apparently I'm going to induce my own labor early

AmandaToo

I just have to vent about this.  Like I say below, it's hard to explain why it makes me so upset, but I didn't like the way it made me feel.

Last night in class, I had some swelling in my hands.  I asked DH to rub an accupressure point between my thumb and index finger.  He's done this for me for years to prevent headaches and throughout my pregnancy.  Well, bless her heart, the woman next to me raised her hands all wide-eyed and asked the teacher if I should be doing that - wouldn't it jump start labor? 

First, it hasn't yet and he's done it for 37 weeks.  Second, I'm aware of accupressure points being known to help induce.  Third, I decided I'm OK with that risk because it hasn't caused labor yet, I'm almost full term, and I see elders here and in my actual life every day that try every single non-medical induction method they can think of to no avail.  Yeah, they work for some people, but I kind of believe that many of them only work once your body is ready. 

The reaction of my teacher last night really upset me... It turned into a very uncomfortable, long, discussion and made me feel like a spotlight was being put on me for something that's given me a tiny bit of comfort in these fat swollen hands.  I can't quite explain how embarrassing it was - or why, but it made me feel like an idiot.  There are so many other issues that came up and this teacher presents a lot of OWT as fact amont other things... DH and I talked about it for a long time and I know part of me is overstating this, but it really hurt to be the center of attention in this weird way. 

Julia-Henry

Wow, that was totally inappropriate for her to single you out like that. It was also inappropriate of the busybody next to you to comment in the first place. I don't think I'd bother with the rest of that class if I were you - it sounds useless and unpleasant.

mrsain1105

Do you think it would help you to feel better if you let the teacher know that you found her reaction upsetting and inappropriate?

UrbanLe1

I'm so sorry--that's awful.  I can imagine how that feels--you don't even feel like arguing back because you feel like a deer caught in headlights.

Take what your instructor says with a grain of salt.  And if you're still worried before your next class, try talking to her with your DH.  Tell her that being the center of attention--especially for doing something "wrong"--made you extremely uncomfortable, and that it ruined the class experience for you.  That should make her back off. 

butterbeansmama

Eh, although it may not produce labor for you, it may for some of the other women in the class. Maybe she was trying to point out to the other ladies to be very careful with massaging that part of the body (webbing between fingers and toes). Not all women know there own bodies very well and may have seen you do it and thought it was okay for themselves as well. You never know what other's are thinking.

I know what pressure point you are talking about. My mom has my dad to it to her all the time for headaches. It has never worked for me though.

AmandaToo

Fair enough, butterbeanmama, but that's not the angle she was coming at.  The whole discussion was very much about how worried they all were for me in particular, but then, of course when they realized I'm almost 37 weeks, they were all for me trying to go early.  And I don't even agree with that - I'm fine with going up to 41 weeks.  It was just a hot mess and I couldn't get a rational word in edgewise. 

blissfully_caffeinated

It doesn't sounds like she was a good teacher. I think you're right that natural induction methods only work once your  body is ready (how else could you explain the high failure rate?). I'm sorry she singled you out. I think you're fine to keep doing what you're doing.

liza0828

I don't blame you for being upset.  I would talk to the teacher about how inappropriate it was for her to single you out in that way.