James and I went to our first hypnobabies class, and we have A LOT of homework. :) It's kind of fun to have assignments and be responsible for doing them. Our instructor, Kelly, is very nice and was very helpful with questions and concerns we had. We learned a lot, got a lot of things answered, and James and I are both pretty excited for the class. If I understand it correctly, we have 6 classes, and since there will be a short break in between classes in March, our class will end sometime the middle of April. After that, until the baby is here, we are supposed to continue to practice and continue with our own personal studies everyday. So it does take a lot of committment. But I'm really looking forward to it and hope with each new thing I learn it continues to give me the confidence I need to have the positive birth experience I am hoping for.
One thing that they did point out was to only listen to positive experiences and to stop people from making you feel bad about the type of birth you are looking for. So please, thank you for wanting to share your experiences and opinions - but until our journey is over with this pregnancy, please don't share any horror stories with us or share negative feelings about trying to have a peaceful, calm birth experience. We would love for positive information and feelings that will help us achieve our goal, so please feel free to share any of those type of comments at any time.
Some positive things I noticed from our first class:
*They stress the important role of a birth partner. We're supposed to do all our reading and assignments TOGETHER, and they are really trying to get it across that this isn't a singular journey for just the mom. Our baby's father plays a very important role in birth as well. James has his own scripts, assignments, CDS, etc. to listen to and he will definitely be very involved this pregnancy. I think that helps me feel like I don't shoulder so much of the load, and it helps me feel more confidence knowing that I have someone that will be with me the entire time - and not just at the end.
*They work hard on giving mom's confidence. I'll admit I was a little nervous because I feel I have been a little conditioned in what friends and family have told me about their experiences, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to really have the confidence that I could actually do this on my own. In the back of my mind, even though I told myself I shouldn't, I still had those little thoughts that I probably couldn't do it. The pain would be too much, and I would end up having the same experience as I had with Jack - feeling like I was not in control of the situation and simply doing what someone else told me to do. Luckily, these classes take into affect that many women feel the same way I do - and as long as you commit to listening to information and working hard on your excercizes and really committing to the program then it continues to help you release the fear of pain and labor and get more and more confidence in what your body was made for. I am continually impressed and amazed at how perfectly our body works to create this new baby, and the more I learn about it the more confidence I have that I can do this!
*They want you to work with your partner and communicate with each other as a partnership. It was the two of you before the baby was even introduced, and it is important that you continue to develop that. As long as you continue to be open and honest with each other it actually helps the birthing process and everything go smoother. We actually have communication assignments each week where we discuss different subjects about how we are feeling about the baby, how we feel other peoples responses are to our choice to go with hypnobabies, etc. It's actually really nice to know that they stress the importance of working with your partner and that they, again, have a very important role in your life and your baby's life.
We are taking the class with just one other couple so it is a very intimate and quiet setting, which is nice. It is actually pretty funny because when we did introductions we found out we both were waiting to find out the gender of our baby. The moms wanted to wait, the dads wanted to find out - so we both had the ultrasound technician write it down on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope. How odd is that? Ha. They actually gave the envelope to one of their parents to hold on to so they wouldn't be tempted to open it. That's probably a good idea. ;)
If anyone has any more questions about hypnobabies please leave me a comment. This is obviously very new to me, so If I don't know the answer, I will find it out, and get back to you! :)
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13 years ago
2 comments:
I have a few thoughts to share:
I know I read your birth experience with Jack, but I don't remember all of it.
I don't think either of my deliveries was terrible. It hurt (as I knew it would, but not any way I could have imagined without going through it). Actually, for me it's not the labor and delivery that I complain about, it's seriously the pregnancy. If pregnancy only lasted a couple months, I would do it way more times.
On with what I was going to say:
Having done it once (both times without drugs by the way- 1st time was because I ran out of time, 2nd time by choice) I sort of knew what to expect from my body. I knew that contractions would get closer and stronger. And I knew I would recognize the urge to push. I even tried to help things along by trying to push (it didn't help until it was the right time). So be confidant in knowing that you've had a baby before and things were fine (generally speaking- you have a healthy baby) and so you can do it again.
I remember reading (while pregnant with Sean) about some techniques to practice avoiding thinking about pain. One of them was to put a piece of ice on your hand for a couple minutes at a time and not focusing on it. Something like that anyway. It was a good tactic because it's not really pain, but it's still something physical to ignore.
A guy in our ward just told a story of a patient (he's a dentist) who turned down pain meds for a filling saying that her faith in Jesus would get her through it. He said he was totally nervous the whole time and when it was done and told her it was finished she just said "Praise Jesus!" I don't know if I have the faith to do without drugs during a tooth being drilled, but I did ok delivering 2 babies. You can do it too.
If with all your practice, it still hurts, don't feel bad. It's a painful thing, but not terribly. I cried with Matthew, but I think part of it was because I was so tired.
I felt a little pressured to have the baby sooner than later that day, but that's my own weirdness. It was getting later and later into the night (maybe NOT having a clock would have been better) and I was feeling bad about keeping the doctor up. And my inlaws had driven down and were going to drive back after Matthew was born. Silly, I know, but that was in my mind.
Do what works for you and I'm totally excited to hear how well it goes for you.
Also, my friend and I were talking about tearing and she said she thinks NOT doing kegel exersizes is the key. She has a friend that has 3 kids and she did kegels with the first 2 and tore and didn't do them with the 3rd and was fine. I did them ofter with the 1st and tore and I nearly never did them this last time and didn't tear. I have NO medical authority on that, but I thought it was interesting.
Good luck!!!
The second time around is a lot easier, in my opinion. I think it is because your body and you know what to expect. Your body has done this once before and so it will do it again, and it will do it much better than it did before. I have to say that this last birthing experience was awesome! I was confident and positive the entire time and I think that that really helped. Having your husband by your side and helping by talking to you and taking your mind off things is also very helpful. I always try to be extra nice to the nurses and doctors. I think that it helps the atmosphere in the room and a happy nurse makes a happier birthing experience. I know this is all kind of random. I think the best advice is to stay positive and gain some confidence. Your body knows what to do and you have to remember that you've done this once, you can do it again!
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