Hypnosis and Natural Childbirth
Published in Peninsula Woman, 2001
By: Gwenn Henkel, CMH, MH
If you are a regular reader of the Peninsula Woman Magazine, you have no doubt read many of my articles. I have written about how hypnosis helps with so many sorts of health situations, such as chronic pain disorders, stress reduction, weight control to name a few.
The other day I was working in a Doctors office when a young woman came in with an infected toe. She was four months pregnant with her first child. She was very nervous about having an injection in the toe area, so I did some relaxation and guided imagery with her to take her away from the situation all together. She did just fine and was amazed at how I gave her an anchor of touching her thumb and index finger together to bring about complete calmness for her when she needed it. She hardly noticed the injection at all.
Now this situation of course brought up the topic of her having a baby for the first time and how she was very nervous about all of that too. When I told her that I do work with women for natural childbirth so that they may in some cases not even feel their contractions during labor, or diminish them to a degree that they are very comfortable though out the whole birthing process, she was amazed!
So I decided it is about time that I wrote about how I am a Certified Hypnoanaesthesiologist also and how that helps make the birthing process so much easier and an enjoyable experience.
For a moment, let me ask you to participate in a quick word association game. Look at the two words below and say aloud or in your head the first word that pops into your mind:
LABOR
HOSPITAL
Common associations for the above words will be: LABOR=Hard, HOSPITAL=Sick. (Your responses were probably similar, if not identical.)
These two associations are ones that natural childbirth successfully contradicts. Labor does not have to be a difficult or hard task. A mother-to-be is usually in the HOSPITAL but she is not SICK and should not be treated as if she were. Natural childbirth training encourages the mother to regard labor and delivery as a time of activity, concentration, and confidence rather than a time of passivity and suffering.
Anesthetics are kept to a minimum or are completely absent. Without drugs, a woman can assume an active role in the birth process. It will be 29 years ago this next month that I gave birth to my beautiful daughter, and all I knew about at that time was Lamaze. I was the only one in my Lamaze class of eight moms-to-be, to go through the entire twelve and a half hours of labor (and induced at that!) and I did it without drugs. Everyone else in the class gave in to taking drugs for the pain. So I was pretty proud of myself, though it would have been so much easier had I known about hypnosis too so that I could have added that tool in order to make the experience so much better.
It is important to understand that hypnosis works so well with natural childbirth techniques. It is most effective in partnership with the Lamaze or Bradley method.
When hypnosis is linked with natural childbirth training, double benefits result. These two methods of preparation do the following:
Reduce and eliminate fear
Produce pervasive relaxation
Significantly diminish the need for medications; may even eliminate all medication for some
Make possible the complete control of uterine contractions
Shorten the period of labor
Lessen the behavioral signs of pain
Promote a speedy recovery
Foster and increase positive emotions during the entire birth process
Stimulate and maintain a strong energy level into the post-delivery phase
Briefly, the natural methods allow you to develop effective breathing and relaxation techniques. The exercises suggested in any natural childbirth program should be followed on a regular basis as recommended. They are designed specifically to help you build up muscle support during pregnancy, contribute to effective pushing during labor, and provide healthy muscle tone after birth. These techniques help you to respond to your contractions with controlled, relaxed breathing. It also takes your mind away from the discomfort, and helps to maintain a balanced amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your system.
Hypnosis-Natural Childbirth partnership can produce maximum results if you take the care and time and energy to create the necessary support system for this partnership.
You need to:
Maintain good nutrition
Shield yourself from stress
Get good rest and sleep
Maintain a positive attitude
A positive attitude cannot be stressed enough. It plays such a tremendous role in the ease or difficulty of your pregnancy as well as the length and severity of your labor.
All the preceding actions and conditions contribute to the positive birthing experience. If these actions are realized and the conditions are met, hypnosis and childbirth will work in conjunction with each other to:
Allow you to experience a healthy, positive pregnancy
Reduce or eliminate pain
Provide the ingredients for successful birth experience
Enjoy a rewarding, pleasant post-birth experience
Of the four goals, the second is the most important. Most people associate the birth with pain. When a woman begins labor, this association leads her to respond to her sensations as she would to pain. However, the brain will register painful sensations when it receives only one strong stimulus at a time. This means that signals from several strong stimulates, can act as distracters that alleviate or even eliminate the sensation of pain.
When working with a mom, I help her to reprogram her thoughts about pain. The work that I do helps her to think, feel and act in certain ways. The tape that I will make for her programs her subconscious mind by offering positive suggestions and specific objectives to accomplish.
I help her to learn to relax on her own command and to learn to communicate with her unborn baby. Some people believe that a woman and her baby are not only physically connected, but emotionally and spiritually connected as well. If you accept this belief, it is then important to use those emotional and spiritual connections.
I help to reprogram the mind for pain control. You can disassociate yourself from pain by shifting your attention to another place, one that is far away from the discomfort produced by the sensations of contractions. I know of some women who did not even feel their contractions during the birth of their baby.
I also give many positive suggestions that their experience will be most successful, speedier and easier. Also positive suggestions are given that the recovery will be fast and also to increase the self-image of the woman as her body returns to its normal shape quickly and easily.
When I interview a woman who wishes to do this work with me, I take into consideration all of the things that are most important for her also, so that the tapes I make for her are very personal. I also encourage her husband to sit in on some of the sessions so that he understands completely what the hypnosis process is so that he can actively take part in the birthing process with hypnosis.
It is important that you inform your OBGYN that you will be using hypnosis during your labor and delivery. Most doctors are quite agreeable to this method, as they know that they will be working with a very relaxed and in control mother-to be.
