Breathing Your Baby Out

There are often questions about what this means from moms who take Hypnobabies.  Here is a great explination from Carole, VP Hypnobabies.

Pushing…
 
By “breathing baby down”, we mean that moms are breathing, “aaaahhhhhh” to open their throats, because we know that if their throats are open and relaxed so are their bottoms. Through a process called peristalsis, our ‘gut’ which is one continuous tube, ‘communicates’ from one end (the mouth) all the way down through the digestive tract to the other end (the rectum). Whatever is going on in mom’s face, is being mimicked by her bottom. So, when mom is ‘breathing her baby down’, she is relaxing her jaw, her throat is open, and she is relaxing and allowing her birthing muscles to bring her baby down through the birth canal slowly, and gradually. This is so the birth canal can unfold accordion-style, and open gently, and so that baby’s head can also mold to fit the pelvis slowly and gently. Baby is propelled by the force of the pressure waves, down a little, down a little more, and even a little more each pressure wave, and then baby slips back a bit when the pressure wave ends, in a gradual, “two-steps down, and one-step back fashion”.
 
Mom breathes and relaxes and allows her body and her baby to do all the pushing in the beginning. She allows her body to do what it already knows how to do, inhaling relaxation, and then exhaling and saying “peace” while powerful anesthesia automatically flows down and out ahead of her baby to exactly where she needs it in her bottom. This is similar to what women who have epidurals experience, and the hospital staff calls it ‘laboring down’. Those moms typically don’t push at all until baby is on the perineum.
 
Then, when baby’s head is so deep in the pelvis that it is pressing on the nerve endings in mom’s rectum, it will trigger a powerful, automatic bearing-down response. When this urge to push becomes strong enough that mom just HAS TO PUSH, her body will involuntarily push…POWERFULLY. And, she’ll begin to want to help that process by bearing down just a little at the peaks of some of the pressure waves. Then gradually that urge to push becomes longer and stronger until mom has an overwhelming urge to push throughout the entire pressure wave, each and every time. And, she will push because her body is guiding her to do so. She can be encouraged at this time, and guided by her doula or caregivers if she’s not being ‘effective’ in her efforts.
 
Because I seldom see a mom be ‘quiet’ all through second stage and only relax and breathe her baby all the way to born…especially first timers. I tell birth partners that mom might begin to make powerful bearing-down sounds, similar to the sounds a martial arts expert makes as they execute a forceful karate chop! The power that she releases as she bears down, as she keeps her throat open enough for sounds to escape, can be quite loud, and sometimes startling to those around the mom if they misinterpret them as discomfort rather than a release of power. This is especially true since most caregivers are used to seeing moms with epidurals who don’t make any sound at all, and it can be unnerving to them. But, you’ll know that those sounds are power and most moms who vocalize as they push report that “it didn’t hurt, it simply felt good to make those sounds”.

Yours in gentle, natural birthings…
521 sweet babies births attended!
Carole Thorpe,

BIRTH PARTNER SERVICES
www.hypnosis4birth.com

Read Full Post »

Hypnobabies Yahoo Group

I moderate this group and I love it!  There is so much support for the moms there. 

There have been more and more moms joining and I wanted to know how you all found out about it!

Please take this poll so I can find out!

Read Full Post »

Maggies Birth – 2nd Hypnobabies Birth for this mom

I was so bummed when I woke up Sunday morning to a warm, urgent gush of fluid. It was unquestionably my water breaking and I jumped up and ran to the bathroom just in time to avoid a mess on the carpet. Having tested GBS+, I had been hoping that my water wouldn’t break until well into labor, but I wasn’t having anything more than the same incessant Braxton Hick’s contractions when it broke. It was 2:30AM, and I debated whether or not to tell my husband, but decided to let him know that something was up. He thought we should call the hospital, but I wanted to wait since nothing was happening.  

