Acupuncture anyone?

So today, I had my very first acupuncture session with a wonderful woman named Katie Mik (also pregnant herself!) at the Acupuncture Continuum - here in Encinitas. Like I said in my previous post, I began researching methods to help bring on labor naturally and came across "acupuncture". Of course never doing this before I was skeptical, but upon more & more reading about this over the internet...I found that it is a completely safe & beneficial alternative to helping 'induce' naturally. Another plus to this, is that my insurance covers this kind of treatment, YAY!! 

"Using acupuncture is a much softer and easier approach to inducing labor...rather than with a commonly used medicine called "Pitocine" - which can have unwanted side effects...like much stronger labor contractions. Acupuncture trigger points to induce labor include points on the back, above the ankle, and specific points on the hand. By needling these points, the body's qi (pronounced "Chee") is stimulated, and helps prepare the body to begin labor. The only rare side effect to using this treatment is potential light bruising at the needle points." 

So, I'm happy to report that I survived & it was great! I was definitely a little nervous upon arriving...but anxious to get started. I laid on my left side in a dimly lit room with relaxing music, as Katie inserted about 10 extremely thin needles in different places on my body. There was 1 between my thumb & pointer finger, 2 in my ear (not IN the ear canal or anything!), I think 3 around my ankle/calf and about 4 in my lower back. She was very gentle and constantly checked to see how I was doing. After they were all in, she 'stimulated' the ones in my back so there was a light pulsing sensation. Kapri was moving all around during this time...she must have known that something was going on, haha! Katie then turned off the lights & left me in the room to relax. A few minutes later she came back in, made the ones in my back stronger & also stimulated the ones around my foot & the one on my hand. The whole process took about an hour & I left feeling very calm and relaxed. I'm looking forward to next Tuesday's session & hopefully it'll help when I go to the hospital on Wednesday! Wish me luck :-)