Does childbirth have to hurt?

When was the last time you heard a new mum talk about giving birth as a great experience?  And if you did what would your reaction be? Probably that the men in white coats would soon be along to take her away.  Women who have had comfortable births are dismissed as lucky, delusional ‘earth mothers’ or they just have a really high pain threshold.  There’s no doubt that painful birth has been the experience of millions of women and it’s widely accepted that birth must be an excruciating ordeal but is that really the truth?  In every antenatal class you hear announcements of “I just couldn’t do it without the epidural!” and “I don’t want to feel a single thing!” because they have so much fear over the pain that they assume must be inherent in childbirth. 

Gentlebirth is your guide to a more comfortable confident labour and birth. With practice and commitment you and your baby can enjoy the benefits of deep relaxation that comes with learning self hypnosis for pregnancy and birth.  Gentlebirth brings the joy back to pregnancy and the calm back to childbirth. The programme usually takes 5 weeks as a homestudy pack or a 12 hour weekend workshop (private classes are also available).  Gentlebirth is based on the work of Dr. Michel Odent, Dr. Sarah J Buckley, Dr. Grantly Dick Read and the inspirational American programme HypnoBirthing by Marie Mongan. 

The course does not train mothers to give birth; we instinctively know how to do that.  It's about getting rid of the fear of childbirth and replacing it with confidence, it’s about tuning out distractions and tuning in to our natural instincts, it’s about turning off the ‘thinking’ brain and turning on the primal, instinctual part of the brain.

Gentlebirth is a comprehensive antenatal programme that includes information on hospital procedures, birth plan guidelines, labour positions and much more. The programme teaches you simple but specific self hypnosis techniques (3 practice CDs are included) for an easier more gentle birth which is often accompanied by a significant reduction in pain, stress and anxiety. Gentlebirth dissolves fears and uncertainties around childbirth so you can relax and let your body do what it was perfectly designed for. We don’t need training to give birth - but we have lost the ability to relax so completely that it can happen easily and for many – quickly and in a very manageable way.

How does it work?

The muscles of the uterus were designed to give birth. Why is it that the uterus is the only set of muscles in the body that hurts when it's doing exactly what it was designed to do?  The response that I often hear is 'well we don't use the uterus every day'.  So let’s follow the logic of that idea.

Have you ever done a new activity - like going to the gym...or raked leaves in your garden...something that takes some physical effort but you've never done it before...or not in a long time.  While you are doing the activity the muscles don't hurt....but 2 days later it's a different story as you're soaking in a hot bath for hours trying to ease these muscles that you never knew existed..wincing with every movement......then wouldn't it make sense that labour should only hurt 2 days AFTER birth ?

Fear increases adrenaline in the body which creates a physical reaction in by activating the fight/flight response directing blood flow away from our organs to the limbs...the uterus is not a defensive organ and just like the heart can't work effectively and comfortably when blood is restricted and the muscles spasm -  (heart attack) neither can the uterus (labour attack !) When there is excess adrenaline present your body’s built in epidural (endorphins) can’t co-exist and it slows the release of oxytocin needed to help labour progress.

Every thought we have creates a physically detectable response in the body.  Have you ever been embarrassed by someone or something? Blood races to your cheeks....even years later just the THOUGHT of that mortifying event recreates the same physical response in your face automatically. Remember preparing for an interview ?  You may have had butterflies in your stomach....or a knot...and your palms are clammy - just by thinking about the interview.....  Think of another time when you got a fright…and the blood literally drained from your face what’s fight or flight –your body’s instant response to fear. 

Why is birth only distressing for humans? 

If you’ve ever had a dog or cat who has given birth often they will seek out a quiet undisturbed location where they can give birth…..with no drama……or any displays of discomfort.  An animal in the wild will stop it’s labour if it senses a threat…… it then moves to a safer place to birth and the labour continues. Cats will often purr while giving birth. There are no canine antenatal classes that I know of and I haven’t seen a copy of What to Expect When You’re Expecting – for cats !  Animals give birth instinctively without fear.  Since time began most of us have believed that birthing a baby involves hours (sometimes days) of painfully agonizing work, to be faced with fear. It is something to just ‘get through’ and rarely an event that women look forward to. When a woman always hears that labour is excruciatingly painful - getting this information repeatedly from her mother, friends, relatives, doctors and coupled with how movies and TV depict birth -  all of these horror stories and images have lead to the belief that birth must be painful.  For a long time we believed the earth was flat  - but was it the truth ?  Until fairly recently the idea of going to the moon was dismissed……but it happened.

What is hypnosis?

Like a computer your subconscious mind holds good programmes and ‘bad’ ones (horror stories of birth) Doing hypnosis is like running a virus scan on your computer – it finds any corrupt programmes or those that need to be upgraded such as the belief that birth will be painful.  It’s also great for ‘upgrading’  your self confidence.

70% of Gentlebirthing mums need no pain medication and rarely get to a point where they ask for an epidural. 

Your instructor has no control over you – you decide to accept the suggestion that birth can be gentle and easy…nobody can make you do anything you wouldn’t normally do. So you can rest assured that neither you nor your partner will end up barking like a dog.  All hypnosis is self hypnosis you are always giving your consent to let these things happen to you.  You are always in control.  Another misconception about using hypnosis for birth is that we teach a technique known as disassociation or distraction.  We firmly believe that pain does not need to exist in a normal birth but when there is pain it is important that we don’t try to distract from it but listen to what our bodies are telling us.  Pain is communicating that there is something wrong and needs to be attended to.

70% of Gentlebirthing mums need no pain medication and rarely get to a point where they ask for an epidural.  As long as a mother is having a normal birth with confidence and free from fear then there is no reason why birth has to be such a traumatic event. They don’t need to be distracted from any part of the birth experience and remain in tune with their body and their baby.   They are fully aware and totally engaged in the experience.  Unfortunately all of our lives we’ve been ‘hypnotized’ to believe that birth and pain must go together but more couples in Ireland are changing that perception by birthing easily and gently using hypnosis.  For more information on GentleBirth workshops and the homestudy course details visit – http://www.DoulaIreland.com