Using Hypnotherapy to Birth
as nature intended...
Using Hypnotherapy to Birth as Nature Intended
‘Your body is naturally designed to conceive, nurture and birth your baby with ease and comfort’
The trend of choosing to birth using hypnotherapy is growing in popularity, especially with celebrities such as Jessica Alba, Cindy Crawford, Jade Jagger, Demi Moore and many others using it with great success.
However for most people it doesn’t even come into their ‘Richter Scale’ of thinking until they find themselves pregnant, then they become curious…
What exactly is hypno-birthing?
In a nutshell it’s a natural approach that puts you in control of your birthing. By giving you tools and techniques (including self-hypnosis/learning to deeply relax) you are able you to utilise the power of your mind to allow you to work with your body and baby, ensuring a safer, easier and more comfortable way to birth.
Digressing slightly… ever seen a farmer urging the birthing cow to ‘push, push, push’?
No… because the cow doesn’t know it ‘should’ feel afraid, so it is relaxed, which means its calf is born relaxed and alert, and is standing and feeding within minutes!
So why do we think we are so different? Why do we think there is going to be pain?
Because we have been conditioned to think so – but it is simply not true! It is all in our mind.
The problem is when we are afraid or panic, our body goes into ‘Fight or Flight mode’ causing adrenalin to surge through our body, diverting blood to the major muscle groups ready for ‘the danger’. However this also reduces the blood flow to our uterus and placenta, and therefore to our baby.
Hypnotherapy works to guide you to let go of fears, relax deeply and learn to trust yourself and your own body to birth your baby.
Using hypnotherapy for childbirth you learn to relax your body deeply.
FACT: When you are deeply relaxed your uterus opens and expands naturally, working with the rhythms of your baby and opening your cervix.
When you are scared, your body goes into panic mode. Which means it pumps adrenalin, and all your blood rushes to your major organs – away from your uterus, which in effect slows down labour.
You don’t need synthetic drugs.
FACT: When you are deeply relaxed you release natural endorphins, which are 200 times stronger than morphine, meaning a shorter labour.
By taking drugs not only do you make yourself groggy and risk missing out on the experience but you give your baby drugs too – so instead of starting its way in the world clear-headed and alert, they will feel drugged too!
There is no pain, just pressure.
FACT: There are three levels of pain – sensory (the pressure you will feel), suffering (the feeling/emotions) and mental anguish (helplessness, frustration).
These are the things we build on and grow in our minds, to make the pain worse.
Using hypnotherapy you can ‘turn down’ or even stop the last two levels of pain. Using mind distraction techniques, plus tools in hypnosis you can manage discomfort and even make some areas numb when you need to, just by using your imagination!
Breathing and visualisation Techniques
FACT: Oxygen is the most important fuel for the working muscles in the uterus. Your baby also needs a constant, continual supply of oxygen. Breathing and staying relaxed enables a quicker labour and a safer delivery.
Practising three techniques; sleep breathing (between surges), slow breathing (during surges) and birth breathing (for the birth), with guided imagery beforehand, means when the exciting time comes for you to have your baby, you know what do and your focus on relaxing, breathing and visualisation helps your baby stay safe and arrive quicker.
Your baby knows what is going on before birth.
FACT: You are a mother as soon as you know your baby is growing inside of you, it is already looking to you for your love and protection.
Enjoy this time; rest, indulge, prepare and focus on your baby and enjoy the anticipation. Let go of pressures and stress – do you really need to work to the last drop?
Allow yourself to slow down and put yourself and your baby first. Give yourself time and enjoy the journey... and be an active participant during birth
Evidence shows pre-born and newborn babies are aware, sensitive and feeling human beings who are participants in pregnancy and birth.
Just think how would you like to come into the world?
Image 1: Being forced into the world to bright lights, loud (though well meaning) voices ‘You’re nearly there, you’re doing well’, a feeling of fear and maybe panic all around, a stranger holding you…needles…feeling groggy.
Or
Image 2: Moving through the birth canal with your natural rhythm, coming out into the world into a calm environment, caught by your parent, feeling alert and connected.
Note: There is never a guarantee that something out of the ordinary won’t happen – but there is a guarantee if you are relaxed and calm, that you will make better decisions and your baby will also benefit from your ‘care of them’.
“How we give birth matters! What our babies experience shapes who they are" Kim Wildner
I enjoy the journey with ‘my parents-to-be’, empowering them to ‘plug into’ their inner resources, to really connect with their unborn child and make the decision to actively participate in making their birth truly amazing – the best experience possible.
Vicky Cooper – Hypnotherapist (027) 329 0364
