MARGARITA Locsin-Chan with baby Gabriel, Nina Chung with Tristan, Patti Good, Nadine Pain with Benjamin meet eight weeks after the boys’ birth to swap stories on hypnobirthing. All three boys were born within a week of each another.
My baby was born through hypnobirthing By Margarita Y. Locsin-Chan Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 21:07:00 09/15/2008
LONDON, England—My husband Antonio walked into our hypnobirthing class a skeptic. Today, four lessons, several hours of practice and one 24-hour birth later, he is a believer.
My cousin in the US, who had used the same non-invasive, all-natural birthing method to give birth to her son, introduced hypnobirthing to me. While the thought of giving birth without the security of an epidural scared me to death, I later learned there is, in fact, no need for such drugs or anaesthetics. All the pain management we need is in our mind and, with a super supportive spouse, it makes for a formidable “pain-killer.”
Our hypnobirthing guru was Patti Good, who, besides teaching hypnobirthing, specializes in Journey therapy, an alternative form of healing that focuses on removing “deep-seeded emotional issues” such as grief, depression and eating disorders. Patti is also a registered “doula,” or a birth companion who provides emotional and physical support during labor.
According to Patti, Marie Mongan in the US founded hypnobirthing in 1989. Mongan was inspired by her own traumatic birthing experience in the ’50s, when for her first child, “she was drugged, awoke violently ill from the ether and informed that she had ‘delivered’ a baby boy.”
Giving birth to her next child, Mongan took matters into her own hands and threatened to fire her doctor “if he didn’t allow her the birth she wanted”—a natural one with her husband by her side. Mongan later “helped her daughter give birth in the same calm, serene manner.” In time she developed the hypnobirthing program now recognized worldwide.
While there are similar programs in the US (Hypnobabies) and the UK (Natal Hypnotherapy), Patti describes hypnobirthing as the only “complete, stand-alone, antenatal option offering couples mental, physical and, most importantly, emotional preparation for childbirth.”
Manageable
Over four three-hour sessions, Patti prepared a small, intimate group of three couples, including my husband and myself, to deliver our babies in an environment where pain is manageable, stress is controlled, and the process allowed to take its natural route. We are, after all, created to create. Our bodies are well equipped to handle the rigors of childbirth, if only we would let go and allow it to do it the way it’s supposed to.
Patti told us that fear, like that felt by most mothers in anticipation of childbirth, makes the body go into the “fight or flight” mode. When the mother’s body does so, her muscles tense up and constrict, her blood is redirected from the uterus and cervix where it is needed, and she ends up feeling the pain she anticipated in the first place.
Hypnobirthing’s primary goal, therefore, is to eliminate these fears and free our minds from years of negative perceptions, usually instilled in us by well-meaning but fear-breeding relatives, or by the media.
Through Patti’s lectures and exercises, the mothers-to-be learned to assuage our fears, control our emotions and relax our bodies, while our husbands learned how to calm, comfort and support us through the process.
Smooth path
We also learned a new vocabulary. “Contractions” became “surges” or “waves,” “labor” became “birth,” “pain” became “pressure” and “pushing” became the “J breath.” By not using traditional terminology, we started to think of our upcoming births as less scientific and more personal, less horrifying and more something to look forward to.
Patti told us “when the mother is completely relaxed and free from any fear, her body is able to work naturally to help her birth her baby. The uterine muscles are able to work together to open and draw back the neck of the cervix so that the baby has a smooth path down. In this relaxed state, the body also secretes endorphins, a natural painkiller 200 times stronger than morphine.”
I couldn’t believe it at first, but time and experience would soon prove me wrong.
Our classes were also supplemented with real-life hypnobirthing videos—astounding as we watched mother after mother birth, without painkillers or drugs, some in birthing pools, others on traditional beds, most at home, a few in the hospital, but all in calm and controlled manner.
Patti took us through breathing exercises. We were taught three types—“Sleep,” “Slow” and the “J Breath,” each type to be used in different phases of birth.
In “Sleep” breathing, we relax our bodies, to prepare us for the surges (contractions). “Slow” breathing taught us how to breathe during the actual surges to minimize the pain and allow the surge to pass.
The “J Breath,” the last and most critical, is used in place of the traditional “push,” which apparently goes against the body’s natural means of expelling the baby. We were to “nudge” the baby out and this Patti said, would make our babies less stressed, and result in a happier and calmer baby.
What to expect
So, what happened during the birth?
My water broke at dawn, which in most movie scenes would signal the couple’s dash to the hospital, but since Patti had already taught us about what to expect and what we had to do, my husband and I calmly called St. Mary’s Hospital (where incidentally, Princess Di gave birth to her sons) to tell the staff and that we chose to stay at home until my surges were five minutes apart.
From 5 a.m. to about 7 p.m., I was in the first stage of birth. I spent the day doing as I normally did—cooked breakfast, checked e-mail, had a shower and watched TV with my mum.
Thanks to breathing techniques, the surges felt like no more than tummy cramps and I was even walking around and doing chores while they were happening.
At around 7 p.m., the surges were finally just five minutes apart and we were advised by the St. Mary’s midwife to go to the hospital. We arrived at 8:30 p.m. and I was taken to a birthing room. There, my surges were machine-monitored and I was informed that my baby’s heart rate was dropping during each surge and that if it didn’t improve, I’d probably end up in the C-section.
I didn’t want that, so I turned to my breathing exercises to relax me. I believe it relaxed the baby as well, because before long, my baby was responding with a strong heartbeat. This impressed my midwife Deborah Meade, who was also shocked at how “controlled” my breathing was. I was half-asleep between surges and looked totally at peace, so much so that my mum asked my husband if I had passed out.
Speaking of my husband, he never left my side throughout the last eight hours of the birth. He massaged my arms, helped me move around and constantly repeated affirmations that helped me remain in a completely relaxed state.
His reassuring tone kept me in hypnobirthing “trance,” making the hours go by quicker.
Last stages
At 2:50 a.m., the last stages of the birth began. When my doctor Paul Armstrong told me to push, my relaxation techniques fell apart and it was my husband who kept me on track. I was trained to let my body dictate when to nudge my son out, but it was hard to actually do it all the time.
What I did focus on was preparing for the surges and signaling my birthing companions when they did come. Trying to perfect this forced me to relax because I knew my son would not come out otherwise.
I did scream, but just twice—when the kiwi ventouse (think vacuum!) was pushed in and for the last big birth breath. When Dr. Armstrong said, “You can do it,” I replied, and rather loudly at that, “I CAN DO IT!” If it weren’t such a serious time, I would have probably died laughing at how “corny” I sounded.
My son was born at 4:24 a.m. He was literally flung on my tummy and was a calm baby from the start—a trait Patti says is common in hypnobirthing babies. After serving me a cup of tea and some toast for energy, I stood up and walked to my room—which incidentally was Princess Di’s room. This was a big thrill for my Hello!-reading mum!
Empowering
Hypnobirthing was an extremely empowering experience. While I did hurt for two weeks (and I am told this is totally normal regardless of how you give birth), my body has never felt better. Emotionally, the process made me feel closer to my son.
My son is very close to my husband and myself, precisely because of the hypnobirthing bond. The birth was a three-way effort, which would not have happened had it not been for mum, dad and baby working together.
Hypnobirthing isn’t for everyone, but it is something to consider when you’re expecting a natural, complication-free birth.
Feeling all the natural highs and lows, pains and pleasures of birth with only your hubby as pain relief is a great way to reaffirm to yourselves and to your newborn that together, you can do anything, be anything and feel (nearly!) no pain at all.
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