The Power of Touch for birth

A former student wrote to me recently about utilizing the tools she garnered in my maternity massage classes in the process of her own birth. With her permission, I wanted to share  with others working in the field how touch can be both empowering personally and powerfully effective in influencing a birth.

By the way, for those seeking more training, Mid-April will be the next series of maternity massage classes at the Oregon School of Massage, Portland, OR.

From the student:
I'm reporting a beautiful, empowered, and (surprisingly) healthy birth with the help of your classes and video.
I'd taken the maternity massage courses through Oregon School of Massage prior to conception, and had worked with pregnant women for a few months.
During our 38 week prenatal visit, my blood pressure was alarmingly high-159/100. Our midwives at Alma Midwifery immediately scheduled a transfer of care to the midwifery team at Emanuel Hospital. They started pushing for an induction, we delayed, finally resorting to breast pumping on his due date.
We labored gently at home for 24 hours, my husband rubbing my belly, using sacral pressure, and hip rolling to center us. I credit his touch for enabling us to labor at home, in peace as long as we did.
Once we arrived at the hospital, my labor stalled-we used the acupressure to gain momentum and confidence-the hospital midwives were astonished, they had already lectured me about not getting my hopes up, we could be laboring for another 24-48 hours.
We labored quietly, and alone, with the support of my doula. The touch was incredibly supportive-we found when one type of touch stopped working, another one started.
My baby boy was born a short 8 hours later, in one big push much to the surprise of everyone. I was on all fours as my husband pressed Kidney 1, thankfully as he managed to catch our babe. The midwife was still putting on her scrubs. My blood pressure never rose above 140.
I believe the supportive touch my husband was able to provide allowed us the birth we had always hoped for. Sara