Overall, the allergies have treated me well this week. Unfortunately, just when I thought I could go about normal life sans tissues and hack attacks, my allergies came back with a vengeance on May 10th (the day I was at my friend's wedding). They were fine-ish during the actual wedding, which took place in the morning. By the time we'd made it over to my parents' place to celebrate Mother's Day that evening, my nose was stuffed, and I was in perma-sneeze mode. Fortunately, that seemed to have been the worst of it, and the rest of the week played out as smoothly as one can expect for going through allergy season sans medication.
Now the TRUE highlight of the week was HypnoBirthing. My classes started on May 13th, and they'll be running for 5 weeks total. To my delight/surprise, the class was relatively small - there were only 4 other couples in the class. I much prefer the smaller groups due to my introverted (with extroverted tendencies) nature. I find it a lot easier to interact with others and to speak up more readily and freely.
The class itself was taught by two doulas, Natasha and Amanda. Both are as nice as can be and pretty down-to-earth, which makes the classes very enjoyable. My only complaint is that I found the first class a bit poorly-organized. I don't hold it against them though, because it was the first time that they were teaching the class, and it was the first time that they had to set up in that classroom. I would normally be pretty miffed by the fact that neither of them had taught HypnoBirthing before, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. They've done their HypnoBirthing instructor training, and they are, doulas after all. Isn't their job to be soothing and supporting throughout childbirth?
As far as first impressions of HypnoBirthing itself go, I think that the class made an even more positive impression on me than I'd originally had from my preliminary research. Even the hubby seemed into it. When I'd first told him that I'd wanted to take HypnoBirthing classes, he looked at me with much skepticism, advising me to research it so that I could be sure that it was money well-spent. After all, it IS rather pricey - ~$350 for 5 weeks! Unfortunately, the term "HypnoBirthing" evokes images of a bunch of hippies living in a cult-like commune brainwashing unwitting mothers-to-be with their psycho-babble. Of course, that didn't help my cause. So I humored him and did some research. I sent him a number of articles that I'd found online, and I got him to read a few pamphlets that I'd brought home from my pre-natal fitness classes. It didn't take very long to get him on my side, thank goodness!
The more I get into it, the more I realize that HypnoBirthing is a state of mind. It's all about being in a good headspace during the birthing process. As the founder of HypnoBirthing - Marie Mongan - points out, giving birth is a part of nature. If the less "intelligent" animals can do it without drugs, why can't we? Unfortunately, throughout history, childbirth has evolved from something perfectly natural and relatively stress-free, to this horrid, painful experience that requires medical intervention to "get it over with". Total horse-pucky.
If you can get past these societal taboos around childbirth, then that alone is a HUGE step in the right direction. The next part of the philosophy is to learn to RELAX. I'll be the first to admit that I am NOT a relaxed individual. I fidget. I get nervous when I have nothing to do. I always need to have everything scheduled. I think that's why this HypnoBirthing experience will be positive for me. If I can learn to be a calmer, more relaxed person, then that alone is a huge success for me! Some of the breathing exercises that we've done in the past couple of weeks have been great so far. I already feel myself becoming a more relaxed person, which is huge for me.
The only thing I'm not quite sold on is the hubby's role in coaching me on my breathing during labor. We've both agreed that that's just not "us". I do, however, believe that we can tailor what we've learned (and are learning) in our HypnoBirthing classes into a birthing process that works for us, so that doesn't worry me at all. I was never a stickler for following the rules word-for-word anyway - my baking is edibly yummy proof of that!
5 comments:
The hypnobirthing sound great! If you still have links, I'd love to learn more about it. The whole concept of a non-medicalized birth is why I am so interested in having a midwife for this pregnancy, rather than a doctor, even though I really quite like the doctor. I think things are changing as midwifery becomes more mainstream (again) in Canada, but there are still people who seem to think that midwifery is somehow archaic and dangerous. There's still so much educating to do!
