Maternity Acupressure

Morning Sickness — the bouts of nausea and vomiting experienced by a majority of pregnant women — could start in the fifth or sixth week from the first day of your last menstrual cycle, and continue till the sixteenth week of pregnancy. Some women may experience this for another month beyond the sixteenth week, while some of them may be affected, intermittently, throughout their pregnancy.

Contrary to its name, it can affect you at any time of the day, though most go through this in the mornings, as your blood sugar levels are likely to be at a low then. In a few cases, the affliction can be severe enough to affect the health of the mother and the baby. This condition called ‘hyper-emesis gravidarum’ requires medical attention. But for the majority, following a few thumb rules can help you easily tackle common morning sickness.  
What Causes Morning Sickness?

No one, unfortunately, is sure what exactly causes morning sickness, but it would seem to be linked to the chemical changes your body goes through, during pregnancy.

For instance, estrogen levels increase almost a hundred fold. This commonly results in a heightened sense of taste and smell. The body also produces more progesterone to induce relaxation of the uterine muscles, so that a premature delivery does not take place. But this could lead to a relaxation of the stomach and intestinal muscles as well, resulting in constipation or a longer time for evacuation, in turn leading to an excessive production of stomach acids. It has also been suggested that stress and fatigue that commonly accompany pregnancy could play a role in morning sickness.

Another theory, which is widely accepted is, that morning sickness is caused by the buildup of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in your system. HCG is produced in you after conception, by the embryo. The hCG levels increase till around the 12th week of your pregnancy, and then decrease. If you are lucky, this is when your morning sickness symptoms will start to decrease as well.

A pregnant woman has a greater tendency to a lower blood sugar, and this, as mentioned earlier, could lead to nausea. Again, women who have had nausea when stressed or ill or when on the birth control pill, are more likely to be affected by morning sickness. It has been said that women who are carrying twins may be pre-disposed to morning sickness; women having girls may also experience this to a greater extent.

Morning sickness could also be nature’s way of protecting you. Certain vegetables have toxins to keep away pests. These are not harmful to adults but could harm the fetus. So when a mother eats these, sickness is a way to ensure that she does not ingest them. Similarly, having excess alcohol, sugar, oils and meat could bring on the nausea reaction, which protects the baby from harm.

There is also a bright side to your morning (or sometimes, all day) misery. Recent studies have suggested that mothers who have morning sickness have fewer miscarriages. This is probably because women who do not have an increased production of the hormones mentioned, are likely to abort. This does not mean that those of you without morning sickness need to worry. Just have a quick consultation with your doctor to rule out any problems, stop obsessing about it, and enjoy your good luck … and pamper yourself in the early days of your pregnancy.

Stop morning sickness naturally at home. Visit CuresMorningSickness.com for more information.

Five Kinds Of Exercise That Help Bring On Labor

Exercise is frequently recommended as a natural method to induce labor. Exercise is especially helpful in getting your baby to descend, and in encouraging him or her to engage better.

There are at least five types of exercise you could do when your pregnancy is full term, to encourage your baby to get born.

Visit http://www.MaternityAcupressure.com/how-to-start-labor-exercise.html to discover the whole story.

Overdue pregnancy can be physically and mentally challenging. If you have difficulties in sleeping, back pain, and difficulty in breathing, this easily results in daylong fatigue. Especially, if you have difficulties to move around, it’s difficult to play with your other kids and even doing everyday tasks for them.

No wonder that you are pondering how to start labor naturally.

Stimulation of specific accupressure points has been scientifically shown to start labor effectively (Complement Ther Med. 2005). Thus simple accupressure techniques, which you can do at home, remarkably reduce your risk of being medically induced in a hospital.

Medical induction commonly results in several other medical interventions and up to 50% of medically induced labors end up being cesarean sections. Thus, if your doctor has estimated that the induction is necessary, you should start using accupressure immediately.

Even if labor doesn’t start spontaneously, accupressure ripens your cervix and helps it to dilate and descends the baby. This significantly increases your chances of having a normal birthing experience with minimal medical intervention.

There are several accupressure points shown to be efficient for inducing labor. You don’t have to use them all. The labor may be delayed for a range of different reasons and thus what is the most powerful combination of accupoints will vary from mother to mother. Sometimes treating only one accupoint can kick-start your labor.

Treat the accupoints that you feel work best for you every 2 hours during your waking hours. If a medical induction is imminent you may stimulate the points every half an hour, but be aware that the treated areas can become sore from such frequent stimulation. Leave your body to work by itself at night.

Just remember that you should never practice accupressure treatment of these points before you are well overdue, or you are booked for medical induction in 2-3 days time. This is to prevent your baby to be born prematurely.

Accupressure is a good natural labor inducing remedy, when you are looking for an answer to question: How to start labor?

More information about how to start labor with accupressure.

