Stand and Deliver!: And other Brilliant Ways to Give Birth. Emma Mahony

typical gripes during the last stages of pregnancy – swelling, indigestion, muscle ache and poor sleep – can all be improved with a good oily rub in the last few weeks, particularly if you can find a professional to do it for you. Stick to lavender and citrus oils for facial and body massage because there are many oils to avoid altogether.

      The best carrier oil for essential oils when pregnant is sweet almond, a medium-to-light oil which protects and nourishes the skin, and is relatively pure because it is cold-pressed. While pregnant, the usual dosage of 1 drop of essential oil per 5ml of carrier oil, for facial massage, should be further diluted to 1 drop per 10ml.

      Essential oil-wise, lavender is an analgesic, making it good for aches and pains, as well as relaxing (add 3 drops to a warm bath in the evening to help you sleep).

      Mandarin oil is an uplifting oil and has carminative and digestive properties which help heartburn and indigestion, as well as stimulating the lymph glands – good for oedema (water-retention) and swollen ankles.

      Grapefruit oil also has an uplifting effect and is good for general fatigue, circulation, and muscle stiffness.

      Try sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) for its digestive properties, black pepper (Piper nigrum) as a muscular tonic, and ylang ylang (Cananga odorata) for calming and soothing. Denise Tiran, author of Natural Remedies (Quadrille, 2001) recommends that you don’t use the same oil for more than three weeks, particularly in your bath water, so chop and change as you deem fit.

      For labour, blend your favourites with 3 drops per 20 ml of carrier oil, and don’t forget to add good old clary sage. If it worked for Natalie, it could work for you.⁵

      If you can afford to go the whole hog, to find out where your nearest accredited aromatherapist is contact the International Federation of Aromatherapists at 182 Chiswick High Road, London W4 1PP (tel. [phone]) or visit their website at www.ifaroma.org. A ready-made organic labour massage oil containing lavender, clary sage and geranium can be bought from www.activebirthcentre.com, where the organic perineal massage oil is also sold.

      Feet Need Love, Too

      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. [phone]) or visit www.aor.org.uk., and click on Find A Reflexologist.

      Acupuncture and Shiatsu Massage

      Acupuncture deserves special recognition in pregnancy because it is used with a specific technique called moxibustion, which involves the use of compressed herb sticks as heat sources above acupuncture points on the feet to turn a breech baby to head-first. What is more, it claims a 60 per cent success rate.⁶ Acupuncture can also be used for other common pregnancy complaints. If you have never had it before, pregnancy is a good time to start, and it is rather an exciting treatment to have. The sensation of a fine needle being inserted into your skin and the subsequent tingling sensation, which feels like liquid evaporating on your skin as the blockage becomes unblocked, is an extraordinary feeling. In China, acupuncturists are even used to alleviate pain during labour (a sort of needle-happy TENS machine), and for anaesthesia with Caesarean sections.

      Shiatsu massage, which is Japanese for ‘finger pressure’, has the added advantage that you don’t need to take your clothes off to have it. No small bonus if, like me, you were waddling in on a cold December day. Shiatsu uses simple pressure and holding techniques and is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, using the principles of meridians and energy lines throughout the body, like acupuncture. It increases circulation, gets rid of toxins and is a gentle way to spend an hour on the floor. I used to book my next session in a dream-like state immediately afterwards – and probably spent the best part of the twins’ annual babygro budget like this.

      For details of qualified therapists contact the British Acupuncture Council, 63 Jeddoe Road, London W12 9HQ (tel. [phone]) or visit www.acupuncture.org.uk and click on Find an Acupuncturist. For The Shiatsu Society, it’s Eastlands Court, St Peters Road, Rugby CV21 3QP (tel. [phone]) or visit www.shiatsu.org.

      Birth Balls

      OK, OK, you don’t mind signing up for the reflexology and massage session, but you just can’t face the swimming pool or even the yoga class in your current state.

      Enter the Birth Ball, the final resort for those for whom exercise is a dirty word. It exercises you while you sit on it, without you having to do anything. No, it’s not some sort of pregnancy slendertone, it is a big thick latex ball which promises not to burst (it can take up to 300 lb/21½ stone in weight) and tones the supportive muscles in your spine. Remember those fashionable gym shoes that cost a fortune? The ones based on the Masai tribe in Africa who were noted as having the best posture in the human race because they walked barefoot on uneven ground? Apparently having to correct your posture continually tightens up all those lazy leg muscles. The Gym or Birth Ball works on the same principle – just the act of staying on top of the ball while you are doing your make-up or watching telly, keeps you toned and ‘helps your baby get into the optimal foetal position’ by raising your hips higher than your knees. Besides, you can use it after the birth as a handy computer stool, as this typed sentence proves, and for bouncing your toddlers away from the keyboard as they sit on your knee swiping at it with sticky fingers.

      For extroverts who want to bring it in to the hospital, may I just issue one word of warning. A friend Rosie fell pregnant in New York and could not get her birthing ball into the boot of the yellow cab as she contracted away on the pavement. In the end she sailed off to hospital leaving the blue spacehopper behind. Check your boot size, or inflate it once installed, before rolling in to hospital.

      For the most comprehensive essay ever written on the benefits of a birth ball, visit (and buy) from www.activebirthcentre.com. At the time of writing it’s yours for £29.95 plus pump.

      Chung and Shake Those Apples

      Because