More Misconceptions about Hypnosis for Childbirth

More Misconceptions about Hypnosis for Childbirth

(Continued from our post: Misconceptions about Hypnobabies…)

Carole Thorpe, doula, Hypno-Doula and former VP of Hypnobabies writes:

Sadly, misconceptions abound about hypnosis and its use in childbirth. The most common misconceptions are:

That hypnosis is merely another method of coping with pain, or that it’s pain management, or that hypnosis is just flowery guided imagery delivered in a monotone voice that induces deeper relaxation than other methods, or that hypnosis distances a woman from her body during her baby’s birthing, or that it denies her basic physiological responses that others create through enduring pain, or that women won’t remember their baby’s births, or that moms must lie still and listen intently to hypnosis recordings…their births entirely scripted, for hypnosis to be of any use. None of these assumptions are true of real, therapeutic self-hypnosis, deepened to the level of somnambulism, which is the depth of hypnosis that one must achieve to create an anesthesia effect in the body. The kind that Hypnobabies mother use.

Hypnobabies, relaxation, and birthing chemicals: When a birthing woman who is using Hypnobabies is profoundly relaxed and deeply in a state of self-hypnosis, she responds to her pre-learned, post-hypnotic suggestions so powerfully that her body easily creates endorphins, serotonins, melatonins and other relaxing hormones and stress reducing brain chemicals. This happens automatically when somnambulistic hypnosis is used, and all the smooth muscles in her body, all the muscles controlled by the autonomic nervous system relax so powerfully, that there is a physiological response which creates the deepest form of relaxation possible, as well as some discomfort elimination from the endorphins.

The big guns – Hypno-anesthesia – yes it is real: It’s common knowledge among those who teach clinical hypnosis for medical purposes, that hypnosis can slow pulse and respiration rates, and lower blood pressure, and eliminate pain entirely. Doctors and dentists use this type of hypnotic conditioning with their patients to create “hypno-anesthesia” for their patients who are allergic to medical anesthesia. These doctors and dentists perform surgeries with no medical anesthesia, with no pain and no side-effects.

Hypnobabies Eyes-open Childbirth Hypnosis teaches the same medical self-hypnosis techniques that doctors and dentists use for their patients who cannot have medical anesthesia. Women listen to hypnosis tracks and scripts to learn a cue to instantly enter self-hypnosis, and how to deepen it to the level of somnambulism in order to create an anesthesia effect in their bodies. Hypnobabies mothers who have learned, practiced and used Hypnobabies as directed experience their contractions mostly as “pressure” or a pressing down sensation, or even like being squeezed or hugged tightly. Many of the women I have assisted have described the sensation of their contractions as being very much like the sensation of a tight blood pressure cuff … intense, even sometimes uncomfortable, but not automatically painful.

Hypnobabies moms learn to create hypno-anesthesia at the drop of a finger, literally (a Hypnobabies hypnosis-induction cue). They learn to deepen their ability to do so by listening to a track/script designated to this purpose. Then with practice and by listening to other tracks/scripts, these women learn to strengthen the effects of this hypno-anesthesia in their bodies. They regularly practice their hypnosis techniques by themselves or with their birth partners during their pregnancies to “install” these skills as an automatic response to the sensations of their contractions when their labor begins. Through repetition and the resulting compounding effect, women can also learn to do all of this with their ‘eyes open’ so that they can move around and respond to their birthing body’s cues and their baby’s cardinal movements, remaining deeply in hypnosis and comfortable as they move.

Hypnobabies moms learn ONLY their self-hypnosis techniques and relaxation deepening cues by listening to, and practicing with, their hypnosis tracks/techniques. Their BIRTHINGS are NOT scripted, nor are their individual contractions. No one could script a birthing since no two are alike. If someone were to see a Hypnobabies mom in her ‘eyes-open’ childbirth hypnosis, she would look the same as any other birthing woman, with the exception that she would be without medication in her or her baby’s system, and she would be much more comfortable. She could “remain comfortable while moving around and still be in a state of deep hypnosis”, with “all the muscles around her baby completely loose, limp, lazy and deeply relaxed”, all the while “creating a mental hypno-anesthesia in her body”; actually enjoying … not merely enduring, her baby’s unmedicated birth.

