Hypnobabies

Once the horrible nausea and heightened sense of smell has passed, time has flown. It is hard to believe I am already 34 weeks....6 more weeks to go if not sooner!

A wonderful woman in the neighborhood has let me barrow her Hypnobabies home study kit. It has been such a blessing...hopefully I am still saying that when in labor :). I heard about hypnobirthing and hypnobabies through friends of friends (Here is one that almost has me convinced). I was very skeptical at first but the more I have learned about it the more I believe or at least have a desire to believe it can work for me.

I am not against epidurals. However, the closer I get to my guess date (due date), the more I have felt the desire to experience the miracle of birthing on my own. I have wanted some tools to help me do so and hypnobabies has been a good options so far. To appease my husband as well as the lurking fear in the back of my mind, I have told myself that I want to do as much as I can without any intervention, but if I really need to I will get an epidural. We will see how that goes.

Before receiving the hypnobabies materials I checked out a book by Marie Mongan, the woman who originated the idea of hypnobirthing- painless childbirth through deep relaxation and self hypnosis. The newer versions of her books were not available so I checked out her first book I believe. I took everything I read with a grain of salt (there was some strong feminist hues), however I really appreciated her stance that childbirth is nothing to be feared and that it is naturally painless...or at least can be.

The gist of what I got out of the first few chapters is that our western view of labor and delivery has been tainted. We have grown up with the belief and expectation that giving birth is a huge ordeal of insane pain and that it is something to be dreaded. She noted women of other countries that are in the rice fields one minute, deliver their baby by themselves the next minute and then are back in the fields working. They have never been taught to associate birthing with pain. How we perceive birthing is deterministic of how we experience it.

After a few days of tossing this idea around in my head and heart, I concluded that I agree even despite my obvious inexperience with birthing (It passed the D&C 50: 23-24 and 9:8 test). Ever since I accepted this belief, I have been at peace. And even if after giving birth I change my mind, the peace, comfort and empowerment it has brought me thus far has been well worth it.

Anyways, after researching hypnobirthing and hypnobabies more, I leaned toward doing a hypnobabies course because I read that some women preferred it and that it took hypnobirthing a step further. Luckly, the woman in my ward had the materials was willing to lend them to me (Thank you Cherl).

I will have to post my birth story and let you know how it goes.