Avoid medical induction? Overdue and anxious? Natural labour induction massage will help get you ready…

What is Natural Induction Labour Massage?

• This treatment aims to prompt and prime a positive labour response.
• It is a combination of acupoints, reflexology, and specific techniques to make a difference to your body
• It encourages baby to settle deeper into your pelvis and look forward to labour
• Best done around 39 weeks
• This treatment focuses on keeping you and your baby comfortable throughout the treatment.
• Ask about Caulophyllum – available to purchase in our clinic as a further option to support your labour response after your treatment.

What else is Natural Induction Labour Massage?

• Relaxing massage techniques
• Specific pelvic and sacral techniques
• Abdominal massage and gentle strokes to encourage baby moving downwards in optimal position
• Essential oils are absorbed into the bloodstream to facilitate relaxation
• Breathing techniques to quell anxiety and connect to baby
• Gentle jaw release to undo tension and anxiety
• Ask us about Caulophyllum to help induce labour

How will a Natural Induction Labour Massage help you?

• Relax your body, mind, and spirit
• Enjoy the last stretch of your pregnancy more
• Calm down anxieties about going overdue and being medically induced
• Connect with baby in a relaxing way

 

Will it induce your labour?

It might!  More importantly, it will comfortably prep and relax your mind and body towards a spontaneous labour.

A treatment will support your intention towards looking forward to labour and birthing your baby.

Let’s talk about the confusion around the due date!

Are babies born at 39 or 40 weeks?

Depends when you want your baby to be born! If you want an earlier date prior to 39 weeks, it is likely to be an elective caesarean operation. See below the correct schedule for baby gestational periods.

• Early term: 37 weeks through to 38 weeks and 6 days.
• Full term: Your baby is usually born between 39 weeks, 0 days and 40 weeks, 6 days.
• Late term: Your baby is born between 41 weeks, 0 days and 41 weeks, 6 days.
• Post term: Your baby is born after 42 weeks, 0 days.

How accurate is the due date?

• Also called a guesstimate / predicted / due / Estimated Date of Confinement (EDC) / Estimated Date of Delivery (EDD).
• The due date is tricky because no-one knows exactly when baby is about to start its journey except baby!
• It’s tricky because it’s based on the first day of your last period and as conception probably happened about two weeks after the last day of last period, there is already a tiny discrepancy right there. Plus an extra five-seven days is added on for successful implantation of the fertilised egg. That is now 2 days short of 3 weeks. Still following the maths?

More than 90% of babies are born two weeks either side of the predicted date. Only 4% are actually born on the predicted /due date. Or one in 20. And that’s not accounting for pregnancies with complications.

A Full-term gestation time for babies is 39 – 40 weeks and 6 days.

The unborn baby spends around 38 weeks in the uterus (womb), but the average length of pregnancy, or gestation, is calculated as 40 weeks. This is because pregnancy is counted from the first day of the woman’s last period, not the date of conception which generally occurs two weeks later, followed by five to seven days before it settles in the uterus. Since some women maybe unsure of the date of their last menstruation (perhaps due to period irregularities), a pregnancy is considered full term if birth falls between 39 to 42 weeks of the estimated last menstruation date.

A baby born up to week 37 is considered premature, while a baby that still hasn’t been born by week 42 is said to be overdue. In many cases, labour will be induced in the case of an overdue baby.

Why does your baby need 39 weeks?

Babies born too early may have more health problems at birth and later in life than babies born later.

Your baby needs at least 39 weeks in the womb because:

• Important organs, like your baby’s brain, lungs and liver, need time to develop. The brain develops fastest at the end of pregnancy. A baby’s brain at 35 weeks of pregnancy weighs only two-thirds of what it will weigh at 39 to 40 weeks.
• S/He’s less likely to have health problems after birth, like breathing, vision and hearing problems.
• S/He can gain more weight in the womb. Babies born at a healthy weight have an easier time staying warm than babies born too small.
• S/He can suck and swallow and stay awake long enough to eat after s/he’s born. Babies born early sometimes can’t do these things.
• S/He’s less likely to have learning problems and health problems later in life than babies born before 39 weeks.

What is gestation?

Gestation is the period of time between conception and birth. During this time, the baby grows and develops inside the mother’s womb. Gestational age is the common term used during pregnancy to describe how far along the pregnancy is.

Length of gestation

The average length of human gestation is 280 days, or 40 weeks, from the first day of the woman’s last menstrual period. The medical term for the due date is estimated date of confinement (EDC). However, only about four per cent of women actually give birth on their EDC. There are many online pregnancy calculators (see Baby due date calculator that can tell you when your baby is due, if you type in the date of the first day of your last period.

Overdue babies

Around five out of every 100 babies will be overdue, or more than 42 weeks gestation. If you have gone one week past your due date without any signs of impending labour, your doctor will want to closely monitor your condition. Tests include:

• Monitoring the foetal heart rate
• Using a cardiotocograph machine
• Performing ultrasound scans.

Does the placenta have a use-by date?

Not really. The placenta is a foetal organ so while the baby continues to thrive, so does the placenta. Once baby is born, the placenta then makes it way out too.

If baby goes overdue, the placenta may begin to lose its peak function. However, it is likely to be caused by a malposition of the baby cutting off circulation on the placenta cord or some external physical trauma that has affected the mother (like a blow to her belly or a fall).

Does the placenta start to deteriorate after 38 weeks or so?

No, it doesn’t although this untruth is often put about to ‘encourage’ women to think baby is best born sooner than later. Fearmongering again.

When do you get medically induced?

Generally, an overdue baby will be induced once it is two weeks past its expected date, which should make it 41 weeks and 6 days!

Some of the methods of induction include:

• Vaginal prostaglandin gel pessaries – to help dilate the cervix
• Amniotomy – breaking the waters, sometimes called an artificial rupture of membranes (ARM)
• Oxytocin – a synthetic form of this hormone is given intravenously to stimulate uterine contractions.

Things to remember

• The unborn baby spends around 38 – 40 weeks in the uterus, but the average length of pregnancy, or gestation, is counted at 40 weeks plus.
• Pregnancy is counted from the first day of the woman’s last period, not the date of conception which generally occurs two weeks later.

Contact Us to find out how we can help you

Book Appointment

Our Happy Clients Comments to check out what our other clients say about us

The Healing Practice
7 Albert St
Forest Lodge (Glebe)
NSW 2037.
By appointment only.

claire@thehealingpractice.com.au – M: 0438 216 351

 

References

Dr. Sarah Buckley and Dr. Sara Wickham

https://birthsavvy.com.au/induction-at-39-debate/ https://www.marchofdimes.org/pregnancy/why-at-least-39-weeks-is-best-for-your-baby.aspx