Hypnobirthing

"We believe that every woman has within her the power to call upon her natural instincts to bring about the best possible birthing for her baby and herself"

-Marie F. Mongan

Let me start off by saying this post is entirely my opinion.  I am no expert on the subject of childbirth, if fact, I have no such experience, but nursing school and a bit of research has taught me a couple things...just a couple.

While in Labor & Delivery, I had the opportunity to attend a Hypnobirthing class and instantly became fascinated, intrigued, enthralled, in love...yes, all of those.  Hypnobirthing is not as odd as it sounds.  It doesn't include a hypnotist dangling a pocket watch in front of your face while you give birth or anything of that matter in fact.  The "hypo-" comes from the involvement of "self-hypnosis"-essentially practiced relaxation techniques.  It is a birthing method built on the theory that women are designed to give birth and have the capability of doing so naturally when they are properly prepared and educated.

Women have been giving birth naturally for thousands of years and in some parts of the world, there is still no other option, but in our society less than 40% of women give birth without an epidural.  Which is OKAY.  I am all for medical advances, technology.  Yes, I want to give birth in a hospital, and I totally get having an epidural-why suffer unnecessarily, right?  And while I would like to commit myself to never having an epidural, just due to my own personal opinions about better outcomes for mother and baby recovery, I have never had a baby and can't exactly predict what it will be like.  I am, however, very passionate about Hypnobirthing (in case you hadn't noticed), and hope, really hope, that it is something I will be blessed to experience.

Not only do a believe natural childbirth leads to better outcomes for mom and baby, I believe that childbirth is intended to be a very spiritual, sacred experience.  I feel I will be more spiritually in tune if my body is in a natural state, unmedicated, without an epidural.  Hypnobirthing classes teach a lot about the connection between our mental state and our physical state, their inseparable connection, and how we can use power of mind to impact our perception of pain.  Our society portrays women in labor horror stricken, panicked, and in the worst pain ever known to mankind.  Do you think this is the way God intended His children to be brought into mortality?  I don't.  I don't think labor needs to be this way, in fact, of the several labors I have observed and participated in, it has never been this way, medicated or unmedicated.  A woman's view of labor going into the experience has a huge impact on her experience.  The tension that so often builds up in the nine months preceding labor, due to stories heard or labors seen on movies or TV, most definitely creates pain.  On the contrary if a woman goes into labor knowing what to expect, prepared with relaxation techniques, support, and a plan, she will have the power to minimize pain and increase tolerance.  I won't go into the physiology of this principle, but it makes complete sense.  Yes, childbirth is hard, I don't think it was meant to be easy or painless, but I do believe it can be calm, spiritual, natural and with minimal and bearable pain.

So...let me explain what brought this rant about.  A girl I work with went to Hypnobirthing classes at IMC and just gave birth a couple of weeks ago.  She ended up going into labor about 4 weeks early and her labor lasted around 16 hours.  Not having talked to her, I assumed there was no way she could have gone through that without an epidural.  16 hours?  four weeks early? first labor?  totally justifiable to get an epidural.  (not that it needs to be justified...at all).  Anyways, I saw her today and as we talked about her labor she mentioned how easy her recovery was, attributing that to yes...going natural.  I cried.  Ha.  She was in labor for 16 hours, had to be given Pitocin, and still didn't get an epidural, and from what I heard, had an incredible experience. I was somewhat shocked and so proud of her, so yes... I cried.  The girls I work with probably think I am nuts, and maybe everyone will after this post...

but that is my two cents about childbirth.

This article also got me going...TOTALLY disagree with several points.  Women weren't "designed" for giving birth?!  Give me a break!  But interesting nonetheless.