BlogHer - hollywood - 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

Fewer

Honeybeast — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:55:58 -0500

I have loved Paul Newman for the appropriate use of "fewer" as well :) Thanks for this wonderful tribute.

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 :)

The Aid world is so frustrating

Holligurl — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:21:10 -0500

Back when I was a volunteer, we did not even consider looking into the issues in our own backyard. The plight of the aboriginal peoples in North America is largely ignored in favour of emphasis on the exotic... Paying attention to the poverty at home would also make us face the brutal history in our won countries which we prefer not to look at.

Also, there are never south - north volunteer placements. It is a parent -child set up between the developed and developing in terms of Aid orgs... And you are right that they never conceive tha the locals may know far more what is needed than incoming inexperienced volunteers!!

However, my other point in the aricle above was about the culture here which feeds on the little volunteer girls and their naivete ... and the sad truth that all the well intentioned seminars promoted by Aid orgs are only attended for the per diems...

There is resentment of foreigners working here as well.

I've been writing some more about what goes on in Ghana at least, on my blog:

www.hollisramblings.blogspot.com

don't blame the volunteers

priyanthi — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:20:40 -0500

LIke Jayne, I think this is a very honest blog. It seems to be part of a trend of self-consciousness of Europeans/Americans abroad - a Canadian friend sent me something not dissimilar recently (it wasn't about volunteers though).

I am Sri Lankan by the way, and have been working in development for much too long, mostly in Sri Lanka, with Sri Lankan and international organisations, and for ten years in London, coordinating an international network, which is how, like Jayne I became a participant in the Aid Workers Network. I see what is being described as a problem of inexperienced eager volunteers as symptomatic of a much deeper problem in the architecture of the aid system, mainly the non-governmental side.

Historically the non-governmental aid system had a hugely missionary/charity focus which supposedly gave place to a more 'developmental' one. I don't think it has ever quite able to shake off that mantle, witness the white woman's burden! The importance that continues to be attached to the role that money plays in the partnership between northern (European/American) agencies and their southern (African/Asian/Latin American) organisations often results in less than equal relationships between the people working for both. It is not only inexperienced volunteers that are a problem, have we not seen aid workers in the formal aid organisations, UN, IFIs included, who tend to display many of the characteristics this blog describes, with scant respect for local officials/workers whose knowledge and experience is far superior? There is a Jazz afternoon every first Sunday of the month in Colombo, and if you came to one of those, you would think you were in GHana! Even the disparities of remuneration of those deemed to be "local" as opposed to "international" reflect this much more than the alleged differences in "costs of living". And the sad thing is, that governments like mine are beginning to address these issues by trying to make it difficult for foreign aid workers to work in Sri Lanka, period, which is not the solution at all.

I know this is probably too serious a response to the original blog that spawned it - I am happy that there is increasing awareness of these disparities,but having straddled the hemispheres I also feel like we really need to address the root causes of these problems so that we can have a more equal partnership between the different worlds we inhabit. Would be interesting to know if there are any volunteer programmes for instance, that bring southern expertise into dealing with poverty in the north?

ah, the jaded...

jcravens — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:22:54 -0500

I have only been to Northern Africa (Egypt). I worked in Afghanistan for six months last year, and while there were no unskilled volunteers there (very skilled volunteers through UNV and other organizations, however -- great folks), there were some "adventure" tourists there who were every bit as naive as what you've described.

Would love to converse offlist:

jc@coyotecommunications.com

I'm always looking to add more women aid/development workers to my network, as we are so incredibly under represented. And I'd love to hear more about your work.

<><><><><><><>

Jayne Cravens

http://www.coyotecommunications.com

Only because I was one...

Holligurl — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:11:49 -0500

Hi Jayne

Thanks for the reply. I guess I can only be so critical as I was once one of them... I arrived in Ghana 12 years ago just about as naive as you can get. All these years later I am still in Ghana - have moved far away from aid work though... living here really makes you jaded! I still love the mess and vibrancy of Africa most of the time - however you'd never know it in my writing as usually that is where I vent when the ironies and frustrations get too intense!

Do you work in Africa much?

very honest

jcravens — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:06:03 -0500

I'm a participant in the Aid Workers Network (http://www.aidworkers.net), which is for professionals working in aid and development, and I think a lot of the people on that forum feel the same way you do about these kinds of young, inexperienced volunteers abroad, but would never be so honest, so blunt about it. I think it's telling that VSO in the UK has come out so strongly against these kind of volunteer "vacations."

<><><><><><><>

Jayne Cravens

http://www.coyotecommunications.com

Kids at my house say "thumbs down" on Kung Fu Panda

Kalyn Denny — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:11:27 -0500

This week I had four bright and inquisitive kids (nieces and nephews) staying at my house. I took them to see Kung Fu Panda, and although none of us hated the movie, they were not impressed. The four year old liked it best, but all the others thought the movie was "mostly fighting, and it just gets boring after a while."

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

I Appreciate Your Weighing In

Megan Smith — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:53:54 -0500

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate your weighing in.

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute
Video Runway