Smiling During Labor?

People ask when I work with clients, how do i notice the changes that occur in a pregnant mom, when she is ready for the birth of her baby.

Most moms are unaware how important their thoughts are in every moment of their life, and particularly in labor.

Most of the time I notice this slight change in her attitude, her behavior, her demeanor. When she begins her thinking from fear position, and continues into the questions and doubts, her face reflects that pain. She says that she wants to avoid the pain, but in fact, she behaves on the opposite.

Fear is natural and healthy when it allows a natural effective mechanism for normal survival. In labor time to be in fear is opposite to being effective.

Educating herself to know what happens during labor is important because it eliminates fear. Knowing the facts is power. Being empowered by knowledge gives the woman strength needed to complete laboring.

Showing the posture, position, breathing of the woman who is in peace and ready for the birth, she begins her labor and moves and breathes in a way that is relaxed and peaceful.

When she begins with a question: What do I want for this birth? the answer begins to emerge to show her what is possible.

Immediately, the possibilities are endless. She can begin to create her own peaceful world and move in it with an attitude that reflects her belief, that is emerged from her value system:

I am mother
My body knows what to do
My baby knows what to do
I trust my body

Affirming what she wants (as opposed to affirming what she does not want, what moms usually do unknowingly) she begins to sort for the signs in the environment confirming what begins to happen toward the birth that she wants.

She recognizes those signs and acknowledges them with a smile.

The baby reflectively moved down the birthing path in her womb, out of her womb, and out into the world, being healthy and feeling loved. And all the while she continues to smile.

To learn more about how you can have the birth with a smile click on FREE www.Pregnancy Affirmations.com.

Ultra-Sound NOT for My Baby

Whereas there are positive aspects of using ultra-sound techniquie in pregnancy, sometimes we agree to a routine scan without questions.

Did you know that frequent ultra-sound scannings can cause harm for your baby?

According to studies described in the book by Sarah Buckley Gentle Birth Gentle Mothering, ultrasound causes many of the possible adverse effects like miscarriage, low birth weight, premature labor, perinatal death, dyslexia, and ever ambidexterity!

In fact, the research shows that some random controlled studies more and more show consistent brain damage in babies that is caused by ultra-sound during pregnancy.

The biological effects of the ultra scanning:  The sonar rays cause the tissue to heat up from 1 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit, where bone heats more than the soft tissue, and soft tissue heats more than liquid. With specific settings of each scanner and the time in such exposure. Recent studies research the heating of the baby's developing brain tissues to such degree and is no longer considered within the parameters of standards of safety.

The second effect is cavitation, which is collapsing of small pockets of gas between the tissues caused by heating of tissues and creating of gasses, potentially toxic, mostly in the lung and bowel areas, in turn causing significant changes in prenatal and postnatal development.

I was blown away learning about such "side-effects" and still mothers; going for a scan regularly.

Doctors possibly have not read the studies, or even if they read the studies, they don't have another procedure to find out, to make sure, to feel certain, to tell you what's going on inside of you, but so what?

In one case, I am not sure that it is not the ultra-sound scanning that killed the second embrio in one of the moms, after her fertility implantation with two healthy embrios, and suddenly after three weeks and three scans one embrio dies.

A recent hypnotherapy client regressed to a womb experience, clearly described a high pitch sound bouncing off his brain, that he experienced over and over, until fast forwarded to a more pleasant experience. In hypnosis he was experiencing himself being in the womb, and upon returning to the waking state recognized that this must have been what ultra-sound was to him as a fetus.

Babies do remember.

So what's your choice now? What scans for your baby?

Watch Video What Happens During Ultra-Sound

How to deal with a loss of baby

One of my happy moms lost her baby in a tragic accident when he was just 18 months old. How to help a devastated mother in the loss of her child?

What is there to do?

Some suggest blogging, journaling, taking a vacation, changing a job, acquire a hobby. Yes, all those are good ways to cope. 

But coping can go on for years. What to do if you want to get pregnant again and go on with your life and the grief is grabbing the best of you?

