Getting to know my Options... Childbirth Education

Jim and I start our childbirth class tomorrow. We're both a little bit nervous, but mostly excited. I've done a lot of research with this pregnancy (if you couldn't guess from this entire blog) and have really had my eyes opened to a lot of new information out there.

I've posted before why it is a good idea to be educated about handling labor with natural childbirth techniques. Originally I started researching it mostly so I would be able to handle labor pain a little better this time around. When I was induced it was so intense that my body really was having a hard time with it, and I was progressing very slowly. I was lucky enough to get an epidural just a few hours later, but I know things could have gotten very bad had I not been able to. I just had no idea how to relax and deal with the pain. So I promised myself that I would be a little more informed, work harder at relaxation techniques, and maybe hold out and do a lot better. Last time I got my epidural as soon as my doctor let me (when I was barely 3 cm) and I know that your odds of intervention are a lot lower the further progressed you are (such as being dilated 5 or 6 cm, etc).

I have heard of the Lamaze Classes before, and had been recommended the Bradley Method by a few friends. I actually have done a lot of research on both methods, but I'll save that information until another post.

The best class that I found for the type of experience I want has been using hypnotheraphy in childbirth, called hypnobirthing. Like the other methods, this method helps the laboring woman break the "Fear-Tension-Pain Syndrome" which makes labor more difficult. With hypnobirth you use positive affirmations, suggestions, and visualizations to relax your body, guide your thoughts, and control your breathing.

Normally when the word "hypnosis" is mentioned we think of those stories where people get hypnotized and do embarrassing things and have no recollection of what they are doing. Actually hypnosis can be used in a variety of ways, including therapeutically in many areas of medicine - such as during childbirth.

I was introduced to hypnobirthing through both of my sisters, who used hypnotherapy during their childbirth with their last two babies. I'll be honest - at first I thought they were a little nuts when they told me about it. The idea of going through labor and delivery with nothing but your mind to get you through it? C'mon. Crazy. My older sister even had us do a quick relaxation exercise with a script she had used. I had a hard time not feeling ridiculous as I lay there listening, so needless to say I never really got 'into it' and left being grateful that James hadn't been there to make fun of me.

However I couldn't quite get over the fact that both sisters were able to go through labor with out any interventions. I didn't even know normal people could go through labor naturally, or even would want to. I thought that was reserved for 'crack pots' who wanted to prove that they were tough, and that did not fit my sisters at all. My older sister admitted that it was hard at some points, but her recovery was so much different than her first two births (with epidurals). She always mentions how different she looks in her pictures with her sons right after they are born and her daughters. My younger sister actually said that she went through most of her labor without pain! I thought that sounded a little crazy, but she really was so relaxed and in her own zone that she didn't experience pain with childbirth until half an hour before her son was born (when she had to start pushing). Luckily the nurses and midwives were able to help her from there, but that still shocked me that she could experience that kind of childbirth... From what I had heard childbirth was supposed to be the worst pain a human experiences... It wasn't supposed to be pain free.

I didn't think too much more of hypnobirthing until our own childbirth instructor (from the hospital) told us she had used hypnobirthing for her 7th child and it was the best birth and recovery she had had. Even though she was not an instructor for it, she gave us all a general idea of what hypnobirthing is about. Generally you use imagery and your imagination to get you very relaxed through various scripts. She had us do some imagery scripts that she had, and they didn't really work very well for me. But when she had James come up with his own I found it worked really well. He would choose things that were easy for me to imagine (such as our trip to Hawaii, or my home in California, etc). We took the class 2 weeks before our due date, and we didn't really practice on our own... so it's not really that much of a shock that they didn't work to calm me down when I actually was in labor. Actually when I hit where I was in a lot of pain it just annoyed me when James would do just about anything, but if he left my side it made me even more mad. So the poor guy really didn't know what to do, and I didn't know what I wanted him to do either. After Jack was born and I would have a hard time relaxing with the afterbirth pain (breastfeeding mostly) James would use some of those scripts he had come up with (have me imagine being back at home, very comfortable, in no pain, etc) and it actually worked really well. I would fall asleep on his arm and not really care about the pain anymore.

I think because of this James was a little more open to the idea of doing hypnobirthing, because he likes the idea of me not 'embracing' my childbirth pains (like in the bradley method, for example) but instead zoning it out entirely. :) I like that idea too.

We are actually doing hypnobabies, which is a little different than the classes my sisters took. From what I've read, people have had an even better reaction with hypnobabies than hypnobirth classes, so that is why we chose to go that route.

For those who are interested in learning more about hypnobirthing, I think I'll post a follow-up blog entry that explains it more in depth, and I will most likely give updates on how I am liking our childbirth class. We both have never really done anything like this before, so it will be interesting to see how it all turns out. :)