About 3:00, some very easy contractions kicked in. I told Saki to go back to sleep as I was just going to try to rest myself and hope things moved along quickly. I knew I was on about an 18 hour time limit because of the GBS, and wanted to get through labor with as few risk factors as possible.  The pressure waves started out at about 7 minutes apart and stayed that way for several hours. I probably could have slept, but I kept having occasional, annoying gushes of amniotic fluid that kept me running to the bathroom because I didn’t want to get wet. 

When the pressure waves started at 3, I decided to start using my Hypnobabies tracks while I rested (and surfed the net). I began by listening to the Painless Childbirth track a couple of times, followed by Birthing Day Affirmations. At 5 I switched over to the Easy First Stage track, although in hindsight the first stage was almost over by then. Throughout this whole phase, the waves were not painful at all. After an hour or so I hit on the best description for how they felt: it was like I was on a long road trip and I had to use the bathroom really, really badly, but I had to hold it until the next rest stop. When I realized I was mentally and physically fighting the urge to pee, I was able to let go of that feeling and the waves got even easier. 

About 5 AM, I started spending more pressure waves sitting on the toilet, and by 6 when I decided to call my doula, they progressed quite quickly to 4-5 minutes apart, but still very comfortable and easy; so easy, in fact that I was a bit confused. I knew by the timing that things were moving along, but the peace and composure I felt seemed at odds with where I intellectually knew my labor was headed. All I could think was that either I was tricking myself into thinking things were moving more quickly than they actually were, or the Hypnobabies was really working like it was supposed to.  

I had been trying to wait until 6 to call my doula because I knew she would be up by then, and I wanted her to get as much rest as possible, especially since I was enjoying my solitary birthing time so much and didn’t really need anything from anyone else. When I got on the phone with her, I soon realized things were happening more quickly than I previously thought, so I told her we would probably head to the hospital around 7. I decided it was time to wake up Saki then so he could finish packing up and get ready to go.  

He suggested that we get in the shower, which sounded nice to me, so we did. As soon as I got in the shower, I immediately had a several strong pressure waves one after another. I was in a peaceful place and not timing them, but he freaked out. “Are you having ANOTHER ONE?” Yes. “That was only about a minute apart! We have to go!” I know. He hopped out of the shower and started rushing around gathering stuff. He told my mom to get ready to go and get Tommy up because we had planned to take everyone as long as it happened at a reasonable time of day.  

I reluctantly got out of the shower, sat on the toilet again for another pressure wave and called my doula to let her know we were definitely heading to the hospital. About that time, I also started feeling a little pukey…SURELY I could not be close to transition!? It was all too easy and peaceful! But the pukey feeling was enough to convince me I better get moving just in case my mind wasn’t playing tricks and Hypnobabies was actually working. (Although I guess technically, Hypnobabies working IS the mind playing tricks. ?) Ha.  

I got dressed, got my iphone and headphones and resumed listening to my Easy First Stage track and got in the van for the rainy drive to the hospital. That was about 7:05 AM. At that point everything became decidedly uncomfortable and it was a struggle to remain positive and not say bad words at every bump on the road. For the record, I was in transition during the ride, but I didn’t realize it. I believe if I had not had to get in the car and drive 30 minutes to the hospital, I would probably have experienced a virtually pain-free birth. As it was, it wasn’t really painful; just decidedly uncomfortable going through transition in a vehicle. Thank God it was Sunday morning and not a weekday, so there was no traffic to contend with. We got to the hospital triage unit about 7:30, and Mary, my doula arrived right behind us. The triage nurse told me to go into the bathroom and change out of my clothes if I wanted to.  

Fortunately Mary followed me into the bathroom. I sat on the toilet and suddenly felt the need to push—or poop—I wasn’t sure.  Mary knew though. She said I had that smell of imminent birth. She told the nurse I was feeling pushy, then she took my clothes off of me because I wasn’t capable of doing much of anything else at that point. When I got a little break, we went back into the triage room where the nurse wasted valuable time strapping a fetal heart monitor on me. I agreed to let her check me and she said something about a 9 and something-pushy and immediately sprang into action, calling for backup.  She handed me a blanket to cover myself and off we went down the hall to birthing room #3. I was relieved that it was a small number and I didn’t have to walk all the way down the hall.  