She can recognize and respond fully to the “pressure sensations” of her body bearing down during second stage, experiencing “stretching and pressure as her baby crowns and is being born”, turning even more inward to focus MORE intently on the sensations of birthing her baby. A mom in true hypnosis (not one listening to guided imagery scripts which are meant to distance and distract) is never out of touch with reality, she’s actually hyper-aware of her process because she is simply tuning out, “all the external goings on around her, tuning in more fully to her body and her baby”. Caregivers are often fooled by a Hypnobabies mom’s observed level of comfort, and they often don’t even believe a hypno-mom is in labor until they do a vaginal exam, when they very often discover that she is in late first stage, nearing time to push her baby out, or even complete!

Besides learning their hypnosis techniques, Hypnobabies couples receive a minimum of 18-hours of thorough preparation for childbirth, over the course of a 6-week series. Hypnobabies is also a thorough preparation for childbirth class, which is important for any expectant mother using hypnosis. This is the reason that DONA recognizes Hypnobabies as the only hypnosis for childbirth course that meets the DONA certification requirement that their birth doula applicants must observe a complete childbirth class series. For example, Hypnobabies moms learn how to stay healthy and low-risk through exercise and nutrition. Couples learn all of the signs of labor, what constitutes an emergency situation during pregnancy and birthing, and they learn guidelines about when to head for the hospital or to call their midwives to come to them.

They learn all about routine procedures in hospitals, and the risks, the benefits and natural alternatives to each. They learn the questions they’ll need to ask in order to create true informed consent. They create their birth preferences based on this information, and based on what they choose for their baby’s birthing. Nothing is scripted for them. They have plenty of opportunity to ask questions in classes and to receive answers to their questions about late pregnancy, birth and the immediate postpartum period, including breastfeeding, and newborn characteristics, and much more. They learn from highly trained Hypnobabies instructors who must show that they have a background in childbirth education and hypnosis, and be thoroughly screened, before they can even apply to enroll in a Hypnobabies instructor training. The certification process is rigorous, more thorough than any other preparation for childbirth program that I have been certified to teach, including other birth hypnosis programs.

Hypnobabies moms are not “denied an opportunity to love and trust themselves and their babies”, nor are they “denied opportunity for self-discovery and growth” during their preparation for birth, or during the actual birthing process … quite the opposite is true actually. During the Hypnobabies live-class hypnosis script practices, when their birth partners read the script for that week to the mother, the mother relaxes so deeply that she creates endorphins and other stress-reducing brain chemicals that occur only in a state of sleep or deep hypnosis. When this happens, their babies play and bump around so much that we have to add to the scripts, “every movement your baby makes as you listen here to my {the birth partner’s} voice, just relaxes you even more”. Mothers and their babies quickly learn to associate that happy, relaxing play-time with their birth partner’s voice. Because of this opportunity for prenatal bonding, I have seen more than one fretful newborn become instantly peaceful at a word from the birth partner. Our couples see this daily practice session as a time to connect and enjoy bonding with each other and their babies, not as hard work.

By using the kinder and gentler terms we substitute for the words “contraction”, “labor”, “delivery” and “transition”, and by eliminating words that women have been negatively programmed with all their lives via every scary story they’ve read, or heard, or seen in the media about birth, Hypnobabies eliminates the fear associated with those words and stories. I fail to see how we deny women anything by giving them a sense of confidence through positive reinforcement (affirmations), and positive wording for what should only be a positive event in their lives. The inner mind translates fearful words into fearful belief systems, and positive, encouraging words into confident, empowering belief systems. Women deserve to look forward to their babies’ births with happy anticipation, and they can do so when they are engulfed in their “Hypnobabies immersion”.

