Pregnant? Don’t give birth without it…..

August 20, 2015 by Keri Jarvis from The Baby Project

Pregnant? Don’t give birth without it…..

I had conscientiously written this week’s blog ahead of schedule, when on Tuesday, I was thrilled to find the headline ‘Pregnant women flocking to classes on self-hypnosis births’ in THE GUARDIAN, no less. Cue a day of radio phone ins on Hypnobirthing with experienced midwives proclaiming it will soon be as normal as water birth, and grumpy old men complaining to the BBC for allowing such ‘voodoo to be peddled on air’. Seriously.

So why have I abandoned my intended topic to leap onto this bit of National Press? Hypnobirthing is my day job. (So really it’s my every waking moment, always on my mind obsession, but technically it’s my job).

Since discovering the techniques when pregnant with my son, I have been hooked- I don’t know how anyone gives birth without it. So I made it my business (literally) to reduce the number who do, by retraining (I used to be a Store Manager for M&S- I’m not some hippie nutcase) and spreading the word- birth doesn’t have to be a One Born Every Minute style calamity. Although they did feature a beautiful hypnobirth last week-check it out.

So what’s it all about? Getting in a trance, some chanting perhaps, a few deep breaths and your baby slips out painlessly? No. When people ask me ‘Does it work?’, I imagine what they are really asking is, ‘Does it hurt?’. There is a misconception that the focus is on a pain free experience. Believe it or not, for some women, this is the case. But for many more, they will describe sensations that were manageable, that could be seen off with a couple of paracetamol.

But to obsess over this is to miss the point- hypnobirthing is a complete antenatal education programme, teaching couples how the hormones of the body work in labour, and how the mind and the environment affect the process. They learn profound techniques to cope with and facilitate labour, and are able to rationalise and release their fears around childbirth.

In short, it teaches couples (yes, it’s a team effort, stop rolling your eyes ladies…) how to work together to have the best chance of the most positive and healthy experience of birth possible for them on the day.

My own little tally up at the end of year 1 told me it reduces intervention rates significantly, and therefore offers mother and baby an easier, healthier start. Of course, there are no guarantees, and each of us faces varying challenge and sprinkling of luck, but even the mums who go on to have C-sections regularly describe how the techniques benefitted them significantly.

It’s incredibly effective, it’s bonding and empowering, it provides skills for life, it’s fun (in my classes anyway, who doesn’t enjoy the novelty of saying ‘vagina’ often and opening up to strangers about how the breathing techniques are helping with their bowel movements- that’s the dads, they start quiet, but don’t stay that way for long…..).

So if you fancy giving it a go, let me know. It was in The Guardian- Hypnobirthing is officially mainstream.
You can find me, Keri Jarvis, your friendly, local hypnobirthing teacher at www.hypnobirthdays.com, or https://www.facebook.com/Hypnobirthdays