HypnoBirthing Part III & IV

I'm a bit behind in posting about this, and I'm pretty sure I won't remember everything we discussed. This post basically covers three classes. There were supposed to be five classes, but since we were the only couple (minus our very last class), we covered material so fast that we combined the last three into two classes.

Here are the basics that were covered: Nutrition, Writing your Birth Plan, HypnoBirthing vs. Active Management of Labor, Labor walk-through, Birth Breathing, Skin to skin bonding, Newborn procedures, and birth videos.

Some of the highlights for me, were discussing the birth plan, birth breathing, and watching the videos. The book offers a lot of suggestions on what you may or may not want to write in your birth plan. Your birth plan is a list of your requests for how you are received and treated during your labor - by hospital personel, doctors, and those who may attend the birth. I thought this was good because it gave me a lot of ideas of what I might want to request.

For instance:
- Keep exams to check progress (dilation, etc.) to a minimum. (This can introduce infection, and is often very uncomfortable and not productive in moving the process along - especially if it causes frustration when you realize you are not as far as you thought/wished you were.)
- Do not offer medication unless it is requested.
- Avoid discussion, reference to, or questions about pain levels.
- Allow natural birthing instincts to facilitate the descent of the baby, as much as possible, with mother-directed breathing down until crowning takes place.
- To birth in an atmosphere of gentle encouragement during the final birthing phase without coaching - calm, low tones, free of "pushing" prompts.
Etc...

Then there are things I already knew I would want:
- Delay cord clamping and cutting until after pulsation has ceased.
- Immediate skin-to-skin contact.
- Father to stay with mother and/or baby at all times.
Etc...

The last three I did with Owen. I thought I'd be grossed out by the immediate skin-to-skin without having him washed first, but I was no where near grossed out and I'm so glad I did it. We still need to go through all the options and write out our finalized birth plan.

Birth breathing is also important as it's a little different that the other breathing techniques, and will require some visualization. Again, we talked about how the baby does not have to be pushed out, but how you can work with your body to direct your breath and force downward in a "J" motion (as the birth canal the baby goes through is shaped like a "J"). And of course, listen to your body and what it tells you to do and how you should do it. I liked that Cara said not to be afraid of pushing if that is what you feel like doing, and to just listen to your body. I think a lot of times doctors/nurses will say, "Oh! You're at a 10...let's start pushing." Often, your body still might not be ready for that, and you could end up pushing for hours. (Luckily, Owen was a quick delivery for me.) So I think it's about working with your body rather than against it, or forcing it to do something it is not ready for.

And lastly, the birth videos. I really love watching births. I've been to three live births (not counting my own), and even the videos of births totally awe and amaze me. I LOVE them. So I was happy to watch each of the videos we saw not only showing the miracle of life, but also women who so gracefully and beautifully delivery their babies in a natural, unmedicated way. The last one we watched had me in tears. And then (funny enough), my friend emailed the same video to me saying it was of her friend and she thought I might like it. Here it is...in case you want to watch. I just did again. And cried. Again. Miles always mocks me because he thinks it's a little too "epic" if you will. But I don't care. I like it, and I hope my baby's birth is just as beautiful and done with as much poise.

There you have it. I am definitely omitting a lot of information, but that's because 1) it's not all fresh in my head from the classes and 2) I covered the basics. I would highly recommend taking the classes. I still haven't finished the book (shame on me), but I've read a lot and skimmed through most of it. I'm trying to practice my breathing and relaxation techniques. I still need to be better about doing both on a daily basis. I'm definitely getting excited for the delivery. I know I'll be anxiously awaiting as the time gets closer. Only five more weeks! Squee!

HypnoBirthing Part II

Today was my second class. Miles did not come with me today since he has a lot of work to do. While Cara said it would be ok for him to miss some classes, there's a part of me that would also like him to be there so he can be on the same page as me and hopefully be a good support during the birth. I'll just have to fill him in really well.


Since my last class I've been reading the book I was given in the first week, HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method. I'm only about 40 pages in, but I am really enjoying it so far. Here is a quote that really encouraged me and made me feel more positive about this choice I've made to delivery my baby naturally.


"I could not believe that a God who had created the body with such perfection could have designed a system of procreation that was flawed.... Why are the lesser animals blessed with smooth, easy birthing while we, the very highest of creatures, made in the image and likeness of God, are destined to suffer?"


I couldn't agree more. Every birth that I have witnessed (three others besides my own) has brought me to tears. I find the whole experience so beautiful. Why should bringing life into this world be something so terrible, painful and awful? I should state here, that I also appreciate that in the book she reiterates that this method is most useful for women experiencing a normal pregnancy without any special circumstances. I felt this was important as I know many women who have had extreme difficulty and life-threatening problems in their deliveries. Obviously, HypnoBirthing cannot prevent or change those circumstances. Anyway, I've been enjoying reading the positive stories and experiences of women (and men as their birthing companions) in birthing their babies.


