Verbena

bee.wilk

My MW gave me verbena today to drink in a tea to help finish effacing my cervix (currently at ~75%). I was having good strong contractions for a while after our appt and while drinking the tea, but now I feel tired and head ache-y.

Just wondering if anyone else has tried this method?

Also an important FYI: Anyone who is not ready to begin labour shouldn't even be exposed to oil of verbena, because it's supposed to be quite potent!

kesrya

You must be talking about blue vervain/verbena -- there are many, many species included in the verbena family and many are quite safe throughout the entirety of pregnancy.  For example, Traditional Medicinal's Pregnancy Tea contains Lemon Verbena - which is quite safe to consume even in the first trimester.  I've been drinking it the whole time!

Blue vervain is a detoxifying agent - and this may be why you are feeling a headache -- especially if you have never done a detox before, or had a lot of toxins built up in Liver - they will be releases into the blood stream and can give you a headache.  It can also be a sedative in lower dosage, so that may explain the tiredness.  Lastly, it promotes sweating - which is said to help lower a fever, so many herbalists will use blue vervain with the onset of a cold or viral illness.

It can be used to regulate menses - especially in the case of delayed menses, which is why it is contra-indicated for pregnancy (can cause uterine contractions).  But I have to say, as an acupucturist and herbalist who works with a lot of pregnant women, I've never used it or recommended it to start labor ... the uterine contractions are not guaranteed and there are other herbs that are better at that than blue vervain.  I've never read or experienced it to be a cervix dilator or cause effacement.  For cervical effacement, I'd be recommending EPO.

I've never heard of a concern that verbena oil stimulates labor.  It really isn't recommended for anyone's use, period - pregnant or not, because it is highly irritating to the skin and has very commonly documented skin reactions and, again, there are other essential wit less side effects that can accomplish the same things.

bandwife

My MWs gave it to me to get labor started. I had it in a shake with fruit juice, peanut butter and bit of castor oil.

My water broke and I was GBS+ and I wasn't having contractions. I had one shake and had 4-5 hours of contractions that then stalled. Had another shake and 12 hours later DS was here.

My sister was doing the tea near the end of her pregnancy to get things going. Not sure it ended up doing much for her.