I walked into the empty room, and stood there wondering what to do next. The bed was not set up for any type of delivery position (nor was anything else), and suddenly people were directing me to get into it. I stared at it blankly thinking “um, HOW?” It just didn’t seem possible, as I couldn’t think of any way of getting into that bed that would accommodate how I was feeling right at the moment. In a second I decided the only thing I could do was kneel and start pushing. I clumsily dragged a pillow off the bed to kneel on and took up a prayer position at the bedside. A very nice lady introduced herself as Kit, my midwife, and said “If you can get on the bed that would be great because it would be softer for you, but if not, we’ll just have this baby here.” I wordlessly chose “here.”  

She said, “I’m going to touch you and see where the baby is. Oh, it’s right here! PUSH!” And then it seemed like everyone was shouting at me to “PUSH! One more push and you’ll have the head out!” I totally thought they were lying and just saying that trying to encourage me. There was no way the baby was coming yet. We just got to the hospital! Mary was kneeling across the bed from me and she was the one who convinced me that the baby really was coming out NOW! I was totally shocked. I think I even said “Oh, you’re not lying!” Then sweet Kit told me to spread my legs wider and push hard again and baby would be out…and she was! The time was 7:42 AM. Counting the pushes in triage, I think there were no more than 6 or 7 total and we were at the hospital for 12 minutes before little Maggie was born. 

Kit said “Ok, get ready, I’m going to pass the baby to you through your legs.” After untangling the basically useless fetal and contraction monitors, we accomplished the hand off and I finally made it into bed. The total time from start to finish was less than 5 hours. I sat there on the bed holding my new baby saying “Wow, that was amazing” for about an hour, I think. 

I keep thinking that if I hadn’t woke my husband up right when I did, I could have easily had an unassisted home birth. I wish I could have, but it still worked out great and I feel so blessed to have had such a totally amazing, empowering experience. 

Read Full Post »

Kay’s Birth – induction using Hypnobabies, with a doula

After finding out I was pregnant and beginning to learn about birth and options, I decided I wanted to attempt a natural birth. I felt very empowered after watching the documentary The Business of Being Born. At this point, it was in theory I wanted a natural birth for all of the wonderful reasons to have one, but in practice I really didn’t have
much confidence I could (or would) do it. I knew I would have to change my fearful attitude and my first step was to stop watching anything on TV about birth!

My second step was to hire a doula/birth coach, and we found Erin. She was an incredible resource throughout my pregnancy as well. She also introduced me to the “Hypnobabies” program which was incredibly helpful to me as I prepared mentally for birthing.

The last few weeks of the pregnancy got pretty tense as we considered recommendations for inducing labor, based on amniotic fluid level that was in the healthy range but at the low end of the range. Ryan and I decided together that we would not induce labor with levels in the healthy range, particularly given the known inaccuracy of those readings by ultrasound. We knew our baby was thriving and healthy. We wanted her and my body to be as ready as possible before trying to force it into labor. We stepped up the natural induction techniques as much as possible, trying spicy foods, talking to Kay about coming out, the Hypnobabies “Come Out Baby” and fear clearing sessions, raspberry leaf, acupressure and more.

On December 22nd, we had a very low fluid reading and we knew this meant we would proceed with the induction.  Fortunately my body was much more ready than it was a few weeks prior and on that Monday evening I was at 1cm and 50% effaced. At least we weren’t starting completely from scratch (and I do believe our efforts helped!).

That evening, a foley catheter balloon was inserted into my cervix to assist it opening to 3cm overnight. We were very nervous about how my body might react (or not!) to artificial labor induction. I listened to positive birthing affirmations and Ryan led me through the Hypnobabies “change of plans” script. That was very helpful as I visualized all of my fears and concerns, put them all in boxes and away in a closet marked “later” – then sent it away. I was so appreciative of the friends and family who called to check on me.

