An Ecstatic Birth
by Shelley Black

Her contractions had been irregular and unobtrusive at first, just enough to get her attention but not enough to signal the start of labor. Laura Wood of Santa Fe, NM, was only 8 months along but she was well prepared and eager to meet her baby. Soon the contractions could not be ignored. Yet Laura was the picture of calm, appearing to drop into sleep each time a surge began.
“It feels good,” she smiled after a particularly strong contraction. “I can make them bigger!” When the contractions were two minutes apart, Laura’s husband, Irby, began making phone calls. Midwife Seva arrived and found that although Laura’s cervix was dilating and effacing well, she didn’t appear to be in labor.

“She’s so relaxed I can’t even tell when she’s having a contraction,” she said. “I don’t know if I should stay.” But she did. A blanket of candle-lit tranquility settled over the bedroom as Laura labored on. As the pace of her labor quickened, she relaxed even more deeply. Suddenly a primal sound escaped as Laura began to bear down. Still peaceful and relaxed, she was now invigorated by the deep, instinctive urge to push. The raw energy of the scene swept everyone into action preparing for the baby’s imminent arrival.

Then, after three pushes Laura had her beautiful baby girl in her arms. Her entire labor was just five hours.

“In over 600 births I’ve attended, this was the easiest,” Seva said afterward. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

How did Laura stay so calm and peaceful? How did she relax so deeply despite powerful forces that stretched her body to its physical limits?
“I used self-hypnosis,” she said. “I learned how to relax my body and mind, turn down sensations, and stay focused even when it was intense.”

Hypnosis is defined as a natural, alert and focused state of mind. This state of mind allows for extraordinary physical and mental relaxation, and practitioners claim it even helps the deep involuntary muscles, like the cervix, relax and open more quickly. Birth hypnosis programs typically teach women to let their bodies do the work of natural childbirth without interference from pain, tension or fear.

“Hypnosis helped me stay in an ecstatic frame of mind where I was just happy to let it all happen,” Laura said. “It made such a difference.”
“The hypnosis was pretty amazing,” Irby agreed. “It made my job easy.”

Here are some fast facts about combining these two mysterious subjects, birth and hypnosis:

• Various studies have found that about 75% of women using any form of self-hypnosis training give birth with no medication, compared to only about 22% of those without hypnosis training. http://www.simplybirthing.org/hypnosis-explained.html
• Medication is not the only choice for pain control. Women can successfully rely on relaxation techniques like self-hypnosis. Pain medications do have an impact on labor, the mother, and the baby. Sometimes an epidural is exactly what’s needed, but all medications carry risks. See www.lamaze.org and www.motherfriendly.org
• Self-hypnosis shortens labor. One study found a reduction of 3 hours for first-time mothers for active labor, taking the average length of labor down to about 6 hours. Pushing was shortened significantly as well. http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/2008/HypnosisLabor.htm
• Hypnosis has been shown in numerous studies to reduce complications and the need for interventions.
• Daily self-hypnosis during pregnancy can decrease depression, counteract anxiety, supplement lost sleep, increase milk production and speed post-partum healing.

To learn more about birth hypnosis, sign up for our seminar, “Manage Labor Pain with Your Brain” on February 11 at 10am. $20 plus tax.

Register now for Shelley's talk on February 11!

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