Pregnancy
Timing
To support a healthy pregnancy, we recommend coming for treatment:
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Once a week during your first trimester.
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Every other week during your second trimester.
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Every other week until week 34 in your third trimester.
At week 34 it is time to prepare for your baby's birth with weekly sessions. Once you reach your due date, coming in several times a week, or even daily, will help your body to go into labor naturally and facilitate a stellar birth.
We may recommend
coming in more frequently to focus on a specific condition.
Using acupuncture to care for yourself during your pregnancy is an excellent way to stay physically and emotionally comfortable and help you prepare for your upcoming birth. It balances the flood of hormones you are experiencing and helps you better accommodate the needs of your changing body and growing baby.
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Common conditions of pregnancy we help resolve:
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Potential Miscarriage (Cramping/Spotting) - if you are experiencing, pain, cramping, or spotting let us know right away. We can potentially stop these symptoms before they progress to miscarriage.
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Morning Sickness (Nausea/Vomiting) - moms usually experience morning sickness during their first trimester, but nausea and/or vomiting can occur at any time during pregnancy. We can often calm these symptoms with several sessions of acupuncture and custom prescribed herbal medicine (safe for pregnancy, of course!)
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Pregnancy Pains (Low back, Knees, Hips, etc) - during pregnancy, you are experiencing the effects of a hormone that help your ligaments to stretch. This allows space for your baby to grow then pass through your birth canal. It can also allow your joints to ache! We can help support your body's acceptance of this hormone and your growing baby without experiencing the discomfort.
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Fatigue - very common in pregnancy, your body needs more rest and nutritional support to grow your baby, and finding comfortable sleeping positions can be challenging! An acupuncture session offers the rejuvenation you need to feel great, and our custom, safe-for-pregnancy, herbal formulas can give you that energetic support throughout your pregnancy.
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Emotions - emotional ups and downs are absolutely a part of being pregnant, as are fluctuations in libido, and often accompany postpartum life, too. Mood swings, fears, anxiety, weepiness, body image issues, and depression are all common experiences. Besides life stressors, the waves of hormones and the nutritional demands placed on your changing body are often the culprits. Acupuncture helps regulate and balance these hormones, calming the associated emotional storms and stress, and custom herbal formulas or dietary recommendations provide your body with the nutrition you need to feel stronger and more grounded and nourish your baby.
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Low Iron Levels - as your baby grows, he or she needs a good supply of iron that they will get from their mama, which means you give up yours! We can offer safe supplement and herbal recommendations that will supply you with what you need to be healthy and keep them growing.
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Edema (Swelling) - this can be a common aspect to being pregnant, especially toward the later stage. Coming in early in pregnancy can assuage this condition, however, we can help minimize swelling at any stage.
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Placenta Previa - if this diagnosis has been suspected, come see us immediately. Often several weeks of frequent treatments can encourage the placenta to migrate away from the cervix and allow you to have a safe vaginal delivery.
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Incompetent Cervix - if this diagnosis has been suspected, come see us immediately. With several weeks of frequent treatments, we can help your body and cervix strengthen and keep your baby in the womb.
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Breech Baby - if this positioning is determined, come see us soon. Acupuncture, moxibustion, and nutritional support can help your baby get into the optimal head-down position for birth.