If you are already balking at the very concept of a pain free birth, I urge you to stick with me over the next few weeks! As many of you know, I am weeks away from delivering our second child. I am extremely excited for “the day” and looking forward to the entire birthing experience.
I initially began researching home water births however I soon realized that this was going to be difficult given the lack of midwives in our area and my 16 week delay in getting the ball rolling due to nasty morning sickness.
My next step was to begin researching other alternate birth experiences and immediately found a great HypnoBirthing story from Tiffany@Nature Moms. I decided to look into it further and bought the book HypnoBirthing: The Mongon Method. Needless to say, the book has rocked my world! This combined with a recent conversation with a stranger will contribute a great deal to the following articles.
In this article, read about some basics of HypnoBirthing. Soon after, I’ll follow with my own HypnoBirthing experience!
I hope you’ll join me. This series is very close to my heart because ultimately it involves a discussion about our unlimited potential and power as women. Whether or not HypnoBirthing is for you, I hope this series will inspire you as it has inspired me. By the end of this series, I hope to have started a discussion about our own birth expectations, to imagine what could be possible if we chose another way to relate to birth, and what this could mean for a generation of future moms?
When you change the way you view birth, the way you birth will change. Marie F. Mongan
What is HypnoBirthing?
HypnoBirthing puts aside the myth that pain must be associated with childbirth.
When a woman is in tune with her body and is able to relax her mind along with her muscles, the birthing process is much easier. We already know that what lingers in the mind is felt by the body as real so using mind/body relaxation techniques are very helpful anytime, and especially during labor. Relaxing and breathing is something that is not easy during the intense labor process but with practice the woman is able to relax the muscles, especially the muscles of the uterine that facilitates the entire process.
HypnoBirthing is a natural process and differs immensely from the medical process.
It incorporates the use of breathing techniques, self-hypnosis and imagery for a shorter and easier birthing process. HypnoBirthing helps to eliminate FEAR, believed to be the main cause of pain and birth complications. Many women have been noted to have not experienced pain when using the method of HypnoBirthing. Marie Mongan, the founder of the HypnoBirthing Institue in New Hampshire, developed the method is now known as “HypnoBirthing – The Mongan Method”.
The entire method revolves around removing the FEAR associated with childbirth.
Many times we are afraid of the unknown and is heightened with many subtle suggestions that are common with our cultural experience with birth. (more on this in the next article) The HypnoBirthing method will help a woman reclaim her body, learn to relax and enjoy the process of childbirth. When a woman is made aware of how the body functions during the birthing process (instead of all the possible things that can go wrong!) she will be able to relax and be in perfect harmony with her body instead of fighting against it.
With HypnoBirthing you are not under a trance or asleep.
You are fully aware of the entire process and in full control, as a woman should be. You will be completely relaxed and aware of your body’s surges. Surge is a term used in place of contractions. Contractions is associated with pain where a surge is just the feeling you will experience during the childbirth process. Language is very important in the HypnoBirthing process, because your body will react to words differently; the use of positive words helps the mind and body relax.
Here are some of the advantages to using the HypnoBirthing method:
- Removes the fear associated with childbirth
- Reduces the need for chemical painkillers
- Eliminates the fatigue associated with childbirth
- Reduces the first stage of labor by several hours
- Promotes the special bonding between mother and child as well as birthing partner
- Makes the birthing process a beautiful experience as nature intended
- More rapid post-natal recovery
As you read the basics about HypnoBirthing, can you imagine a birth that is actually pain free? What if women looked towards their labor with excitement and anticipation instead of fear?
These are my thoughts on living a healthy and simple life. I'm a modern mom with some traditional ideas. At home, I try to clear the confusion from all the conflicting health and parenting advice with some common sense and a natural philosophy. This is the sanest way I know how to navigate the 21 century.
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This CAN work! You can do it.
I used this method and had a not so natural birth – my doctor and nurses kept switching out my monitor because they didn’t believe what IT was saying about the contractions (pitocin induced no less) that I was having vs. what the monitor was claiming. I eventually did need an epidural but my turkey monkey was sunny-side up and not coming out, so it was more from exhaustion than what little pain I felt. Good luck!!
Mistys last blog post..Soup without food in it.
Oh wow….wish I had all these info that you are now having on your site years ago before the birth of my first child!! Hypnobirthing sounds fascinating! I’d be glad for any method that can remove deep fears. I remember being so fearful of the pain!! If I have a chance to do it all over again, I know I’d do things differently for sure!
Will you be intending to try out Hypnobirthing? Exciting! Looking forward to reading more of your posts. I can just help to spread the word to more women out there who are hoping to become mothers.
Evelyn Lims last blog post..5 Wealth Affirmations From Famous Authors
I am 6 months along with my 7th child and although all of my births have been natural – none have been pain free! I am looking forward to this series and hope you’ll guest post about your experiences! Thanks for writing about this…off to buy the book!
You amaze me. How you can manage to have such strength and confidence, it’s inspiring. I’m looking forward to your stories and hoping everything goes smoothly for you.
Sommer @greenmoms last blog post..Can the Ford Fiesta Handle This Green Mom?
I used the HypnoBirthing method for our daughter (our first) who was born 9 months ago and I cannot say enough wonderful things about it! We live in Colorado and are lucky enough to be close to the only free standing birthing center in the state which is how we heard about it.