By morning, I was at 3cm and 70% effaced. Ryan and I took showers and got some good breakfast. The midwives and nurses were so respectful of our birth plans and no one ever offered me medication that day or even used the “p-word”, but just let us do our work.

About 8:30 a.m. I was started on Pitocin. Again, I tried to relax and keep positive messages in my mind with the birthing day affirmations. I had no choice but to believe that this could still go very well. I couldn’t help but feel robbed of an experience – of going into labor spontaneously, laboring at home, the trip to the hospital… but, we were going to meet Baby Kay and all would be well.

During the morning, I felt very mild contractions, mostly in my back. Ryan, Erin and I watched TV, talked, and laughed. Erin gave me a wonderful foot rub with aromatherapy, and worked some acupressure points to help contractions come. Erin went for some lunch and after that Ryan left for a lunch break as well. During Ryan’s  absence, things got more serious. I got on the birth ball and Erin began rubbing my back with a massager.

At this point I looked up at the TV and saw that Home Improvement was on. I said, “I really hate this show!!” and asked the nurse to please turn it off right NOW! It just hit me that I hated that show so we had a good laugh about it. I had an intense longing for Ryan to return, and he did a few minutes later thankfully. I was starting to do some real work. With each contraction, I would try to breathe and relax my body. I did not have a desire to listen to my
hypnosis CD’s but I always had the messages in mind, to relax as much as possible and let my body do the work.

My breathing triggered Erin to aid me with each contraction – she would press on my lower back or squeeze my hips. It felt very good and seemed to contain each contraction so it did not get too far away from me, too far outside of myself. Erin reminded me to take one at a time, and use my breaks to rest and relax, which was really key to my success. For some reason I wanted Ryan to press on my forehead with each contraction too. About 1 or 1:30 p.m., I felt a pop inside, which was a really interesting sensation! My water had broken – great progress!

At about 2:30 p.m. I was at 4-5cm. I felt a little discouraged because I thought I was progressing so well and had done so much work, but that sounded like I was only halfway there!. But my “team” got me focused again. I got back on the birth ball and continued to work. I was leaning over into Ryan’s lap as he sat on the bed. He held me and
pressed on my forehead with each contraction. At one point I got emotional and started talking about our first anniversary and trip. We had just found out we were expecting and had not told anyone yet. Then I asked Ryan “Do you remember that steak I had with the chocolate? That was awesome…I want that right now”. Erin and Ryan started talking about it, but by that time it was making me feel queasy and I quickly insisted that they stop talking about food!

My breathing turned into moaning through each wave. I cannot describe the feeling of the contractions but it certainly wasn’t “p***”. I suppose I would describe it as really intense rhythmic pressure but I really cannot find the words.

Contractions were coming pretty quickly now and I was really feeling like I wanted a break. I was okay with each one but they came so quickly now, I felt like I could barely breathe in between! Then I started wondering aloud how many more of these I was going to have to do. Erin focused me and reminded me that I only have to do this one. Just one at a time. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was entering transition. I wanted a break, I was daydreaming about what an epidural might be like right now, and I might have said something about wanting to go home. I vomited, although I must say that felt pretty awesome. It felt cleansing, and also distracted me momentarily.

I remember clearly when we were returning from the bathroom (a mandated trip which I was not at all happy about!), Erin said “look at what the nurses are doing.” I looked and they were putting out all of the instruments and getting ready for delivery. I gasped and said “Really?” as I looked at this happening in disbelief – I really thought it was going to be a long haul ahead. Erin said to me, “They are getting ready for you to have your baby!” This was an exciting moment. I knew Kay was coming very soon and that I was going to make it through.

At this point I got in bed to take a little “rest.” After a few contractions I started to feel the overwhelming urge to push. This must have been about 4:30 p.m. now. I had to wait for the midwife to check my progress. This was by far the most difficult part of the labor, because I was fighting against what my body needed to do. It did not hurt, it
was just nearly impossible to fight off the pushing. The nurse kept encouraging me to just breathe through it, try not to push. The midwife checked and said I was almost fully dilated but not quite there. Erin told me to visualize my cervix opening up and Kay’s head sliding out easily. Fighting the pushing was so hard – my whole being wanted to push and I couldn’t even fight it entirely. They just kept telling me to wait a little longer. I must have had at least 15 of these contractions, trying not to push.

