. No interventions were needed.
Vanessa Butera, Midwife of 20 years, Perth WA.
You and your partner can learn to use acupressure to help during your pregnancy, through your labour and after your birth. Read about our Acupressure for Couples private and group workshops.