Many of you have seen these posts and expressed interest in finding out more about Hypnobirthing. You can find all the posts I've written about it here:
My Discovery of Hypnobirthing:
The Hypnobabies Lessons I've blogged through:
And also be sure visit the Hypnobabies website, www.hypnobabies.com, for more great information. (Some of the Hypnobabies links embedded in my posts may be outdated since Hypnobabies has updated their website). If you have any questions or want more details, please feel free to send me a message and ask away!
--- --- ---
It’s that time again! It always seems like a switch goes off in my brain right around the 6 month mark, and now that I’m officially 24 weeks along (well almost 25), I’m fully in to the nesting phase and realizing that this little guy’s due date is in the not-so-distant future. Which means it’s time to dust off the books and get back to my Hypnobabies roots so I can do everything in my power to make his arrival as happy and painless as possible (and maybe relieve some endo pain in the process?).
 |
| 24 weeks! |
The Goal: to blog through my journey with each of the 5 at-home classes as a benchmark.
That way I get some accountability to stay on track and actually practice like I’m supposed to, and you get some…entertainment? Or more likely a reprieve from reading about the joys of birthing if you don’t care and decide to skip all the hypno-posts. Take it or leave it.
Today is “Zero Day,” and next Monday officially starts week 1. (Yes, I’m giving myself a whole weekend to get over the procrastination bit and prepare)!
A brief background for those who don’t know: I stumbled upon the Hypnobabies concept after barely surviving my first not-so-painless natural delivery. I was still convinced I didn’t want meds (theme: I detest medication), and my beautiful little girl was worth every second of the torture, but I was convinced that there was a better way to go natural the second time around without putting myself through the same agony. So when the theme of “pain free” hypnobirthing and hypnotherapy surfaced on my Google search, I was intrigued to say the least…but beyond skeptical. I wasn’t convinced by any woman’s claim of no pain during labor, and totally weirded out by something that seemed so New Age-y.
But after some extensive research I was impressed by what I found in the Hypnobabies course. It explained that hypnotherapy is just a very specific relaxation technique, and that we all go in and out of hypnotic states all day long (zoning out while driving, reading a book, watching a movie). By teaching our bodies to relax as much as possible and get to this state on command even in times of stress, the muscles can do what they’re supposed to during the birthing process instead of fighting the process and creating pain. Made sense to me. I couldn’t find a single negative review anywhere online, and thought the At-home Study Course (with relaxation CDs) would be harmless since it wasn’t a crazy man swinging a green pendulum and turning my eyes in to spirals.
Anyway, I won’t belabor the point (pun intended!), especially since I already wrote a novel-worthy post about it a few years ago and tend have a problem with word spew (Step 1: admit to the problem). But besides delivering a nearly pain-free and deeply relaxing birth for my son, the hypno-techniques were completely compatible with my faith and helped me make my pregnancy and birth a very spiritual experience. Aside from the benefit of relaxation and amazing sleep during pregnancy (since my ‘practice’ mostly consisted of me putting on my headphones at bedtime and passing out shortly thereafter), the Hypnobabies site had a whole page devoted to the fact that the concept works for those of all faith backgrounds, and as you develop your own relaxation cues, words, and a ‘special place,’ it’s easy to incorporate a favorite scripture passage, prayer, word or meaningful spiritual place for each of those things. The most peaceful place on earth that I could dream up was “my” chapel at West Point, where I'd spent many a Wednesday night at Adoration: in other words just me, sitting alone with Jesus and my thoughts in the beautiful glow of the chapel. By making it my special place, I spent my hypno-sessions in the peaceful and loving presence of God learning to both bond with my baby and manage pain. And the experience of bringing Erik into the world was just as loving and peaceful—and truly, honestly 95% pain free (not once did I think I needed any meds).
There have been many nights when I actually missed my Hypnobabies sessions and thought about digging out the CDs (even though I wasn’t pregnant) to get back to that place where I could release the stress, anxiety, and fear of life while gaining such deep spiritual refreshment. Now that our newest little guy is here, I have no more excuses. So it’s time to stop procrastinating and get to relaxing! Week 1, comin' up…
You look BEAUTIFUL! LOVE that bump. And you are amazing - and such a good writer. Can't wait to hear more about your journey.
ReplyDelete