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Using reflexology to speed up labor
Yesterday I got an urgent phone call from a doula colleague of mine. She was at the hospital with a client, and the people in the delivery room next to her needed someone who knows reflexology. The lady had been in labor since the evening before, and things were not moving along. They were already talking about a cesarean, so they needed someone to 'work some tricks'.
When I arrived, I found a very cheerful lady who was in the company of both her parents and her husband. She was hooked up to an IV with fluids and pitocin, and she was currently at 5 cm dilation. I sensed that it could be going fast now. The lady was lying on her back, so I told her to move onto her left side first. Even with an epidural, or maybe especially with an epidural, it's important to stay off your back while you're in labor. Lying on your back prevents a good oxygen flow to the uterus and the baby, and it can also slow down labor.
I started massaging her feet, and I gave special attention to the points that are known to bring stronger contractions. The areas that I concentrated on most were the uterus and the uterus reflex points. Although she had an epidural, she was able to feel pressure and she said that when I was massaging her Achilles tendons, she could really feel her uterus contract. I made sure that the monitor picked up the fetal heart beat all the time, because sometimes reflexology can bring on too strong contractions that are hard on the baby.
I don't normally want continuous monitoring of the fetal heart beat when I give women in labor reflexology treatments, but in this case the woman was already hooked up to an epidural and pitocin, which are both notorious for causing decelerations in the fetal heart beat, especially when combined. Plus the fact that due to the epidural, the lady was not really able to tell if the reflexology was giving her too strong contractions.
So having her attached to the monitor was just a precaution, and luckily the baby responded really well to the treatment. And so did the lady herself.
Within 1 hour, she went from 5 to 8 cm dilation and the baby moved down a lot.
I had to leave at that point, but I am sure that the baby was born not long afterwards!
Technorati Tags: doula, reflexology, birth, childbirth, contractions, pitocin, epidural
When I arrived, I found a very cheerful lady who was in the company of both her parents and her husband. She was hooked up to an IV with fluids and pitocin, and she was currently at 5 cm dilation. I sensed that it could be going fast now. The lady was lying on her back, so I told her to move onto her left side first. Even with an epidural, or maybe especially with an epidural, it's important to stay off your back while you're in labor. Lying on your back prevents a good oxygen flow to the uterus and the baby, and it can also slow down labor.
I started massaging her feet, and I gave special attention to the points that are known to bring stronger contractions. The areas that I concentrated on most were the uterus and the uterus reflex points. Although she had an epidural, she was able to feel pressure and she said that when I was massaging her Achilles tendons, she could really feel her uterus contract. I made sure that the monitor picked up the fetal heart beat all the time, because sometimes reflexology can bring on too strong contractions that are hard on the baby.
I don't normally want continuous monitoring of the fetal heart beat when I give women in labor reflexology treatments, but in this case the woman was already hooked up to an epidural and pitocin, which are both notorious for causing decelerations in the fetal heart beat, especially when combined. Plus the fact that due to the epidural, the lady was not really able to tell if the reflexology was giving her too strong contractions.
So having her attached to the monitor was just a precaution, and luckily the baby responded really well to the treatment. And so did the lady herself.
Within 1 hour, she went from 5 to 8 cm dilation and the baby moved down a lot.
I had to leave at that point, but I am sure that the baby was born not long afterwards!
Technorati Tags: doula, reflexology, birth, childbirth, contractions, pitocin, epidural
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2 Comments:
Would be interesting to hear what the lady thought of the reflexology. Perhaps you could do a follow up on this one when and if you've checked with her. Way to go!
I don't have her phone number unfortunately! She never called me back...
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