Hypnosis-Natural Child-birthing is a wonderful and positive experience.
By: Gwenn Henkel, CMH, MH
If you are a regular reader of the Peninsula Woman Magazine, you have no doubt read many of my articles. I have written about how hypnosis helps with so many sorts of health situations, such as chronic pain disorders, stress reduction, weight control to name a few.
The other day I was working in a Doctors office when a young woman came in with an infected toe. She was four months pregnant with her first child. She was very nervous about having an injection in the toe area, so I did some relaxation and guided imagery with her to take her away from the situation all together. She did just fine and was amazed at how I gave her an anchor of touching her thumb and index finger together to bring about complete calmness for her when she needed it. She hardly noticed the injection at all.
Now this situation of course brought up the topic of her having a baby for the first time and how she was very nervous about all of that too. When I told her that I do work with women for natural childbirth so that they may in some cases not even feel their contractions during labor, or diminish them to a degree that they are very comfortable though out the whole birthing process, she was amazed!
So I decided it is about time that I wrote about how I am a Certified Hypnoanaesthesiologist also and how that helps make the birthing process so much easier and an enjoyable experience.
For a moment, let me ask you to participate in a quick word association game. Look at the two words below and say aloud or in your head the first word that pops into your mind:
LABOR
HOSPITAL
Common associations for the above words will be: LABOR=Hard, HOSPITAL=Sick. (Your responses were probably similar, if not identical.)
These two associations are ones that natural childbirth successfully contradicts. Labor does not have to be a difficult or hard task. A mother-to-be is usually in the HOSPITAL but she is not SICK and should not be treated as if she were. Natural childbirth training encourages the mother to regard labor and delivery as a time of activity, concentration, and confidence rather than a time of passivity and suffering.
Anesthetics are kept to a minimum or are completely absent. Without drugs, a woman can assume an active role in the birth process. It will be 29 years ago this next month that I gave birth to my beautiful daughter, and all I knew about at that time was Lamaze. I was the only one in my Lamaze class of eight moms-to-be, to go through the entire twelve and a half hours of labor (and induced at that!) and I did it without drugs. Everyone else in the class gave in to taking drugs for the pain. So I was pretty proud of myself, though it would have been so much easier had I known about hypnosis too so that I could have added that tool in order to make the experience so much better.
It is important to understand that hypnosis works so well with natural childbirth techniques. It is most effective in partnership with the Lamaze or Bradley method.
When hypnosis is linked with natural childbirth training, double benefits result. These two methods of preparation do the following:
Reduce and eliminate fear
Produce pervasive relaxation
Significantly diminish the need for medications; may even eliminate all medication for some
Make possible the complete control of uterine contractions
Shorten the period of labor
Lessen the behavioral signs of pain
Promote a speedy recovery
Foster and increase positive emotions during the entire birth process
Stimulate and maintain a strong energy level into the post-delivery phase
Briefly, the natural methods allow you to develop effective breathing and relaxation techniques. The exercises suggested in any natural childbirth program should be followed on a regular basis as recommended. They are designed specifically to help you build up muscle support during pregnancy, contribute to effective pushing during labor, and provide healthy muscle tone after birth. These techniques help you to respond to your contractions with controlled, relaxed breathing. It also takes your mind away from the discomfort, and helps to maintain a balanced amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your system.
Hypnosis-Natural Childbirth partnership can produce maximum results if you take the care and time and energy to create the necessary support system for this partnership.
You need to:
Maintain good nutrition
Shield yourself from stress
Get good rest and sleep
Maintain a positive attitude
A positive attitude cannot be stressed enough. It plays such a tremendous role in the ease or difficulty of your pregnancy as well as the length and severity of your labor.
All the preceding actions and conditions contribute to the positive birthing experience. If these actions are realized and the conditions are met, hypnosis and childbirth will work in conjunction with each other to:
Allow you to experience a healthy, positive pregnancy
Reduce or eliminate pain
Provide the ingredients for successful birth experience
Enjoy a rewarding, pleasant post-birth experience
Of the four goals, the second is the most important. Most people associate the birth with pain. When a woman begins labor, this association leads her to respond to her sensations as she would to pain. However, the brain will register painful sensations when it receives only one strong stimulus at a time. This means that signals from several strong stimulates, can act as distracters that alleviate or even eliminate the sensation of pain.
When working with a mom, I help her to reprogram her thoughts about pain. The work that I do helps her to think, feel and act in certain ways. The tape that I will make for her programs her subconscious mind by offering positive suggestions and specific objectives to accomplish.
I help her to learn to relax on her own command and to learn to communicate with her unborn baby. Some people believe that a woman and her baby are not only physically connected, but emotionally and spiritually connected as well. If you accept this belief, it is then important to use those emotional and spiritual connections.
I help to reprogram the mind for pain control. You can disassociate yourself from pain by shifting your attention to another place, one that is far away from the discomfort produced by the sensations of contractions. I know of some women who did not even feel their contractions during the birth of their baby.
I also give many positive suggestions that their experience will be most successful, speedier and easier. Also positive suggestions are given that the recovery will be fast and also to increase the self-image of the woman as her body returns to its normal shape quickly and easily.
When I interview a woman who wishes to do this work with me, I take into consideration all of the things that are most important for her also, so that the tapes I make for her are very personal. I also encourage her husband to sit in on some of the sessions so that he understands completely what the hypnosis process is so that he can actively take part in the birthing process with hypnosis.
It is important that you inform your OBGYN that you will be using hypnosis during your labor and delivery. Most doctors are quite agreeable to this method, as they know that they will be working with a very relaxed and in control mother-to be.
Hypnosis-Natural Child-birthing is a wonderful and positive experience.
