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Hypno-Birthing
Overcome
your fear of childbirth - Hypnotherapy in Bristol and Bath to
help Mum, Dad, and Baby to experience a positive pregnancy,
labour, birth, and future!
Childbirth
in the Western Hemisphere
Bringing a
child into the World is one of the greatest joys a person can
know in life.
Unfortunately,
actually giving birth to a child has become a source of great
concern and anxiety for many people in the modern Western
World (including men!). Fear of child birth is very common.
You may be surprised to learn that we in the West experience
many more complications and problems with regards to
childbirth than women in India! Why? Well, first of
all......if you are pregnant and reading this, you'll probably
be the first to agree that there are no shortage of horror
stories about giving birth, and no shortage of people lining
up to give you those stories first hand?! Furthermore, if you
are lucky enough to have souls around you sensitive enough to
recognise that these stories don't help you, then there's
always the TV or a magazine to remind you of the bad news!
Western images of childbirth are largely images of pain and
suffering. Simply put, modern western culture seems largely to
have concluded that childbirth is an agonising and torturous
ordeal to be endured, and now perhaps, even avoided. Elective
Caesarean has become increasingly common as a result. It is
useful to understand some of the reasons for this increase in
elective Caesarean rates but since the subject is unavoidably
polarised and political I have excluded any discussion from
this page and have just said a few words about it here
if you would like to read more.
The important
point to note though is simply that many women have become so
traumatised by the images of birth we are most commonly
exposed to that there is a feeling that surgery would be
preferable. There aren't many things in life that seem so
terrible that we'd actually choose major surgery as a viable
alternative, and it does just go to illustrate how deep the
fear runs for many women.
However, a
little understanding can go a long long way. Childbirth is as
natural as breathing. Without wanting to state the obvious,
it's important to get this into perspective. Women have been
giving birth for as long as our species has existed...to all
intents and purposes...since always. Having a baby is okay!
It's not an illness! It is often a beautiful
experience....intense yes....but beautiful still.
Why
difficulties arise....
Obviously,
there are occasionally complications which are outside of our
control but as with all things in life, our experience often
conforms to our expectations. If we have been told that
something will be dreadful, and we believe the hype, then
often our experience will match, mostly as a result of the
messages we send to ourselves. To explain; if we
"worry" about something, then we are sending a
message to our subconscious mind that the future situation is
a situation which can be considered to be dangerous. If we are
terribly uncomfortable about a future situation, then that is
the way that the subconscious mind will read it.....as
dangerous. Now, reading danger in the environment, the
protective subconscious mind decides that it is necessary to
create a fight or flight response to the situation and we
experience that sensation as fear.
Now, if we
are continuously anxious at the prospect of giving birth, then
we are compounding the idea that the birthing process is
dangerous.....an idea which the subconscious mind will take on
board and respond to, both in the run up to the birth and
during the birthing process itself. When labour begins
therefore....the subconscious mind recognises that this is the
big dreadful moment of danger that you have been ruminating
about (warning of). Of course, it then supplies you with a
massive fight or flight response (designed to help you survive
the situation) which sends you into fear, tension, and as a
result......pain. It is the tension which causes the most
problems. Being wound up tightly like a clock spring is not
helpful when your whole being is essentially trying to
"release"....to do what it knows how to do
naturally. Tension merely gets in the way...lengthening the
labour time.....creating pain, and generally giving Mum and
Baby a much harder time than is necessary. And, emotionally
too, of course, the whole experience can be fraught with
angst, which can be terribly unsatisfying, and for some, even
traumatic. But, it doesn't have to be this way at all....
