Читать книгу Stand and Deliver!: And other Brilliant Ways to Give Birth - Emma Mahony - Страница 34

You probably already know a little about reflexology, where areas of the foot that correspond to the internal organs and the skeleton of your body are massaged. By massaging certain points, a trained reflexologist can tell where there are imbalances in the system. When I had bad sinusitis and a cold, the trained reflexologist Vivian Knowland massaged my toes (which relate to the sinus areas) and I ouched and eeed my way on the bed, amazed by the power concentrated in her thumbs.

Reflexology can be used to prime labour. It doesn’t always work as a form of induction, but Viv chatted amiably to me about a client who had come to see her when 10 days overdue with her second baby. ‘Poor woman was in a terrible state,’ she said, ‘The hospital had told her that she had to come in and be induced, and she really didn’t want to.’ So what happened, I asked, hoping that she wasn’t suffering from sinus problems at the time. ‘I spent some time working on her feet and she left feeling very calm. She rang me from home 10 hours later to say that she was cuddling her new baby.’ Labour had apparently started as soon as she got home, followed by an easy two-hour birth in the hospital. The miracle of me-time.

Once already in labour, there are many techniques that can be used, as Suzanne Enzer details in her book Reflexology as a Tool for Midwives. Enzer, who has travelled as far as Australia to teach midwives and maternity reflexologists, says ‘Reflexology is a superb therapy to support the natural event of childbearing and childbirth. If you have had reflexology during your pregnancy you will be in the best possible state to go through birthing. It is never too late, and if you have not had reflexology during pregnancy, it is still a wonderful complementary therapy to support birthing.’ In labour, you may want to get someone to tap into some reflexology techniques and do some ankle rotations to relax the pelvis. To do this, get them to practise on someone else by asking them to hold the ankle with one hand and rotate the foot with the other hand, turning it clockwise several times and anticlockwise the same number of times. Take care to rotate the ball of the foot rather than the toes to stimulate the whole reproductive area and encourage the pelvis to relax, and include lots of gentle foot-stroking.

To find a local reflexologist, contact the Association of Reflexologists at 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3XX (tel. 0870 567 3320) or visit www.aor.org.uk., and click on Find A Reflexologist.