Fertility, Pregnancy & Post-partum Care
Acupuncture & East Asian Medicine
for the Flathead Valley
Acupuncture and herbs can be helpful with regulating a woman's menstrual cycle, promoting egg production and facilitating implantation which increases a woman's chances of becoming pregnant. Since many fertility issues often may be due to sperm abnormalities, low counts and/or poor motility, acupuncture can also help to support a male's fertility. Erin and Melissa have worked with a variety of different fertility cases including supporting women during IVF or IUI treatments.
Pregnancy
Oftentimes during pregnancy, women feel that not many treatment options are available to them to help ameliorate some of the symptoms of pregnancy. Acupuncture can be incredibly helpful with curbing nausea, promoting sleep, helping to decrease aches and pains, stopping any spotting or threatened miscarriage, increasing energy and treating varicose veins.
BREECH PRESENTATION
Acupuncture and moxibustion (burning the herb Mugwort like incense above the surface of the skin) used bilaterally near the small toe is 80% effective in turning breech babies. It is best utilized between 34-37 weeks. While at the office, the woman will receive a tutorial in using “moxa” safely in order to continue the treatment at home ensuring the best possible results.
LABOR INDUCTION
Induction treatments are only performed with the express permission of the caregiver. The typical course of treatment is 3 days in a row spaced 24 hours apart. These sessions focus on relaxing the mother, ripening the cervix and stimulating the uterus. The treatments are not forceful or invasive, yet gently encourage the body towards the transition from pregnancy into labor.
Acupuncture in Labor
Erin and Melissa feel honored to bear witness to the journey that each woman travels on her path to motherhood. Acupuncture may also be used to help prepare the body for labor by helping to contract the fundus, soften and dilate the cervix and coordinate contractions. Treatments to prepare a woman for labor often begin in a mother's 36th or 37th week. They treat women during labor with a combination of acupuncture, tuning forks and massage to control labor pains and coordinate uterine movement so contractions are effective at progressing labor efficiently.
Post-partum care
Acupuncture treatments following labor and delivery are extremely beneficial in restoring and consolidating the mother’s energy and tonifying blood. The average woman burns 30,000 calories in labor! Acupuncture has an overall harmonizing effect on the system. Also, acupuncture and herbs have been proven useful in stimulating milk production.
POST CAESARIAN
Acupuncture is often used post-partum to help with any pain, numbness or nausea that has arisen during labor and is especially useful for women post-caesarian. Acupuncture treatments in successive and consolidated time blocks (3 treatments within the first 36 hours) are used as a means to manage pain, therefore limiting the use of stronger narcotics.
Placenta Encapsulation
In addition to acupuncture, Erin and Melissa also offer placenta encapsulation services to support women with the dramatic shift the body undergoes from pregnancy to post-partum. Both women received their training through Placenta Benefits. Encapsulated placenta is a powerful medicine according to Chinese herbal theory that offers many benefits to the mother during her post-natal recovery.
The benefits include:
- Decreases the likelihood of “baby blues” or post-partum depression (PPD)
- Replenishes deficient iron that may occur due to bleeding during delivery
- Increases production of breast milk
- Lessens post-natal bleeding
- Quickens return of uterus to pre-pregnancy state
- Decreases likelihood of insomnia or sleep disorders
- Gives a new mother more energy
- Balances a mother's own system through ingestion of hormones perfectly balanced for her body thus allowing a quicker return to health after birth
The optimal time to prepare the medicine is within 48 hours after the baby's birth. Erin and Melissa are excited to be able to support women all over the Flathead Valley and beyond by providing them valuable medicine in order to transition gracefully from pregnancy. Both women have witnessed the strength of this medicine first-hand and in friends and patients and look forward to the opportunity to help support many more women. Cost of the encapsulation is $175. More information about placenta encapsulation and its profound healing benefits can be found on Placenta Benefits website.