One suggestion is self-hypnosis. Get yourself a great relaxation audio and use it every day.  A  recent client-woman decided to get pregnant, committed to listening to an audio relaxation and did get pregnant. 

Regular exercise and active involvement in the life is another key bahavior helping in creating the body ready for the new pregnancy.

Now just the relaxation and the exercise may not be enough, so another suggestion is to begin a relationship with a hypnotherapist. Find an appropriately trained specialist, fertility and birthing certified, so they can help you create the life that you want. With the essential help and qualified support of the professional you will soon be on your way to happiness again. 

Begin to work diligently on the breathing patterns, forgiveness, letting go, training your mind to concentrate on the positive and absorb the behavior of how you are when your life works. Look at your partner with loving energy, instead of grieving, or blaming, the energy of lack. Become a generous person you are again, loving yourself, nurturing your body, grateful for the life that you have and the love that is coming your way.

HypnoBirthing Role of Partner

How to prepare for the perfect birth of your baby.

By Morrin Bass, Ph.D., BCH, CI, Certified HypnoBirthing Instructor 

So you are pregnant. Now you want to decide on your birthing experience. 

Yes, that's right, decide what birth you are going to have. 

When it comes to birthing a baby there comes a question:

What techniques/methods to use?

Partner or No Partner?  Doula or doctor?

Today we'll discuss 

The Role of A Birthing Companion - Partner in HypnoBirthing.

What's HypnoBirthing?

HypnoBirthing is a philosophy of natural childbirth. The basic premise of HypnoBirthing philosophy is that a healthy woman's body is naturally able to birth the baby without stress, and especially pain. In HypnoBirthing classes a woman attending with her partner (husband, girlfriend, doula) is learning to use hypnosis and relaxation tehniques to create a feeling of comfort during her labor.

The HypnoBirthing classes are structured to involve a partner. And there is a great valid reason for doing that.

First let’s look at a concept of hypnosis.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a natural state of focused attention to the exclusion of anything else. In hypnosis, a person finds comfort in various stages of physical and mental relaxation following positive suggestions given by her guide. If she listens to a hypnotic recording, she is following a voice of her hypnotic guide on the recording.

However, a hypnotic guide isn’t just any person. It must be a person with whom she has deep rapport, agreement, trust. Such a person is traditionally her husband.

Many modern husbands realized that birth is a natural and normal event in their new family life and is not a medical event. So if there is no emergency, they tend to want to participate and are interested in assisting their wives in the birth of their child. They feel that there is something else they can do, other than just help conceive.

Hence, we invite a husband to be present in a HypnoBirthing class to get familiar with the techniques she is learning, in order to better assist her in her birthing.

If it is not a husband, father of the child, who is going to be a birthing partner, for the sake of this article, I am going to refer to the partner as father. This will invite non-traditional relationships to become open to the concept of partner in HypnoBirthing as well.

HypnoBirthing Techniques

HypnoBirthing Techniques are simple and easy. Just like with any techniques, the key to success is practice. In order for a HypnoBirthing mother to have a successful HypnoBirthing birth, provided all other areas check out as healthy, first of all, she needs to be open to the opportunity that it is possible. And then practice. At home, in class, instilling the habit of using hypnosis for creating her future, creating relaxation, creating unchallenged and peaceful birth. She also needs someone to guide her on that path of learning and practicing. Here is where her partner comes in handy.

Role of Partner

Her hypnotherapist is not usually available to be with her at birth. She can take a cd with a hypnotherapist voice guiding her with positive suggestions and affirmations for birth. Sometimes, listening to a cd becomes irrelevant during birth. So unless her doula is a HypnoBirthing practitioner as well, and can serve as a hypnotic guide, or she does not have a doula, the mom needs her partner to whisper the hypnotic instructions to her during the birth.

This is a function of mother’s birthing companion.

Birth with HypnoBirthing

Celia (name changed) wanted a natural and unassisted birth. She insisted that she is healthy and her body can do the work. She practiced with her partner at home and in class. She started her HypnoBirhting classes in her 20th week of pregnancy. She diligently did all that homework. This includes the reading of the textbook, the listening to the 2 cds, the writing down of her birth plan, some physical exercises, practice of positions, in addition to hypnosis practice, all required by the curriculum. This helps each of them install new skill and behaviors to facilitate the birth experience.

