Herbal Emergency Herbs for Childbirth

JMG91

JMG91

Veteran Member
I'd like some help from other herbal folks here. I'm currently 6 1/2 months pregnant, and with the possible drug shortages associated with this coronavirus, I'd like to be prepared ahead of time. (I noticed that pitocin was on the drug shortage list.) Honestly, regardless of whether or not this virus gets bad enough to affect this particular area of my life, I'd still prefer to have something on hand that can help me move things along without having to take the pitocin in the first place.)

With my last one, I barely dilated at all, and they had to give me pitocin after over 24 hours of labor. By the time my daughter was born, it had been 48 hours of contractions 3 to 5 minutes apart. Needless to say, it was a miserable experience. I'd like to get some recommendations on herbs that can be ingested on applied topically that will encourage dilation and progress. I've looked this up briefly, but wanted some other opinions from folks on here. (Any personal experiences with such methods would be appreciated as well!)

This is something that I'm very concerned about because I know that, if I have to do this without medical intervention, stunted labor can possibly kill both me and the baby. Both me and my mother had this problem during labor, so I wasn't surprised to see it happen last time, but just in case, I'd like some advice, as herbalism in childbirth is an area that I'm not quite so familiar with.
 
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summerthyme

Administrator
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Red Raspberry leaf tea is the time honored "labor starter". However, it's unlikely to work nearly well enough for your purposes... however, it's definitely worth using for the last month or so. Ergot was the standard... but potentially quite dangerous. Still, it saved many women from bleeding out after childbirth. I doubt you could find it anywhere (it's a fungus on rye grain)

You may want to prepare for a possible C-section, although I'm sure that's not what you want! Still, it's better for you and the baby than an extremely long labor. But then, maybe in 10 weeks, they'll have resupplied and you won't have any problems. Gonna add you to the prayer list.

Summerthyme
 
JMG91

JMG91

Veteran Member
Thanks, Summerthyme! I've seen several sources recommend black and blue cohosh for labor progression as well, but I've read that those should only be taken under the supervision of a doctor or midwife. Thoughts?
 
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moldy

Veteran Member
A doctor will probably tell you to stay away from herbs or to use anything, because they are not educated about them. A midwife would be a better bet to check with. I wouldn't use black or blue without midwife advice. Lots of so-called mild herbs can still have emmenagogue effects.
 
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summerthyme

Administrator
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moldy said:
A doctor will probably tell you to stay away from herbs or to use anything, because they are not educated about them. A midwife would be a better bet to check with. I wouldn't use black or blue without midwife advice. Lots of so-called mild herbs can still have emmenagogue effects.
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True... but that's really what you want *once labor has started* and you are full term. The raspberry leaf is safe in moderate amounts throughout pregnancy. (1-2 cups a day) My DDIL was *very* tired of being pregnant. She was about 2 days past her "due date", and her doctor's pray twice had a hard and fast rule that if you went 1 week late, you *had to* be induced. She made a cup of tea with 10 teabags of red raspberry... and her labor started 3 hours later. She barely made it to the hospital...

Summerthyme
 
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