Here's the HypnoBirthing link: http://www.hypnobirthing.com/. You can order the book online from Amazon or maybe even find it from your local bookstore. I started reading the book today, and I have to say that it's a pretty good read. It sure put me at ease re: the whole childbirth thing. Another bonus: the book comes with a great relaxation CD - puts me right to sleep! :D
I totally agree with you re: midwifery. It's definitely picking up steam. If we ever have another kid, I'd consider going with a midwife just because from what I hear, it's a more personal experience. I like my current OB, but I think a midwife would give you more one-on-one care that OBs just don't typically give these days.
Happy reading, and feel free to pick my brain re: HypnoBirthing!
I won't try to convince you one way or another, but I disagree with your viewpoint about drugs during childbirth. There is no denying that childbirth is extremely painful. Sure animals give birth without drugs, but just because something is possible doesn't mean it has to be done that way. And just because something is natural doesn't make it better than something unnatural.
But since I'm male my view on this topic is probably worthless, but my wife recently gave birth and she had an epidural, and is converted. She originally didn't want one, but then changed her mind when she realized just how much pain there was. The epidural isn't a narcotic like morphine; it's an anaesthetic that is administered directly to your spine. This numbs the sensation and removes all the pain of the contractions. Before the epidural she said to me "I hope you don't mind, but this is going to be an only child", but afterwards she said "I think we can do this again". So she is a convert and believes whole-heartedly in epidurals. I can say that she certainly felt happier after the epidural was put in, and she was even able to sleep during the contractions.
Your labour is, of course, your own affair, but why should it be harder than it needs to be?
I can certainly appreciate your comment and your point of view on this. I don't think there's a right or a wrong. That being said, I do suggest you check out the HypnoBirthing book (see link in my comment above) to get a bit more insight on why I'm going this route.
In a nutshell, I don't think that childbirth has to be painful at all. In fact, the whole point of HypnoBirthing is put your body and mind at ease re: this whole childbirth process. Basically, if a woman goes into labor freaking out, all of her blood will rush to her essential organs because the body thinks that something bad has happened. The uterus is not a vital organ, so when it contracts, the latitudinal and longitudinal muscles of the uterus are no longer working WITH each other, but rather, AGAINST each other. Hence, the pain.
The bottom line is that childbirth does not have to be painful just because you choose to go the drug-free route. At the same time, you can't go into labor planning to go about it drug-free, but with no prior preparation.
Just some food for thought. I by no means condemn the use of epidurals. If that's what worked for your wife and made her labor more comfortable, then who am I to judge. Honestly, the whole reason why I wanted to go au naturel to begin with is that I hate the idea of a needle in my spine. The more I learn about natural childbirth though, the more fascinating I find it.
I wouldn't condemn a woman for having an epidural, either - my SIL had them for two births and I can still hear the exact tone of voice she used when she told me, "I loved my epidural." People have different pain thresholds, different experiences, different expectations. When I went into the hospital with Jade, I didn't want to have one, but I told myself that if I changed my mind, then that's how it would be - I didn't want to feel like a failure because of that choice.
The reason I want to have birth be as natural as possible is because every intervention that happens has potential, and potentially unknown, consequences. Just as people are now rejecting plastic bottles that contain BPA, we may find down the road that certain types of interventions have unforeseen consequences.
Epidurals can make babies sluggish and contractions less efficient and breastfeeding harder. I know women who've had terrible experiences with epidurals. Everything has its place, but instead of looking at it as, "why should it be harder than it needs to be?" I look at it as "why mess with a good thing if I can handle it on my own?"
Giving birth to Jade was a wonderful and powerful experience. There wasn't enough time to even think about getting pain meds and I was amazed at the power I have in my body. Unlike Mr. Shiny's wife, I told Michael we could do the whole thing again about 3 minutes after Jade was born. No epidural could have made it better.
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