BlogHer - Hypnobirth was "really Zen" for Jessica Alba, rewarding for others - Comments

Good use of hypnosis

Vincent Segal — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:52:46 -0500

Before reading this article I had never heard of hypnobirth.

Still is seams natural that you can use hypnosis to relax you body while giving birth similar to the way you can use hypnosis when you have other stressfull things going on in your life or at work.

Vincent

I blogged my 2 hypnobirths

myfunnyfunnyfamily — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:17:22 -0500

At www.myfunnyfunnyfamily.com. There is a catagory for "birth stories" in the right-hand margin.

I had also hoped for the "pain-free" hypnobirths you read about, and I am beginning to wonder if these births really exist. That said, hypnosis was a definite plus and I would do it again in any future births.

The more, the better

Amy Gates — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:25:52 -0500

Mocha Mommy & Pretty Witty and Functional -

I totally agree. The more celeb natural births are in the news, the better. It is my hope that someday natural birth will be the norm, not the "crazy," "out there," "what are you thinking?" exception. ;)

MM - Good for you!

PWF - I wish you all the best for your pregnancy and birth. :)

Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor

Sylia - I'm sorry you had

Amy Gates — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:20:41 -0500

Sylia - I'm sorry you had such a rough time with your birth. My first birth (in the hospital) was somewhat similar in that I had to be hooked up to all sorts of things and had to lie on my left side due to my high blood pressure (with HELLP syndrome). Being restricted to laboring in bed made it very hard to relax (since I couldn't change positions), and I wanted the epidural but my platelets were too low to get it. It sounds like your nurses, anesthesiologist, etc. could have been a lot more respectful of you and your choices. I would've liked to sock them for you too.

Also, maybe the next time around (if there is a next time around) there will be a Hypnobirthing practioner near you? http://hypnobirthing.com/findapract.htm

Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor

I think it's marvelous that

prettywittyandfunctional — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:27:45 -0500

I think it's marvelous that more and more celebrities seem to be doing births without pain medication. I think it offsets some of the damage from people like Christina Aguilera saying that she chose a c-section because giving birth vaginally was gross (or something to that effect). I am pregnant with my second, and with my first, I did a Bradley birth. It didn't help me with pain management too much when I hit transition, because I had a 30+ hour birth. I was too exhausted to care about the Bradley method! But this time, I am ordering my Hypnobabies tapes (which I believe are slightly different than Hypnobirthing, but based on a similar premise) and will report on how I do. :)

Come indulge your vain and yet weirdly practical side at my blog:

Pretty, Witty and Functional

I didn't do a hypnobirth,

Mocha Mama — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:34:57 -0500

I didn't do a hypnobirth, but I did LOTS of yoga breathing, and my labor went very smoothly. I went in right at 4 centimeters (how many you need to be admitted), and it didn't get overwhemlming until I was almost 9 centimeters. Even then, the breathing and intense focus is what helped me tremendously.

I'm glad to see that more celebrities are going for natural births, especially when you hear about so many going in for c-sections. Maybe it will encourage women who follow them in everything else to try natural birth for themselves, and see that it's not as bad as some make it seem.

www.mochamommyonthego.wordpress.com

I really wish I had this option when I was pregnant

Sylia — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:31:00 -0500

I really wanted to try hypnobirthing when it came time to give birth to my son. But I live in smallish town, with one hospital and no birthing center that offers alternative kinds of birthing options. When I arrived at the hospital I was strapped down to all sorts of monitors, one for my contractions, an other for my blood pressure, another for my pulse, then an IV. I could barely move. They said I had the option of walking around the ward to help move the labor along but you know how annoying it is to remove all that crap just so you can stand up? I even held out on using the restroom as much as I could because I didn't want to bother.

I wanted to have a natural childbirth so I decided to forgo the epidural. But the labor was slow and increasingly painful. The only option they ofered me was pain meds. I had brought a relaxing CD with me as they had told me previously that cd players were available to help us relaxing but , oops, it was broken today. My labor was at it's worst during the midnight hours so I took the pain meds to hopefully get some sleep and save my strength. Looking back I wish I hadn't because all it did was make me loose my wits so when the pain got worse I couldn't deal. I ended up calling for the epidural when I was dilated at 8. The nurses weren't happy with me. Niether was the anasteseologist. They were incredibly rude, talking about me as though I wasn't even in the room "Why did she wait this long for the epidural" "Well, you know these women and their natural childbirth ideas". If I had had the energy I would have socked them both.

I hope the knowledge of hypnobirthing spreads far and wide so more women can have this option available to them, despite whether they live in a rural/small town area. And I'm very please to hear the Ms. Alba had a wonderful birthing experience. Mine wasn't so great but it doesn't matter, it was all worth it in the end. My son is pure joy (with a little bit of attitude :)

Hypnobirth was "really Zen" for Jessica Alba, rewarding for others

Amy Gates — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:59:09 -0500

I'll admit my finger is not exactly on the pulse of Hollywood happenings. I have far too much going on in my life to add celebrity watching to the list. However, when there is a natural or home birth in Hollywood (things near and dear to my heart), the news usually crosses my path one way or another. And so I was both surprised and pleased to read yesterday that Jessica Alba's new daughter Honor Marie Warren was born via a natural hypnobirth. Hypnobirthing - the Mongan Method - "is a unique method of relaxed, natural childbirth education, enhanced by self-hypnosis techniques."