So today this is what we covered in class: Prenatal bonding, Working as partners, Slow Breathing, Deep Relaxation, birth videos, Touch Massage, and Scripts.


We talked about the different types of breathing to help produce a feeling of relaxation. I must say, I often enjoy these different practices we do because it helps me to feel very relaxed and nearly fall asleep! Luckily, Cara doesn't get mad when I get too sleepy. :) In fact, today she read through a relaxation script while having a nice waterfall-like sound playing and diffusing Serenity herbs. It was so great to just lie there and listen to her while I encouraged my mind and body into a relaxation state. We discussed afterwards that it is also positive to have affirmations read while doing this because when you are in a relaxed state, your mind is less likely to retort back with negative thoughts or contradictions. I also think it is helpful to have those positive affirmations embedded into your subconscious so you hopefully start believing them before you even realize it.


I liked the discussion on "breathing the baby down" and visualizing the baby coming down. One of the affirmations Cara said she liked (and I agree) is, "Each surge brings me closer to my baby." I think that will be helpful to imagine each surge as a positive thing my body is doing to help my baby enter this world, rather than something negative that is just causing me pain. It was also interesting to think about how we are told to push our babies out, when in reality, if we just waited and did nothing, our body would do it on its own. I know this is true, because when I was in labor with Owen and practiced my pushes, he started crowning after just three sets of pushes. The nurse told me to stop and not do anything (laugh, sneeze, push, etc.) and to wait for the doctor. But I could tell with each contraction surge I had, that he was coming out anyway. So back to what I was saying...rather than just holding my breath, pushing, and forcing the baby out in a way that isn't as productive, I can help breath the baby out in a manner that works with my body.


I feel like so much of what I am learning makes sense to me. Our bodies truly are made to do this. It's no accident in how we were created and meant to bring life to this earth. I also liked watching a birthing video of a woman who does an *amazing* job of using HypnoBirthing and hardly utters more than a few moans while delivering her baby. Crazy awesome. I don't know that I'm expecting everything to go just as perfectly for me, but why not aim for it and visualize a positive experience?


More to come next week....

HypnoBirthing Part I

I finally started a HypnoBirthing class. I chose to take this class for a few reasons. First of all, I decided that for this delivery I'd like to go "natural"/sans medication. I know that for me, I would need some support and guidance in making that happen. I don't want to go in there saying, "Oh, I'll try to go natural and if it doesn't work out I'll just get an epidural." I think going in there with that attitude, there's a 99.9% chance I'll just end up with an epidural. I figure the more determined I am ahead of time will help me remain so during my actual labor and delivery. I have a number of friends who have said good things to me about the HypnoBirthing ideas and program and have had positive experiences with it themselves. My doctor was also very supportive of me taking the classes and said that they have really great information and ideas in them. And a friend, Cara Dahlquist, from my old ward said that she was going to start teaching the classes, so I decided to jump on it and sign up. Here is a link to her website.


A friend of mine said she wanted me to blog about my experience with the classes, and I figure this is a good way to remind me of what I'm learning and solidify my birth plan. So here it goes...


There are five classes, each 2 1/2 hours long. Miles attended the first class with me. The basic ideas that were covered were: Physiology of birth, Fear/Tension/Pain Syndrome, What Hypnosis is and is not


I thought it was interesting to learn about how your body works during delivery and understand better how each organ functions. Apparently the uterus has multiple muscles that work in conjunction with each other to help bring the baby down and into the birth canal for delivery. It was interesting to learn how different medications, such as Pitocin, can be counter-productive and actually work against your uterine muscles.


We also discussed letting go of preconceived fears that you have regarding labor and delivery. The HypnoBirthing program suggests using different words/phrases for commonly used words/phrases in birthing, to elicit a more calm/peaceful imagery. For example: use surge instead of contraction or special circumstances instead of complications, etc.... There was a long list of terms. Initially I thought this sounded kind of silly to me. When I hear the term contraction I don't immediately think of something negative. To me it just sounds like a medical term. However, as she read through the two different lists of terms, the latter (HypnoBirthing terms) did sound more gentle and calming. And while I do think I've heard a lot of wonderful birthing stories, I also think there is some residual fear/tension that is brought up at the idea of delivering a baby naturally.


Along these same lines, HypnoBirthing also suggests to not hear a lot of negativity regarding births. Again, I thought this was kind of silly since it is what it is. I mean, really, no matter what you plan for, you can never say with 100% assurance that things will go according to plan. However, as a therapist with past experience and understanding regarding behaviors in connections with thought processes, I can also see that filling your mind with positive words, experiences, imagery, and visualization can really make a difference in an outcome.


Overall, it was a good introduction to HypnoBirthing and in getting me to think about how I want my baby's birth to go. I thought Cara did a great job and was not overly pushy and crazy eccentric about these things. She expressed how it has worked for her, but also displayed no judgement toward mothers who use epidurals or don't deliver their babies naturally. I'm excited to learn more and work on preparing my mind and body for a wonderful birthing experience!