Valley Birth Network

by Leah Olson, L.Ac.
www.wholefamilyacupuncture.com

More and more pregnant women are interested in natural childbirth and exploring various ways
to help them achieve their goal. Some are interested in natural childbirth because of its health
benefits to the baby, others see birth as an important rite of passage they want to experience.
Whatever your reasons, it’s important to remember that birth is a challenging experience where
the unexpected can and often does happen.

Too many women go into birth without enough knowledge of natural tools for pain relief and
find themselves overwhelmed at some point by the pain of contractions. Other women may
encounter problems during labor like irregular contractions or a baby with a posterior position
and think that medication is the only option. Still others may have had a previous bad birth
experience, or may be considered high risk, and find themselves pressured by medical staff or
family. If a natural birth is important to you, consider prebirth acupuncture to increase your
chances of having the birthing experience that you want.

What is Prebirth Acupuncture?

The use of acupuncture during pregnancy and childbirth is thousands of years old. Prebirth
Acupuncture is a relatively new phenomenon that grew out of modern research and has been
further developed by Debra Betts, a pioneering acupuncturist who trains midwives in New
Zealand. Initially midwives were interested in using acupuncture during labor to help with pain
relief. What they found is that women receiving acupuncture in the last few weeks leading up to
delivery had better outcomes during childbirth. As Betts writes in her research study on
Prebirth Acupuncture,

Feedback from midwives using acupuncture has consistently been that within their
practices, it reduces the length of time women spend in labor, especially women having
their 1st birth, and there is a noticeable reduction in medical intervention, including
induction of labor, use of epidural anesthesia, and cearean delivery (Betts 2006).

Research on Prebirth Acupuncture

In 2004 Betts completed an observational study involved 169 women receiving prebirth
acupuncture.The acupuncture was performed by 14 midwives in the Wellington region of New
Zealand. The midwives found that mean labor time was reduced. For women having their first
labor, mean labor time was 9 hours with 59% of women delivering within 10 hours. Mean labor
time was 4.7 hours for women having their second birth or more, with 60.5% delivering within
5 hours. Just as important, the study authors compared labor results of women receiving
acupuncture to an audit group from the same region of New Zealand and observed the
following results:
• 35% reduction in inductions (43% for women having their first birth)
• 31% reduction in epidural anesthesia
• 32% reduction in caesarean deliveries
• 9% increase in normal vaginal birth

Prebirth Care at Whole Family Healthcare

Our Prebirth Care helps you move to a place of greater balance and calm in the last weeks of
your pregnancy, gives you the strength and endurance for labor and delivery, and helps ease the postpartum transition. The Prebirth Package consists of 4 acupuncture sessions, beginning in your 37th week of pregnancy. We develop a specialized treatment plan that addresses any
health issues you are experiencing as well as including acupuncture points from the Prebirth
protocol developed by Betts. In addition, you will have a one-on-one session with Leah to learn
acupressure points for pain relief during labor, as well as acupressure points and home herbal
remedies to help you during your postpartum recovery.