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In North America, as our knowledge has grown, viewpoints about the use acupuncture have changed dramatically. Today, midwives are calling on acupuncturists to help with troublesome pregnancies, acupuncturists are working next to obstetricians in hospitals helping women through labour, and family doctors refer to acupuncturists to help with post partum care.

Today’s reality is reminiscent of one story shared by an instructor at a seminar on pregnancy and acupuncture. Years back when he initially began practicing, doctors and nurses weren’t certain how to integrate his work with theirs. One day, he was called into the delivery room to help with a tricky labour both mother and baby were in trouble. Their heart rates were up and the labour wasn’t progressing. My instructor made use of a few well established acupuncture points and immediately the monitors showed both the baby and mother’s heart rates return to standard. The medical team was surprised. It was instances like this that helped legitimize acupuncture to the Western medical establishment. Today, Jean Levesque works with a team of over 20 acupuncturists who specialize in pregnancy in the province of Quebec. His team has helped hundreds of women through the birthing process.

For me, it has been a fantastic opportunity to learn from sage healers like Jean Levesque, Bob Flaws, Debra Betts, and Raven Lang who have been treating labour and pregnancy with acupuncture and Chinese medicine for many years. It was not easy for them – pioneers of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and acupuncture in the West – to lead the way for practitioners like me. It used to be that for somebody to learn acupuncture and TCM, and to learn it well, they first had to learn how to speak and read Chinese. This isn’t the case today. These doctors have translated info and made it straightforward for the next generation to also become proficient doctors of TCM.

I’ve been practising TCM for six years and have witnessed a fantastic increase in interest in acupuncture. Working with ladies before, during, and after pregnancy is a big and growing part of my practice. Less are the days when I’m asked “Once I am pregnant, is it safe for me to continue with the acupuncture?” My answer remains, “Absolutely, and your body would like if you did.”

In no fashion has acupuncture and TCM become “mainstream”. However , with family physicians and reproductive specialists referring patients and clients for acupuncture, I’m assured that Western medicine is moving in that direction.

Jeda Boughton is a Vancouver acupuncturist and Dr. of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

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