How Hypnobirthing Helped My Pregnancy and Birth Experience

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I was always drawn to positive thinking and believed that the mind could control the body. In 2011 I took a training course in hypnobirthing and was blown away. I had no idea that visualisation and imagery would be able to direct a moms birth towards something empowering and calm. I mean, have you ever seen a women on screen calmly giving birth?? Birth is scary, painful and difficult, right?

 

 

I learnt that birth could, for most part be how you perceive it to be. So if you see it as painful and difficult then it probably would be. Your muscles, heart rate and physical body stiffens up when you feel scared. But if you direct your thoughts of birth by working through your fears and anxiety, and by building on thinking positively, focussing on your breath and consciously creating an ideal in your mind then you are more likely to have a birth more beautiful than you’ve ever witnessed on TV. When you are able to eliminate the fears, your body doesn’t respond in a fight or flight reaction, and therefore your heart rate is calm, your muscles are at ease, allowing an easier passage of birth.

 

 

My 3rd baby was a homebirth (in South Africa), I focussed on positive stories, meditation and breathing through my pregnancy and felt that birth was something to look forward to, a sacred and special time that was up to me to plan and create. Just like we have plans for our weddings, gatherings and birthdays parties, we plan it to perfection to ensure it will be joyous and memorable and then it happens similarly. I planned for having my doula, midwife and family present. I planned what I’d use as comfort measures and I discussed this with my caregivers. And while I did moan and groan as I gave birth, and I did feel the ring of fire and there was a time I felt I couldn’t go on, I was already giving birth, feeling fully supported and aware of the process, using my breath to bring me back to my ideal. And before I could think more about pain and discomfort I had already delivered my baby boy and was holding him against my chest.

My birth using hypnotherapy was my best birth. It was the birth all my friends thought I was crazy to have before it happened. And yet 4 years later I still look back on it as one of the most incredible days of my life, it fills me with awe, it lifts me up on days I feel down and on days I question my abilities. My birth has boosted my confidence as a women and a mother. It has influenced all spheres of my life in ways that I will always be grateful for. It set a foundation for me to confidently parent and live my life by applying the same concepts to other aspects of my life.

Being a teacher of hypnobirthing and a doula, I believe in being real while being positive. That means we need to be aware of the realities of birth, all kinds, and the possibility of unforeseen circumstances. The utopia of birth would be an image of a women almost looking dreamy and asleep as she delivers her baby. But this utopia may be far out of reach and therefore seem too improbable. So when people ask me about hypnobirthing and whether it helps to feel no pain or on the contrary pleasure, I’d say that hypnobirthing is a self-development journey, it teaches you to think positively and be able to accept whatever is out of your control, it empowers you to take charge of one of your most memorable times in your entire life by creating beautiful imagery and therefore becoming conscious of making your ideals your reality. Each person’s ideal and the reality they want will be different, and that’s the beauty. We all create what’s best for us. It need not resemble anyone else’s experience.

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