When she went into labor her husband was constantly with her using hypnotic techniques and positive language to help her relax, open and bear down. From time to time her husband instructed her to follow the sound of his voice and gave her hypnotic instructions. Those are the instructions he learned in class. She gave into that familiar and lovely guidance she had gotten accustomed to following.

She had a quick labor. With HypnoBirthing, her husband was giving her hypnotic instructions, but she was not a zombie, not laying helplessly, not needing to cope with pain, which she had none, not motionless. Instead, she was active in her labor. Even though in a birthing trance, she was able to communicate clearly and easily with her partner all her desires to change positions, walk, or take a bath. All natural behavior of a woman in the final stages of pregnancy.

She had her baby girl in 6 hours. Her surges were soft and smooth as if mild cramps. She was happy that she could do it – achieve the type of birth that she wanted, without outside help and solely with her husband.

Together they created their own beautiful loving HypnoBirthing birth.

What were those instructions he was giving her?

Hypnosis Techniques for Partner

Hypnosis techniques for partner are simple. Start by connecting with your heart, and find the place where love resides. Then let that love come through the sound of your voice. Direct that love to softly flow toward your wife and your baby, connect with them. Add strength to your voice showing the willingness and readiness to take the responsibility and make it a safe and comfortable experience for mother and baby. Then add the instructions for desired effect, be it relaxation, calmness, breathing, etc.

Importance of Practice Together

At first father is very unsure of himself in this role. When asked to read the material to the mom, in class, his voice trembles and he seems very tentative, even though the text is simple and clear. I once asked a dad why he is so unsure. He said that all of it is so unknown that he wishes he had that text at home to practice and prepare. To which of course, guess what I said, You got it! From now on and until the birthing time, you are the hypnotist for your wife. Learn the techniques and practice. Because of all voices on earth, if it isn’t mom’s voice the baby wants to hear, it’s dad’s!

How to Practice

Practice in class is a supervised practice in a couples format. At home couples practice both separately and together. Mom practices her own skills and dad practices his, and they practice together as well. More often than not, moms are more diligent in practicing, listening to cds, reading, researching, rehearsing and practicing hypnosis for self. Dads feel that providing for the family is more important and often forget to practice. Then comes labor time his voice is needed there. The HypnoBirthing curriculum requires practicing together is the environment of love and mutual bonding. At home, read scripts to each other, rehearse the voice and modulation, memorizing the language of the scripts and learning to let go and let the imagine soar high. At first practice in the quiet safe comfort of your home, at your own pace and at your own time (but make time to practice!)

According to Mickey Mongan the author of the HypnoBirthing method, it is also useful to practice peaceful behaviors and deep hypnosis in a crowded place with loud noises, where the mother can acquire the skills of quick and deep disconnect from the environment in simulation of when it is not conducive to peaceful progress of her labor (like bustling hospital.)

Testimonial from a Mother

Last week I heard from a HypnoBirthing student-mother making last minute preparations for her labor. A week earlier at her last sonogram one of her twins was in a wrong position threatening to create a necessity for a cesarian delivery. She called her HypnoBirthing professional for help to make her baby turn. In twelve hours after her hypnotic session the baby turned into the correct position. Now both of her babies were head down and ready for birth. She was excited and wrote: “This couldn’t have been done without the power of mind. I believe.” She was given a script for her partner to practice in preparation for her birthing.

Conclusion

Within the framework of the process of HypnoBirthing the partner plays a crucial pivotal role. Partner plays the role of the hypnotist as in a classic hypnotist-client relationship. It is the partner’s responsibility to occupy the conscious mind of the mother and direct and lead her so that her body can easily deliver the baby.

Fearlessly and confidently the HypnoBirthing partner uses the techniques of HypnoBirthing to create a safe and comfortable experience for the birthing mother.

Find more information at our Mother-Site at http://www.NewYorkAwareness.com/HypnoBirthingNewYork.asp.