Let’s face it, most women, given the choice, would love the short labour, quick birth, no drugs, no intervention and no stitches, right? Just “wanting” it, may not be enough for many women. This is why I teach Hypnobirthing, because it goes much deeper that just a “wish list”. It works, not only on deep relaxation, but aims to release fears and anxieties, at a conscious and subconscious level.
The subconscious mind is far, far more powerful than the conscious mind! That is why in Hypnobirthing we are aiming to fill the subconscious mind with positive language, positive affirmations, positive visualisations, reprogramming the mind to think differently about birthing, as well as conditioning and reminding the subconscious mind that birthing is primal. Birth works much better when the “conscious/chatty” part of the brain takes a back seat in birthing. Often this part of the brain gets overstimulated, and can inhibit the body doing what it was designed to do, which is to take over from the chatty part of the brain! Mothers in comas can give birth, their conscious brain in not involved, how amazing is that!
Hypnobirthing includes a series of tools and techniques aimed to educate and support the mother (and her birth partner) to know what is going on in her body, how hormones work, how the mind works and how the mind affects the body, the birthing muscles and birthing hormones.
Telling a women to just relax at the time of labour is usually not enough and most women do not just relax to a word or sentence at the time. In the medical model of birthing these days, most women need some preparation in advance. That is why I think that just a “wish list” may be insufficient. Also, when women say that they are just going to “go with the flow” ……well, whose flow are they going with? Is it a practised relaxation regime that they have repeated over and over again? Or is it a “just hope for the best” sort of flow at the time, as they didn’t want to “build their hopes up” “just in case it (“the birth plan”) went out of the window”.
Its a bit like, having a phobia or fear, (and many women are frightened to give birth, so it could be deemed a phobia), with varying degrees of fear, often due to all the negative birth stories and the way that childbirth is portrayed in the media; then someone tells a woman, “you’ll be fine” …..she may well be fine and have a great birth…..but if she has practised deep relaxation in advance over a period of time, is informed and empowered…..she is much more better place, mentally, physically and emotionally to make her labour and birth more manageable, more comfortable. Having a birth partner that is aware of your birth preferences, who is also informed and empowered is always a great idea, someone to advocate, to protect the mother, so that she can focus on birthing, reducing her “chatty” brain, to go primal ! Of course whoever is at your birth will have an impact, negatively or positively on your experience, and that includes health care professionals ! Ideally everyone in the birthing should be filled with OXYTOCIN !
I often hear mothers say that they wrote all of these positive “wishes” on their birth plan, with a previous pregnancy, but it didn’t happen. As I say, I think it is because “wanting” or”wishing” alone may not be enough. Of course it is important to focus on the positive “intention” and that may be a bare minimum, but taking a FULL Hypnobirthing course and taking time for daily relaxations are more likely to benefit more than just the “intention”.
A birth plan or birth preference sheet is never set in stone, as sometimes internal or external factors can dictate, whereby a deviation from the “plan” may occur. So, should this happen, wouldn’t it be much better that the mother and her birth partner have some tools or techniques to help them to accept the change, in a more relaxed manner? I think so, as no one benefits from a mother or birth partner who is full of adrenaline!! Adrenaline is contagious in a room, it affects positive birthing hormones like the magical Oxytocin and Endorphins which have a knock on effect on birthing muscles, causing them to become tense and cause more “pain” !! A relaxed body works more efficiently than a tense body.
Mothers in what we call “primitive” cultures probably don’t spend time on birth plans, they often just birth, usually having many babies, and they seem to have no issues (in the main) with birthing and certainly have less fear than many mothers in the West. This is because they are not birthing in a medical model ! They pass down the “birthing” culture, through generations of other women, so it is seen as the norm. This is what used to happen in the West, mothers had many babies, predominantly at home, children saw their siblings being born, it was the norm in the West too!
Hypnobirthing, for me is about reinventing the wheel, going back to basics, giving the birthing power back to the mothers, where it has always belonged !