HypnoBirthing

Following our hospital visit at Mary Birch, we decided to pursue HypnoBirthing for our natural childbirth preparation. We began our class series with Jennifer Lindeman at the end of October and are already more than half-way through the series.

For some background, the fundamental premise behind the HypnoBirthing method is that for the vast majority of women, pregnancy and childbirth is a natural and normal part of the life process. Our bodies are expertly designed to conceive and nurture a developing baby, so it follows that our bodies (as well as our babies' bodies) are expertly designed to birth. As a result there is no reason to fear childbirth. Unfortunately, culture, society and history have turned childbirth into something that is fundamentally feared by most women and this fear and stress and the resulting pain, serve to propogate this 'reality'. However, through relaxation, we can retrain our bodies to take back the birthing process and let our muscles do the work they were designed to do. The births we've seen in class are amazing. The women look like they are mostly napping and resting and many don't even need to push at the end.

In class we are learning to use self-hypnosis techniques to attain a very relaxed state. The class time as well as practice time also helps to turn feelings of fear and apprehension into calm and positive anticipation of the birth. I can already see a huge difference in my outlook over the last three weeks. I wasn't scared of the actual process of child birth per se (although before the class, it had been far enough in the future, that I hadn't thought about it as a reality yet), but I was very scared about being rushed and a (medically) unnecessary c-section. I already feel more confident that the birth won't be long, that we will be able to work with hospital staff and that we will be able to do this the way we want. As for the birth itself, I'm actually looking forward to it! The mind is truly an amazing thing.