When our due date of October 24th came and went and I showed no signs of progress (my cervix was long, hard and completely closed), I started to panic. We selected an induction date for 42 weeks gestation: November 7th. My biggest fear was having a cesarean section. I worried inducing too early may lead to a domino effect of interventions that could eventually lead to a C-section even if my sweet baby wasn’t quite yet ready to meet the world (due dates can be fairly arbitrary, after all).

To help induce labor naturally, I kicked up my 2.5 mile daily walks to 5 miles, took evening primrose oil, and scheduled a set of three acupuncture appointments, which is the first of two ancient Chinese medicine practices we relied on for the birth of our baby (the second being placental encapsulation). Acupuncture is said to release oxytocin in the body, the natural hormone to initiate labor. I received three treatments over the course of four days at Hu Acupuncture and Chinese Herb in Arnold, Maryland and I can’t say enough about my experience. I could feel my body’s energy moving downward an outward but also felt deeply relaxed throughout each treatment. Less than 24 hours after my third and final treatment, I went into labor.