Jessica told OK! magazine:

"I didn't scream," Jessica tells OK! in an exclusive interview and photoshoot. "It was really Zen." And Cash could only marvel at his wife's quiet strength when she gave birth. "She didn't make a sound," he says. "It was amazing."

"The labor was more like meditation," she says. "I did yoga breathing. I was focused."

While Jessica was pregnant, she told FitPregnancy about her birth plan:

I want to spend as much of my labor as possible at home, and I'm taking a HypnoBirthing class. It's a relaxation technique that allows you to avoid going into panic mode and tightening up. If you are calm and relaxed, your body will just do what it has to do.

Hypnobirthing classes are taught in format of five 2 1/2-hour classes or four 3-hour classes. I took the classes myself in preparation for childbirth when I was pregnant with my first child. Some women who practice Hypnobirthing report relatively pain-free labors and births, describing the sensations as those of discomfort and pressure, but not painful. While I wouldn't say either of my two births were exactly pain-free (though I didn't experience pain with my second birth until I was in transition), I was notably calm for both of my labors and feel that Hypnobirthing was very helpful to me in learning to go within myself and tune out the world. I also feel it helped make my children's entrances into the world as peaceful and serene as possible.

There are plenty of women blogging about their experiences with Hynobirthing.

TurleyBenson writes:

Hypnobirthing is part-pain management, part-breathing method, part-life philosophy that holds as one of its core messages that giving birth doesn't have to be excruciatingly painful or traumatic. The "hypno" part refers more to learning to self-hypnotize, or really just relax to a point of letting go of the fear and tension that usually accompanies birth, thus decreasing the pain.

She also jokes around and says that due to her partner's suggestible nature, he should be the one having the baby.

I've learned in our classes that the correct word to describe this ability of Mike's is suggestible. Mike is highly, highly suggestible.

Last night's class was a sort of wake up call for me. Firstly, our instructor led us in a relaxation exercise, and quite literally, by the time she was 10 seconds into it, Mike was almost snoring. Not only is this just AMAZING, but it distracted me to the point that I had a tougher time getting into it. I just sat there thinking, I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS GUY !

Candace at Love Makes a Family (who is due any day now) wrote about her first Hypnobirthing class:

I definitely have a lot of anxiety and fear even thinking about labor and this class is all about conquering that. And I love the entire theory around the hypnobirthing and how she was talking about everyone just being programmed into thinking labor is painful. I mean, have you ever heard someone not mention pain and labor in the same sentence?

Tiffany at Nature Moms Blog has had two hypnobirths. She feels that Hypnobirthing is "like deep meditation and focus" and that "it teaches you to withdraw into yourself during labor and take control of your pain and your birth experience."

Mama Hope at Hippie Dippie Bebe (who has also had a hypnobirth) wrote about Finding Your Personal Childbirth Approach:

As far as the subject of “pain” and the process of birth, most natural methods, including Hypnobirthing and the Bradley Method are based on the work of Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, who noticed that cultures that do not teach women to fear birth tend to have amazingly smooth, stress free births — in the same way that animals giving birth simply go to a quiet, private place, relax, get into a zone, and “just do it."

Cindy Unger, a Hypnobirthing educator who blogs at Chicago Hypnobirthing, expresses her frustration when health care providers require Hypnobirthing moms to push instead of "breathe their baby down" as is instructed in the classes.

Babies are born beautifully and calmly if mom just lets her body do all the work. Trust the process. Follow this advice: "Purina's Handbook of Cat Care advises owners to pet the laboring cat reassuringly and leave her on her own. She may stay in the box; on the other hand, don't be surprised if she doesn't. The best thing to do at this point is to do nothing. Keep quiet and do not attempt to help her - it's her problem. Mother nature usually takes over at this point and it is amazing to see how she goes about doing what comes naturally."

Carol, a Certified HypnoBirthing practitioner who blogs at A Well Lived Life, posted a Hypnobirthing testimonial that was sent to her.

There is absolutely nothing that has been a more rewarding/organic experience as the morning my firstborn entered this world. Without the skills that are instructed in HypnoBirthing, I would not have been so sure of my commitment to going totally natural, nor would I have had the discipline to stick with the initial pains of nursing. My surrender to a more healthful, less risky approach was a form of empowerment that has made me a stronger person, and to this day I use the same skills to get through physical pain, as well as to find calm during those days I wish I could just bury my head in the sand.

While Hypnobirthing may not be right for every woman, it has helped many women achieve a comfortable birthing experience and is certainly an option worth exploring. To learn more about Hypnobirthing, visit the official site.

Contributing editor Amy Gates writes about attachment parenting, activism, green living and photography at Crunchy Domestic Goddess.