By emphasizing that a woman’s “body was created for birthing”, that a woman should “go within to find her own power through her baby’s birthing”, that her baby’s physical cues deserve to be responded to during birthing by the mother “being so in touch with her body and so in tune with her baby”, and by giving a woman the ability to create comfort in her body at the drop of her finger, we allow her an opportunity to attune more deeply to childbirth’s cues than if she were merely coping with pain, or distracting and distancing herself from pain with busy breathing techniques, or traditional other-than-self-directed comfort measures. The more “power that flows through her, the more empowered she feels”.

By putting the mother fully in control of her own level of comfort with her self-hypnosis techniques, she is free to use all of her hypnosis techniques in whatever way feels right for her. Some Hypnobabies moms never listen to one hypnosis track/script during their baby’s birth, preferring to use their instant cues to create hypno-anesthesia and deep relaxation, so they can move around as they wish, while others prefer to listen to tracks and scripts and prompts from their birth partners. They ALL experience all of the thundering power of their baby’s birthing, all the intensity, just not all of the pain. Their babies are born in an atmosphere of comfort, joy and love, with endorphins bathing their senses as well as their mother’s. Why should it take hours and hours of pain-coping for a woman to build up to an endorphin state when it can be created automatically, and instantly with the drop of her finger? I fail to see the superiority of eschewing a comfortable method of creating the endorphin state that is necessary for infant-maternal bonding, just so long as it happens. Most of the moms I have worked with were happy that they were able to do so without discomfort. I can’t imagine anyone given the choice, saying, “I choose pain, thank you”.

As for my experience with being a Hypnobabies-doula exclusively, it’s very  different (than non-hypnosis doula work) and much more rewarding for me. I prefer to help a woman to be truly physically comfortable during her birthing, not just merely calm and peaceful in the face of pain-coping. It is very rewarding to help a mom achieve her goal of a natural, unmedicated childbirth, and to have her say she was completely comfortable and actually enjoyed the process. I prefer to have tools that really work for my doula clients like the word cue, “release” which instantly helps a mother achieve a deep state of hypnosis and hyper-awareness just by hearing it or thinking it to herself. I love that I can help her to deepen her hypnosis and relaxation instantly, when she needs me to, by simply pressing gently on her shoulder and saying softly, “relax, deeper now”. What doula wouldn’t?! It’s so easy and works instantly.

That’s not to say that I don’t also put cool cloths on her face when she’s pushing and getting overly warm, or that I don’t use aromatherapy to add to the atmosphere of calm in the room, or that I don’t suggest different positions to help with the descent of her baby, or that I don’t do all the things other doulas do. I do all those things, AND I help mothers use their self-hypnosis tools to have their babies in comfort, joy and love. They tell me that they felt empowered by their ability to create a birthing that was peaceful and comfortable for themselves, and unmedicated and safe for their babies, using ‘only’ the power of their minds.

I have never had one Hypnobabies mom say, “I would never do that again”. All of the couples I have worked with, who have gone on to have more babies, become what I affectionately call, my sweet “repeat-offenders”, and most become lifetime members of my family of friends. I love my “work” and I am richly rewarded. It’s SO EASY to be a Hypnobabies-doula.

For birth professionals whose life purpose is caring for women and their true choices in childbirth: I believe that if women weren’t dissuaded from investigating hypnosis for childbirth, through much public misinformation, myths, and uninformed opinion, there would be many more who would find out about a safe, very pleasant option for comfortable unmedicated childbirth. In addition, the misinformation that exists in the birthing community has unfortunately cast doubt in the minds of so many aspiring doulas (and yes, even potential hypno-doulas) who could actually do quite a bit of good by referring women to Hypnobabies.

We as natural childbirth advocates are such a small community within the birthing community as it is. We need to work together for the goals that most of us enter into this profession: Assisting women in childbirth with grace and love, and supporting whatever choices *they* make. That is the mark of a great birth professional, after all!

Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis really does help you enjoy a much easier and more comfortable birthing! Use code hypno1528 for 10% off our Hypnobabies Home Study Courses.