Long story short we ended up having the birth at the hospital in the OR (operating room) because we found out at 37 weeks that she was breech and it’s required by law. HB really helped me with this shift as they have a whole section dedicated to accepting major changes.
My labor lasted about 8 hours start to finish . I was able to push her out with no drugs, using all the skills I learned in HB. I felt like I was in a deep mediation. Totally calm and relaxed, breathing deeply and concentrated in the moment. I never once felt scared or out of control. The “pain” was totally manageable and I never got to the point where I wanted drugs (and I should mention that I’m a huge wimp and HATE pain).
The OR was full of interns and other doctors simply observing the birth because they had never seen a vaginally breech delivery. Our daughter was born healthy and happy and has been an angel ever since.
So good for you! You’re going to have an AMAZING birth! I’m already looking forward to the next one. : )
joli kestanos last blog post..The Crafty & Creative Mama List
I prepared my entire pregnancy for a natural birth at home, in the water. My husband and I read and believed every word in “Husband-Coached Childbirth” and I read every book, article and website about natural birth that I possibly could. I watched videos. I was extremely well informed and was NOT afraid of birth. In fact, I was excited about it. Yes, I knew about meditation, allowing the contractions to do their thing and not being afraid of the pain associated with them, and my husband was ready to support me through it with loving encouragement. The room would be dark, with candles, and quiet. Two midwives and my husband–that was it. No medications, just prayer and my own willpower.
I was totally ready for a peaceful birth, but all that changed the moment early labor began. I gave birth 24 hours later, naturally and in the water, to a beautiful and healthy boy, but the labor was out-of-this-world, insanely agonizing because he was posterior. I KNEW he was posterior before giving birth, but everything I had read said that that shouldn’t matter–I should still be able to give birth peacefully and without much pain. Even my midwives told me not to worry. I still feel wronged by that. I began labor remembering everything I had practiced and even read about posterior births, but nothing could have truly prepared me for that pain.
To make a long story short, there was absolutely nothing I could have done to avoid that pain. Having my tailbone stretched back by the baby’s badly-positioned head was not the same as a painful contraction, and my contractions were insanely painful because of his position anyway. I came away from the birth relieved that he eventually turned around and glad to have given birth naturally, with no meds, BUT much wiser and more down-to-earth: next time, I will not expect a pain-free birth, though I will do all the same things I did with this birth. I will still AIM for as little pain as possible, but know that things can go very differently from what I expect. I felt a bit deceived, having prepared the way I did, only to find out that there ARE some occasions when no amount of preparation or meditation or relaxation techniques will work because something is abnormal.
My only request? Don’t give women false hopes! Promote your relaxation techniques, but please include a note to women in unusual situations that they may, indeed, have a very painful labor. I wish I had known that. Oh, how I had prepared!
@Misty – Thanks for sharing your experience and for your encouragement. You show me that you were still able to manage your pain even with some “special circumstances.” Best wishes to you and your turkey monkey
@Evelyn – HpnoBirthing has certainly fascinated me too, especially for my second birth! Not only for the no pain aspect, because I can take that, but also for the power and faith it returns to women as participating in something they were designed to do. Thanks for joining me in this journey!
@Michelle – Wow Michelle, I’m humbled..7 Children How amazing. I hope you enjoy the book, I would love for you to tell us what you think with your experience, please come and visit again
@Sommer – Thank you for your support Sommer, as always.
@Joli – Your story is EXACTLY what has inspired me a great deal. Your calm and ability to deliver in this circumstance, because we have to accept that they do obviously happen, but wow! Awesome. Thanks for visiting.
@E – Thanks for visiting and sharing your perspective.You raise an important point about keeping things in perspective by understanding that there are circumstances that may not match our expectations. I can relate to the pain you describes because I had “back labor” and the contractions were barely noticeable compared to the ache.
I am not familiar with the “Husband-Coached Childbirth” (unless you mean the “Bradley method”) so all I can comment on is what I am learning from “The Mongon Method” As I understand, there is only one “HypnoBirthing” method that coaches for a “pain free” birth and that is the one I have referred to in this article.
I want to address your suggestion that I not give “false hopes” to other women:
Yes, I agree with you that a special “disclaimer” that not all births can be pain free would be appropriate, but at the same time, I wonder where we draw the line in sharing our experience versus influencing others (unintentionally) to doubt what they can achieve?
I would do an equal disservice to women to suggest that because I did not have my desired results (in anything in life) that others shouldn’t expect the best for themselves. HGM is all about transcending our limitations and creating the results we seek, even when there are multiple examples of it being “seemingly” impossible.
Rather than “false hope,” tens of thousands of women are indeed reporting that they ARE having a “pain free” birth and this is something to take notice of! Even in spite of special circumstances that arise. (Joli’s comment above is a good example)
This is a blog dedicated to “possibility” and challenging the deep social conditioning that teaches us that “what we see is what we get.”
You mention being “deceived” by what others told you, in their efforts to encourage you, because it provided you with a false hope?
If I can humbly ask? Was your birth plan solely about being pain free? It seems you went the extra mile to have a natural birth and from what little I can tell, you accomplished that? It was free of unnecessary intervention and you had a healthy and safe (although painful!) delivery. Perhaps, all the preparation you did allowed you to keep your peace of mind in an incredibly challenging situation so for that…how awesome!!
If in fact you would do it all over again, I would simply challenge you to rethink feeling “deceived.” If you did not have a special circumstance the second time around, why would you not aim for a “pain free” birth again?