Acupuncture for Labor & Delivery

By Laurel Axen Carroll, LAc

I first heard of Claudia Citkovitz when I was studying at Pacific College a number of years back. She was part of a group of people pioneering a study using acupuncture during labor & delivery. I was pregnant with my first child and completely intrigued by the project; it seemed so exciting, so cutting edge, yet so profoundly traditional. I hadn’t yet been through labor so I had no idea what to expect, but I envisioned candles, mood lighting, and acupuncture. After giving birth in the hospital, however, I realized my vision couldn’t have been further from the truth.

A few years later I met Claudia at the Healthy Birth Fair in NYC. She was beaming with excitement about the program at Lutheran Hospital. They were getting great results in reducing Cesarean rates (7% versus 20%). I knew that I had to participate at some point in my life. This spring I finally took Claudia’s Didactic Level 1 Training Seminar at Pacific College. It was a great introduction to the world of acupuncture within the Western paradigm. As soon as the lecture started I had this feeling wash over me that this is what I was meant to do with my life.

In May of this year I took Claudia’s introductory class in acupuncture for labor and delivery. The goal of the class was not to teach lots of fancy new skills, but to understand how the Chinese Medicine we already know and practice can apply in the situation of healthy labor and delivery (working with difficult deliveries and Western interventions such as pharmaceutical induction and epidural is a later class, and there’s also a clinical training program at the hospital).

One of the most interesting aspects of the class that I immediately put into practice was to try to understand the constitution of the woman trying to start labor or laboring. I had done a lot of pre-labor treatments and labor inductions using a more standard protocol, but now I use Claudia’s information to view my patient from a more “constitutional framework.” It is still straight 3000 year-old TCM—just with a modern perspective.

I chuckled to myself when an overly damp woman entered the other day, 11 days overdue, drinking a smoothie. It was raining, too. I felt bad, but I thought to myself, “this woman isn’t going into labor today.” Needless to say, she didn’t. I think of labor induction now as a fire starter, a yang igniter, a “dose of yang” so to speak.

While I am in no way discrediting necessary C-sections, I truly feel that birthing is a non-medical event—one that can have a profoundly empowering effect on the woman or, on the flip side, a negative impact. I am deeply saddened by the obscene rise in the number of Cesarean sections and by the feeling that women are pushed into medical intervention because they either are uninformed or unable to have a voice during labor.

I am deeply inspired by Claudia’s pioneering spirit. Traditional medicine is rooted with childbirth and belongs with it. Thanks to their extensive research, countless women and babies can benefit from the power of our medicine. In my opinion, the more positive the birthing experience, the better off we will be as a society. Who knows where this can go?

For more information on how to participate in the certificate program at Lutheran Hospital contact Claudia Citkovitz at CCitkovitz@lmcmc.com

Bio:
Laurel Axen Carroll, owner and operator of Ancient Current®, is a licensed acupuncturist, board certified Chinese herbalist and a DONA certified labor support Doula. She completed her master’s degree in science and traditional Chinese medicine from the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York City. Laurel treated patients at St. Vincent’s Oncology department as well as in the substance abuse program at St. John’s Hospital in Yonkers. She also studied advanced meridian palpation with renowned acupuncturist Dr. Wang Ju Yi at the Tibetan Hospital in Beijing, China.

Laurel Axen Carroll is a faculty member at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in Manhattan where she was a supervisor in the clinic, and she has taught obstetrics and gynecology. She regularly lectures at Brooklyn College on the foundations of Chinese medicine. Laurel is married with children and lives with her family in Rockaway Beach, New York.
laurel@ancientcurrent.com
www.ancientcurrent.com