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Hypnosis
in Childbirth:
A
few practical and historical considerations
by Mary Lawton
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"….you are creating
an image in your mind of how your miracle will
happen…imagine yourself during your contraction and
delivery period in a state where your mind and body
are so relaxed, that you easily trust your body to
know what to do…you allow nature to deliver your baby
as your body knows it has been made to do...you
imagine a warm, relaxing event where the outcome is a
safe, efficient, peaceful childbirth...your mind and
body are so relaxed that the baby is allowed to enter
the world in a peaceful, easy, natural way…you can
imagine your baby progressing easily down the relaxed
and yielding birth path...the muscles are so relaxed
that the birth canal easily gives way and the infant
is virtually massaged down the birth canal…forward and
through without any resistance…." |
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These
ideas are examples of thoughts that are used when
teaching a mother how to use hypnosis to guide her
thoughts during her delivery. There are many methods
that teach hypnosis for a comfortable and relaxed
pregnancy and birth, but the crux of all of them is
teaching the childbearing woman to relax and enjoy her
pregnancy and delivery process. Free of fear, and free
of doubt that her body can do what it already knows
how to do.
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So why would
a woman have fear or doubt, when pregnancy and
childbirth are both natural phenomena? The ability to
relax and enjoy pregnancy and childbirth for the
amazing time that it is has a compelling history.
Aristotle and Hippocrates wrote of childbirth in their
time and the oddest thing about their writings is that
they do not mention "fear" or "pain" as a part of
normal delivery. Aristotle writes that the mind of the
woman needs to be cared for. And we find in
Hippocrates’ writings that he taught his medical
students that "we must refrain from meddlesome
interference!".
Childbirth was a
joyous occasion. Mother Nature, Mother Earth, Mother
Creator, and motherhood were revered. |
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Many years have
passed since that time and the cultural belief around
pregnancy has been everything but a miraculous event.
The church proclaimed the prevailing belief, beginning
after the time of Christ. It was determined that
pregnancy was such a terrible sin that the woman was
not to be attended by doctors or midwives. For a time,
sheepherders were allowed to attend, and were told
that if the woman was experiencing complications to
take the baby. The demise of the mother was not to
matter because, by virtue of having become pregnant,
she was a sinner. Around the 1850’s, some of this
turned around, but after nearly two thousand years,
the intense fear of childbirth and its repercussions
had been ingrained. Terrible fear of dying, and the
sense of doom and shame continued. Childbirth was
equated with horrible thoughts. |
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These thoughts
began to be dispelled as the use of anesthesia and the
idea of cleanliness began about 160 years ago, around
the time of Florence Nightingale. Our discoveries
since that time have led us to more humane treatment
of the delivering woman and a greatly decreased death
rate. However, we continue to have the same questions
we had 160 years ago: why are all women given
anesthesia upon arrival to labor and delivery? Though
our anesthesia is now more "advanced", the woman is
still left without the natural experience of this
wondrous occasion. She still has the fear of pain and
the seed of doubt planted, and the infant still has to
deal with the after effects. It has been thousands of
years since we have chosen to celebrate childbirth as
the natural event that it is, and in the meantime, we
have been programmed to believe that it has to be
painful and that intervention is necessary.
Thankfully, women who "know" that delivery is a
natural event and feel that there is no reason to fear
pain have means to seek more loving and natural
circumstances for their deliveries. Sadly, others are
so deeply programmed to believe they are to have pain,
that they find themselves fearing the birth of their
baby. Some even refuse to get pregnant at all. |
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The use of
relaxation via hypnosis, during pregnancy and while
delivering a baby, is becoming more and more of a
basic standard.
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There are still
many myths and misconceptions that follow hypnosis. An
understanding that hypnosis is a measurable brain wave
state that a woman can learn to capture, and not a
secret place in the mind that only a stage hypnotist
can access, can be a beginning step in dispelling
those misconceptions. Other practitioners, who teach
students of the mind-body connection, refer to those
same brain wave states as: "focused attention"
(reading a book, upon awakening, driving),
"meditation" (prayer, focused thinking about something
or a mantra), "relaxation" (deep relaxation,
progressive relaxation), "guided imagery" (using
recordings or one’s own thoughts to guide the mind to
a desired positive change), and more. Simply put,
hypnosis is a naturally occurring state of awareness
that we go in and out of all day long. |
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So why use
hypnosis/relaxation in pregnancy, childbirth and
beyond? There is much medical documentation showing
that when the body is deeply relaxed, it can work at
its maximum efficiency doing what it already knows how
to do. Just as we digest, pump blood, breathe, send
signals through nerves, etc., without having to think
about it, we also grow and develop babies in our
bodies without having to think about it. And we can
allow our bodies to deliver those same babies without
having to think about it. |
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Of course, that is
a bit simplistic. We are certainly thinking while
delivering those babies, but we do not need to
interfere. Our bodies already know how to do it. The
problem is that we have this lack of understanding
about what is happening, coupled with a lifetime of
messages that say we need intervention in order to
have a safe delivery. So we get a bit tense about this
miraculous event. Herein lies the problem. The tension
begins to mount when the woman realizes those
contractions feel a bit different than the previous
Braxton-Hicks contractions. The cultural programming
sets in and multiplies the tension, which leads to
that sympathetic nervous system response. The next
thing we know, all the blood is being carried away
from the uterus in order to cater to the "fight or
flight" response. Catacholamines are released and the
pain quickly sets in. The uterine muscles are no
longer working in harmony. |
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With the deep
relaxation afforded by relaxation through hypnosis,
contractions are experienced as the warm and wonderful
"waves" or "surges" (or whatever you want to call
them) that they are. The woman is completely aware
through the experience. Endorphins, nature’s natural
pain relievers, are released. Many methods for
learning to capture this state of relaxation also
focus on having the mother and the partner begin
bonding with the baby well before the actual birth.
This relaxation makes it possible to connect very
deeply with that baby beyond the usual playfulness the
three (or more) may share. |
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This is not to say
that there is never pain in childbirth. Even
Hippocrates mentions pain as a signal of a
"complication". But pain due to fear of childbirth, is
not natural nor is it necessary. |
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There are many
beliefs around why women have pain in childbirth.
However, there is no particular belief that is
necessary to understanding the most important point to
be made here. That is that there cannot be a
sympathetic nervous system ("fight or flight")
response at the same time that there is a
parasympathetic nervous system (relaxation/endorphin)
response. So when the pregnant woman learns to
achieve, or capture, deep states of relaxation prior
to her delivery, she can use this relaxation whenever
she wills to, and have a completely relaxed delivery.
She can allow her body to do what it already knows how
to do. No interference needed. Just joyous
celebration. |
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Mary Lawton is a licensed
hypnotherapist, certified hypnobirthing instructor,
and EFT instructor. She is an RN, BSN, and carries an
MA in Child Development. She is also a Reiki Master.
She lives in Dewitt, Michigan with her husband and
wonderful children. Her website is
www.birthinghypnosis.com |
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