Does anyone know (or know anybody who knows) the actual usage of hau slime? Especially anyone known to have ever used it for birth? I can't figure out if it's supposed to be oral or vaginal, and I did not try it myself (note: kukui oil is awesome, though! I think that's safe enough to share. I don't know about the commercial kind, though...). I'm NOT suggesting experimentation, btw, just wondering if anyone knows. I've also often thought that hau branches would be an awesome thing to hang from & hold on to while birthing. Maybe hau groves were common places for maka'ainana women to birth, since they're protected and convenient like this. In fact, maybe the medicinal secret of the slime was given by Haumea when a woman bit a branch during a contraction! Just a musing...
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I am by no means a la'au lapa'au authority, but I know from botany class that the hau is a relative of koki'o. When I was hapai, my mother-in-law would pick the petals of the koki'o and I ate it like a salad. Lots of it! I'm not sure if it helped because i wasn't eating it that much the last couple weeks before I was due, but any way my mana'o is that hau was probably ingested. There are other mea kanu that I've read from various sources (but don't have on me now) that were rubbed on during birthing to help with various other birthing issues. Hope that helps!
I used coconut oil to stretch the perenium. Kukui nut oil seems like such a better choice! Mahalo!
Hi Cami!
I also ate koki'o during my pregnancy. The la'au person who told me about this said to eat the buds in the days leading up to birth and it would help take away pain. Since it was my first time, I don't have anything to compare. It wasn't painless...but I made it through a long labor (over 29 hours) just fine.
I ate the buds whole. I think once I threw them in a spinach salad...they taste kind of like lettuce anyway, just less juicy...and some of them have a little sweetness to them. Every time I see hibiscus now it makes me hungry;)
I think Nana i ke Kumu (the 2nd one) talks about eating hau and 'ilima blossoms. These help your kino be more lubricated so the baby comes out easier.
Mahalo for the putting 2 and 2 together. Of course I remember you! Hulo! Your new pepe is very pupuka loa! Congratulations and mahalo for sharing your mana'o. I live on Kauai now, I am married to Ipo's brother (the handsome...too die for one) Kapule. Just kidding. He is rather good to look at, sometimes. At least braddah can hunt, fish,and grow food.
Don't know if you'all know our Kumu La'au lapa'au, Levon Ohai....anyways, he was taken to UH Manoa for teaching assignments and we have been really missing him these past few years on Kauai. I just e-mailed him to ask him about this treatment as I am due to give birth in early October.
Please continue to share in any or all of the discussion or PLEASE start a discussion on your own.......aloha, lorilani
Wow, very interesting! I've never heard of the koki'o petals being eaten before. Did you eat them totally plain or make an actual salad? That's a lot of work -- awesome to have a mother-in-law show aloha like that to a hapai mom! Well, as long as it tasted ok and you wanted to eat it, that is (lol!). Your description is in line with other malvaceae/"hibiscish" stuff, like ilima flowers being used for kids' constipation problems (I never did try this with any of my kids, but heard good results from people who did). Maybe there's an overall effect on the mucous membranes? Just thinking.
I could potentially see either niu or kukui oils being good depending on usage, though I only tried kukui myself, and it was da bomb! The difference yeah is that coconut stays on the surface and is good for making dry skin slippery without too much absorption, which I could see as being really useful for working the body in labor for moms who want & need this; kukui on the other hand absorbs rapidly into tissues (there's a lomi term for this but I'm spacing it now), making them soft. Plus it emulsifies (mixes with water) a little easier, the combination of which probably explains how it can help mucous membranes stretch so well. However, I did hear one or two "so-so" ratings from people who used the commercial kind. I wonder if it is because the one in the store is cold-pressed? I myself only have experience with homemade kind from roasted nuts, which smells like poke inamona, but works great, so who cares?
E kala mai for the stream of consciousness...just thinking out loud. Mahalo for the awesome contribution!
I've never heard of using hau however, I have heard of using kaonaoa. This was mashed into a liquid and the liquid was drank....my sister-in-law consumed this on her second birth. She said it was nasty. What was the mana'o for using the hau slime?
Kukui nui oil and olive oil are great for stretching the perineum....did it myself for the first two keiki....well not really myself (I help my Kane asssist). Lorilani
I'm not sure of the use of hau from a medicinal viewpoint. It's more of a mo'olelo thing I've heard in relation to the goddess Haumea, that she as protector of mothers gave the secret of the slimy hau for ease of birth. But like I said, I don't really know what that secret is!
Replies
I used coconut oil to stretch the perenium. Kukui nut oil seems like such a better choice! Mahalo!
I also ate koki'o during my pregnancy. The la'au person who told me about this said to eat the buds in the days leading up to birth and it would help take away pain. Since it was my first time, I don't have anything to compare. It wasn't painless...but I made it through a long labor (over 29 hours) just fine.
I ate the buds whole. I think once I threw them in a spinach salad...they taste kind of like lettuce anyway, just less juicy...and some of them have a little sweetness to them. Every time I see hibiscus now it makes me hungry;)
I think Nana i ke Kumu (the 2nd one) talks about eating hau and 'ilima blossoms. These help your kino be more lubricated so the baby comes out easier.
Mahalo for the putting 2 and 2 together. Of course I remember you! Hulo! Your new pepe is very pupuka loa! Congratulations and mahalo for sharing your mana'o. I live on Kauai now, I am married to Ipo's brother (the handsome...too die for one) Kapule. Just kidding. He is rather good to look at, sometimes. At least braddah can hunt, fish,and grow food.
Don't know if you'all know our Kumu La'au lapa'au, Levon Ohai....anyways, he was taken to UH Manoa for teaching assignments and we have been really missing him these past few years on Kauai. I just e-mailed him to ask him about this treatment as I am due to give birth in early October.
Please continue to share in any or all of the discussion or PLEASE start a discussion on your own.......aloha, lorilani
I could potentially see either niu or kukui oils being good depending on usage, though I only tried kukui myself, and it was da bomb! The difference yeah is that coconut stays on the surface and is good for making dry skin slippery without too much absorption, which I could see as being really useful for working the body in labor for moms who want & need this; kukui on the other hand absorbs rapidly into tissues (there's a lomi term for this but I'm spacing it now), making them soft. Plus it emulsifies (mixes with water) a little easier, the combination of which probably explains how it can help mucous membranes stretch so well. However, I did hear one or two "so-so" ratings from people who used the commercial kind. I wonder if it is because the one in the store is cold-pressed? I myself only have experience with homemade kind from roasted nuts, which smells like poke inamona, but works great, so who cares?
E kala mai for the stream of consciousness...just thinking out loud. Mahalo for the awesome contribution!
Kukui nui oil and olive oil are great for stretching the perineum....did it myself for the first two keiki....well not really myself (I help my Kane asssist). Lorilani