Hypnosis
for Childbirth
Hypnosis is
an extremely powerful tool for aiding natural childbirth. It
works on many levels. Firstly, and most importantly it teaches
you to relax. Relaxation is always the key to reducing our
anxiety about things...whatever they are! If there have been
previous traumatic births or even if you are having persistent
negative projections about potential births then there are
techniques available to remove the emotionality held around
those memories, thus helping to create a "clean
slate" on which to base your new expectations. You will
also learn quick and easy self-hypnosis techniques. Knowing
how to move easily and quickly into a deeply relaxed state of
being allows you to have absolute confidence in your ability
to cope beautifully with the process of giving birth, and also
gives you the tools to dissociate yourself from any discomfort
you might be experiencing. Your partner will also be taught to
help you deepen your state of relaxation on the day if you
wish. You may be aware that many people can experience drug
free analgesia (pain relief) and anaesthesia (complete
numbness) under hypnosis, and this also can be learned if
required as a part of your treatment.
As explained
earlier, our expectation of a given situation often dictates
our ultimate experience of that event. So following the same
line of logic, it's easy to see how to create the experience
that you want to have. Using suggestion based hypnotherapy and
re-framing techniques, it's possible to send an entirely
positive image of the forthcoming birth to your subconscious
mind. Then, if you've followed the rules, come the day
of your labour, you'll find that your subconscious mind will
support you wonderfully through the whole
process...recognizing that you're not anxious about the
situation and that there is therefore no need for any fight or
flight type response......the birthing situation is normal,
there's no danger, and the subconscious mind can get on then
with doing what it does best ...supporting you naturally
through the birthing process....everything remaining very
calm......very normal....very beautiful.
It's also
possible to address potential difficulties using hypnosis.
Mums' blood pressure, amongst other difficulties such as
insomnia and discomfort can be helped using visualization or
self hypnosis techniques. Breech, transverse, or face
presentation babies also can sometimes be persuaded to turn
into the correct birthing position using hypnosis, thus
avoiding C-Section intervention.
Some Reported
Benefits of Using Hypnosis for Childbirth
• Improved
sleep prior to birth and afterwards
• Reduction
of heartburn
• Control
of blood pressure
• Removal
of fear and anxiety
• Less need
for induction of labour
• Fewer
drugs or no drugs means less risk of side effects on mother
and baby
• Shorter
labours - resistance of the birthing muscles as a response to
pain is minimised or eliminated
• Increased
production of oxytocin, the hormone that controls the strength
and duration of the contractions. The subconscious is in
charge of this and if the mother is stressed it will be read
as 'Danger' - not a good time to give birth - so there
will be conflict between the body and the mind resulting in a
reduced production of this hormone. When there is a good
supply of oxytocin contractions ultimately can be more
comfortable.
• An awake
energised mother due to total relaxation throughout the
birthing process
• A calm
peaceful birthing atmosphere
• Breech
and posterior babies can be turned using hypnosis
• Fewer
interventions and complications during labour
• A
plentiful milk supply
• Babies
who sleep and feed better due to fewer drugs in their systems
• Mothers
who are less tired and more confident
Treatment
Treatment,
ideally, is begun around the 32 week stage of pregnancy.
Labour usually starts between 37 and 42 weeks. We would meet
for an initial consultation (which is one hour and free) and
then I would expect to see someone for four weekly sessions
thereafter. If there is trauma to deal with from past births
then you would expect to add at least one more weekly session
into the equation, so you might decide to come slightly
earlier than 32 weeks. Also, of course if you are in early
pregnancy and are worrying excessively about the birth, you
would be well advised to visit earlier, since anxiety tends to
increase if left untreated. Between sessions you will have
hypnosis CD's to work with and you will be also practicing
self-hypnosis techniques. Self hypnosis, like any skill,
becomes easier and stronger with practice, so the more
practice you put in, the better you'll be at it! Partners are
welcome too and they of course can be included in many ways.
Although strictly speaking the hypnosis parts of the
treatments are structured towards Mum, Dad can certainly
benefit from some de-stressing too!
This is
lovely positive work for me to do. I enjoy it enormously, and
it should be noted that this work is suitable even for people
who are not overly anxious about their forthcoming birth but
who simply want to make sure it's as wonderful as it possibly
can be.
For general
pregnancy and childbirth information and assistance, please
see the National Childbirth Trust website which you can access
by clicking here.
If you'd like
to book a consultation, then please contact me by clicking
here. |