Once the midwife said to go ahead and push, it felt truly amazing!! I would never use the “p-word” to describe this. Pushing honestly felt GREAT. All that energy had a channel now. I was feeling great and accomplished and thinking about how the baby was almost here. Then my mind turned against me for a moment and it hit me that the pushing stage can last several hours, and that I might not even get the baby out this way. I couldn’t get this thought out of my
mind but again my support team kicked in and kept me focused. Eventually Erin encouraged me to get up and let gravity help, so I stood and leaned over the bed. At this point things get fuzzy but I remember they got a bar so I could squat/sit down. Baby Kay was really on her way now, I started to feel stretching and burning. Now the midwife was down on the floor, but at this point again it was fuzzy. I was excited, elated, scared, everything all at once! I remember saying “She’s coming! She’s coming! What do I do?!” 🙂 I was told to slow down and not push too hard, so she could ease out. Then they decided they really wanted me in the bed. This was a crazy moment… I just kept thinking, she is coming! I can’t move!, but I had to climb into bed. The crowning really burned, but I was just so happy she was almost here that I didn’t care one bit. Another push and suddenly thd midwife had Kay in her hands and I saw her face!! She was born at 5:49 p.m. I’d only had to push for about an hour!

The moment Kay came out was sheer relief. I gasped and couldn’t believe there was our baby!! I knew there was a baby in there, but when I saw her it was still just such an amazing surprise. She was beautiful. They handed Kay to me and I said hi and I think I commented on how she had hair! I remember telling her that she was named after two very
special women (our late mothers). Then I looked over at Ryan who was next to me and saw his face, which was filled with both shock and love! We kissed, and exchanged words that I really don’t remember now, and probably wouldn’t do justice to what we were feeling in that moment. I let Kay near my chest for a while to root around and become familiar.

All I remember now was lots of commotion and that my legs would not stop shaking. I was in such a state of physical and emotional excitement – what a high!! Out of nowhere Kay just latched right on to my breast and it even startled me. She was drinking away! Erin commented on how amazing it is that they know just what to do, and I agreed. It felt incredible. Kay continued to feed for about 15-20 minutes. Ryan went out to tell his parents that Kay had been born, and when he came back he said he had lost it out there with them and they were all crying. I wish I could have seen that moment!

While Ryan’s parents came in to meet the baby, I called my family and tearfully shared the news of her birth.  After his parents left, Ryan was sitting on the couch with Kay just holding her tight and looking at her with such amazement and love. He was softly talking to her and called her “Kay bear”, and it has really stuck as our sweet pet name for her.

What follows is a whirlwind of nurses, doctors, instructions and information. We never imagined how many people  would be in and out of our room. That night we called or texted a lot of friends and family and just enjoyed this beautiful sleepy little bundle. I was on such a high that I wasn’t even thinking about sleeping or eating nor did I notice any discomfort. I had just given birth to this baby!! After all of the thought, preparation, worrying… I had done it. What else mattered? Eventually I realized my body and muscles were very tired and sore, and that I needed to slow down and rest. We could have been released from the hospital on Christmas Eve but we did not feel ready. We wanted all the help of the nurses and lactation consultants while we had the opportunity.

We brought Kay home on Christmas Day. As we were getting all of our things together and ready to leave the hospital that afternoon, Ryan and I were both emotional. It was sinking in that we were really taking our baby home. We packed up all of our things and got this baby in the car, and just as many friends had told us we would, we felt a sense of disbelief that they were letting us leave with her! It was a very surreal but exciting moment. Let the adventures begin…

Read Full Post »

Christians using Hypnobabies?

Some Christian moms are hesitant to look into Hypnobabies for fear that hypnosis conflicts with their faith. They may feel that it is too “new age” or they will be disconnected from or unable to control their mind or body.