When your pregnancy goes well beyond the due date, your doctor could recommend chemical induction. The use of medication to artificially start or induce labor should be resorted to, only if the pregnancy jeopardizes the health of the mother or the baby. This is because, in up to half the cases, chemical induction leads to a Cesarean birth, or the use of the vacuum method. A Cesarean delivery keeps you doped, and confined to your bed in the first few days of your baby’s life, and you may also face difficulties in breast-feeding. A vacuum delivery may dislocate the baby’s shoulder.

There are some natural ways to induce labor, in order to avoid medical induction.

One of the most commonly used is nipple stimulation, which leads to the release of a hormone called oxytocin. The synthetic version of oxytocin is commonly used to chemically induce labor. A bumpy car ride works for at least some, and so does having sex.  Exercise, such as walking, using a swing, belly dancing, using a hoola hoop, and squatting for a short while, helps your baby to descend better and your cervix to dilate. This in turn increases your own natural oxytocin release, which brings on labor.

Relaxing to reduce muscle tension is also very important, because tension and stress can get in the way of your labor. Meditation and visualization are excellent ways not only to relax, but also to get labor started. Your imagination and subconscious mind are powerful tools. Just by thinking of your favorite food you start to feel hungry or by imagining something scary you become terrified. Likewise, focusing your mind on labor helps to bring it on and progress with it.

Taking in herbs like blue or black cohosh should always be under the supervision of a doctor or a herbalist, because these herbs can be poisonous. Blue cohosh can be harmful for the baby’s heart, and black can lead to excess hemorrhaging during labor. Drinking cumin or red raspberry leaf tea, or applying evening primrose oil locally on the cervix can also be tried, although there is no evidence that these remedies actually help in starting up labor.
 
The only natural labor inducing remedy, which has been shown to work, is acupressure. This simple method of pressing specific spots on your skin has the ability to start labor in most mothers with overdue pregnancies.

Not only has labor acupressure been proven to be effective, it is also safe. There is no risk that acupressure done according to basic instructions would harm the mother or the baby. What is great is that you can use some of these same labor acupressure methods to get relief from labor pains and certain other discomforts during labor.

To use acupressure, all you need to know is how to press certain points on your body. This is so simple, that it can be done by the father of the baby, or anyone else, who is helping you out with the delivery. Acupressure is a method that does not over-stimulate your body. You just can’t administer too much of it, as your body takes in only what it needs to function optimally.

Labor acupressure not only gets the contractions going, but also ripens the cervix, and helps to descend the baby. It helps in reducing labor pain, and so you can say goodbye to an excess drug dosage, or an epidural. This means that you can be alert and loving and ready to hold your baby in your arms as soon as the delivery is over.

Before you use acupressure to induce labor at home, ensure that you have reached the 41st week of pregnancy. And, of course, have your bag packed and ready – using acupressure really produces results!

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Are you overdue and tired? You can encourage your labor to start naturally at home and avoid medical induction. Labor acupressure is a simple method that has proven to be effective and safe for the mother and the baby. The most effective acupressure points that naturally induce labor, give labor pain relief and help in any stage you might get stuck in during you labor, are revealed in a new labor acupressure guide “Easier, Shorter and Safer Birth” by Lena Leino. Visit www.MaternityAcupressure.com for more information.

Having a baby is a joyful experience. Many of us mothers-to-be, however, are apprehensive of the delivery process.

Yes, there is some stress and pain involved in delivery.

Over the years medical science has come up with methods to reduce labor pain. Unfortunately the side effects of these methods can be unwelcome. Anesthetics used during labor leave your baby and you in a drugged state, during and after childbirth. An epidural anesthetic is known to increase the chances of having a Cesarean operation, or the need for the vacuum and forceps. Statistics show that half the deliveries with an epidural results in resorting to such medical interventions. A Cesarean delivery is sometimes necessary in order to save the life of the baby or the mother. A Cesarean, however, is a major operation involving severe risks. These risks include higher maternal mortality rates compared with normal births, risks of blood clots and infections, not to speak of a longer recovery time. Additionally, if you deliver by Cesarean, you might find it difficult to breast-feed your baby. This could lead to less closer bonding between your tiny tot and you. It can also result in reduced immunity to illnesses for him or her.

You can avoid the need for an epidural and the risks connected with one, by using labor acupressure. Acupressure is a holistic method that targets the same acupoints used in acupuncture. The difference is that, in acupressure fingers are used to put pressure on the specific pressure points instead of piercing the skin with needles.

Acupressure is a completely safe method, without any side effects. It is impossible to over-stimulate the body while administering acupressure, because the body naturally regulates and accepts only the required stimulation.

Labor acupressure is also a very simple, ‘thumbs-on’ method. It can be administered by anyone receiving basic instruction in its application. This means that you don’t need any great skill to administer acupressure. Because the method is so safe, and incredibly effective, even the World Health Organization recommends it for pain relief.

Giving birth to a baby is a unique and wonderful experience. With the help of acupressure, both you and your partner can actively participate in it… And you can soon have your baby with you, alert and not doped by unnecessary medication, ready to breastfeed and bond with you and the family. A wonderful memory for your later years!

Visit www.MaternityAcupressure.com for more information about inducing labor naturally and getting effective labor pain relief safely without drugs.