Acupressure techniques

My midwife suggested this when i went a week over. Didnt get the chance though. I have heard it can be very effective.

Oo I did this! I don't know if it did anything to bring on labour, but it was AWESOME as pain relief during it. I had a 7 hour labour (from first niggles) and had no other pain relief at all! We started the accupressure as soon as the contractions started getting a bit painful.

We got all the information online, from a nz site... There's a booklet you can download and print.

Accupressure booklet

I honestly think it's awesome, it helped heaps in my labour. Can especially recommend the comb one (start this as soon as labour starts.. it releases endorphins, which makes you feel less pain), the points on the hips during transition, and the other points on the back and shoulders. I found that in early labour, it helped heaps to bounce on my swiss ball while DH put pressure on the points on my lower back.

It's worth spending some time beforehand with whoever is gonna be doing the acupressure on you, so they can figure out where the points are and stuff. Maybe even mark them up with vivid. And then keep the booklet with you during labour if they need to refer to it (as we did, cos there's different points to do different things).

DH hadn't done acupressure before this, so anyone can do it. And he loved it too, cos well being the typical man, he liked to be able to do something practical. And he said it made him feel more involved and that he could help lessen my pain in some way. Which he did.. it was still sore, but I really noticed when he wasn't pressing on the points as it was alot more painful!

Any questions feel free to ask

Good to hear that acupressure worked for pain during labour. I printed the booklet for DH and the week I went into labour I asked DH if he'd read the booklet and he said he figured he'd read it when I went into labour "but what if I have a really quick labour and you don't have time" I said to which he responded - well if it's that quick you won't need it anyway. Cheeky man.

Pleased to say I managed to have a drug free natural birth anyway but love the idea that your partners felt more involved in the labour. Mine was fabulous throughout but he told me later he felt useless and excess to requirements.

bump for Sheza

I got taught the induction points during my antenatal yoga class - will definitely try them! I've also been told there's a really good homeopathic remedy that you take from 36 weeks (several times a week). The MW of a friend swears by it - she's recommended it for over 5 years and in that time has never needed to induce anyone who's used it.

thanks for the bump, and for the link =]

It really is good, I always tell everyone about it cos it made such a difference for me. Worth a try anyway

ooh, we just went over this at our antenatal class yesterday so downloaded the brochure for DP to print out... Anything is worth a try especially since i'm not that keen on any of the pain releif available (ie epi, gas and pethidine) but this looks really good by your comments..

Just for info re: bringing on early labour... there's a couple of points that can be used to induce labour, but I've been told they'll only work if your body is ready. We stayed well clear of those points anyway, except for when I was about a week before my due date lol

yeah we werent allowed to do them, she just showed us the points on the guys and said to only use them when we are in labour