I would like to address some of these concerns in this post and will include a link at the bottom for another further articles to read. This is a topic that is discussed occasionally on the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group, we have a lot of Christian moms on that group and I have included a lot of their input.

Personally, I am a Christian and personally find no conflict in using hypnosis for childbirth. In fact, I have found that the Hypnobabies program helped me to become in better touch with my reliance upon God and the amazing beauty of how He created me to give birth to my babies. I also felt more connected to my body and birth and in control of myself during Bryson’s birth!

My favorite scripture is “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 I feel that Hypnobabies helped me to have the power of knowledge of normal birth, increase my love for my body and baby and helped me have a more control of my mind in preparing for and birthing Bryson.

Who is in Control?

Let’s clear up some misconceptions about hypnosis. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. In Hypnobabies moms learn to get themselves into that deep relaxed state. In every script they listen to, they are reminded that THEY are in control. They can enter or exit this relaxed state at any time. So they are completely in control.

I never found anything in the program that would undermine any of my Christian beliefs. It actually helped me to love and appreciate myself, and the gift of having a child so much more, because I was focusing my mind on it regularly. Besides, we must CHOOSE to use the tools that allow our bodies to relax easily, it’s not like it’s forced upon us. This same kind of programming happens to us throughout our lives anyway, this is just purposely choosing to make it all positive about childbirth.

 

Christ said that to, “love thy neighbor as thyself” was the greatest law second to loving God himself. You must have love for yourself in order to do this. The whole program is based in loving, respecting and showing gratitude for yourself and your baby. I see nothing to worry about!

Hypnosis is a Natural State

Here is something that Kerry (creator of Hypnobabies) said, “Hypnosis is something that we all already do many times a day, so it’s a very natural thing in our lives and is not an “altered state”. We are automatically in hypnosis when driving, swimming, doing other sports, sitting in church or a lecture, reading, watching television or movies or on the computer (a screen of any kind) and when waking up or going to sleep. In Hypnobabies we are simply guiding that process in a very positive way to create an easy, fear-free comfortable childbirth experience.”

What is on the CDs?

Moms are also encouraged to listen to the scripts at least once while alert so they know what they are hearing. (Many moms fall asleep during the scripts and don’t “remember” what is on them.)

Everything on the scripts are all very positive and uplifting messages about your body, baby and birth. Here are a few mom’s comments about what is on the CDs

1. I know it’s common for Christians to be anti-hypnosis out of the fear that your mind will be open to negative influence. As we all know, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. No one can force you to do anything that is against your beliefs.

Anyone who is concerned about anything on the Hypnobabies CDs can simply listen to them in a conscious state (while washing dishes or whatever) to make sure that they are comfortable with all the suggestions given.

There has never been anything on the CDs or in the scripts or materials that goes against my Christian values or beliefs. I actually view hypnosis as a gift from God since I’ve found it to be a wonderful tool. 🙂

2. I’m also Christian and have never had issues with hypnosis. (I have two Hypnobabies with another one on the way.) I’ve viewed it as more prayer-like meditation. I also feel that the Hypnobabies program has helped me trust in God even more. He made my body perfectly so that I can give birth, when I trust my body to do its job, I am really trusting that God made everything perfectly.

 

Just my thoughts. I also like the suggestion to listen to the CDs while doing something active so you can hear the whole thing and make sure there isn’t anything that offends you in it… I personally have never felt that anything Kerry said was contrary to anything I believed.

3. I don’t see any conflict with it at all. In fact, I think it’s more Christian to do what you can to bring your little blessing into the world in a calm manner free of drugs. The argument in the church against hypnosis historically is that it leaves your mind open to negative influences. There’s nothing on the CDs as far as I know that would conflict with your beliefs–if I heard anything that conflicted with my beliefs I wouldn’t be doing it.

New Age?

Some hypnosis programs do lean towards a new agey feel. Hypnobabies is very mainstream in its orientation.

After I had my first successful Hypnobabies delivery, I came upon a copy of the Mongan Hypnobirthing book at a resale shop and bought it thinking it would make a nice additional resource for my next birth. When I became pregnant again, I started reading it, and was pretty much shocked at what I read.

The whole earth mother, goddess within, and rejection of the Eve story as a fabrication of men to keep women oppressed, line of reasoning behind why a woman can birth naturally and use hypnosis to help her achieve this goal was a big turn-off to me.

I am forever grateful that this was not my original introduction to hypnosis in birth, because it totally falls in with the types of negative preconceptions that Christians have toward hypnosis and the like and I am afraid I would have rejected the idea as not in line with my personal values.

I think Kerry has done an incredible job of empowering women to embrace their innate ability to birth their babies and find the strength within themselves, without relying upon ideas that *some* will find offensive.

Hypnosis is very similar to meditation, which is well supported in the Bible.

Do they think hypnosis is too New Age? I am a Christian AND I went to Seminary, and I don’t see any problem with it. Hypnosis is like a deeper form of meditation – and meditation is mentioned many times in the Bible as a good thing. There are passages of the Bible that talk about meditation, removing grief or fear from the mind, and putting away pain from the body (because isn’t that what we’re doing with Hypnobabies?)

Incorporating your beliefs into Hypnobabies

Kerry, “Many of our moms on this list are Christian and have had wonderful success with Hypnobabies while incorporating their beliefs onto the scripts and hypnosis practice as well as adding prayer into the actual hypnosis when giving birth. I have come to realize that that women know what they need and will find it in Hypnobabies, adapting it perfectly and serenely to their own religious or non-religious belief systems. They always do.”

When I am in my Special Place, it’s always me, the baby, and God behind me supporting me. I have recently begun to get involved in my faith again and I view this whole process of pregnancy, birth, and the hypnosis preparation for it is very spirtual. It’s like God is there(literally in my special place with me), telling me that he created me for this very process to bring this new life(again that he created) into the world with peace and love.

Here is a link to another article with more information.

Read Full Post »

Hypnobabies Birth Video in Contest

I entered my Hypnobabies Birth Video into the Birth Matters Video Contest.  If you can watch and then go and rate it.  Leave a comment too!  I love to share the joy of hypnosis for birth.  🙂

Read Full Post »

No Hypnobabies Instructor Trainings in 2010!!

Last Hypnobabies Instructor Training – 2009

Hypnobabies Instructors
Greetings Hypnobabies Fans,

As we prepare for our Cypress July 2009 Hypnobabies Instructor Training, we are contacting those who have expressed an interest in joining us.
This is our announcement that we will not be holding any Hypnobabies Instructor Trainings in 2010 due to speaking engagements and 2 books that we are commissioned to write. You may want to choose to join us for our July Training: July 17 – 20 2009 in Cypress, CA, near Disneyland.
Please remember that all DONA members receive $100.00 off of their training fee, in 2009 only. You do not have to be a certified DONA doula to receive this discount; only to be a DONA member.
We would love to have you consider joining our wonderful Hypnobabies team and if you are interested in making a huge difference in the birthing world for your community, please call Kerry at 714-952-BABY (2229) for an interview.

Please also make sure you let us know if you are interested in being on our Roommate List, to share expenses with one or two other trainees. This helps tremendously to keep training costs down.

Hypnobabies Training FAQs

Read Full Post »

Hypnobabies is Worldwide

In honor of International Birth Wisdom Week, I would like to share some birth stories from moms who used Hypnobabies from around the world!   These are stories that were shared by moms who are on the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group.

Switzerland

France

Italy

Estonia

USA home birth

USA hospital birth

You can read over 200 more Hypnobabies Birth Stories that I have gathered at Pregnancy Birth and Babies.

Read Full Post »

Power Of Imagination Is More Than Just A Metaphor

(Apr. 15, 2009) – We’ve heard it before: “Imagine yourself passing the exam or scoring a goal and it will happen.” We may roll our eyes and think that’s easier said than done, but in a new study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychologists Christopher Davoli and Richard Abrams from Washington University suggest that the imagination may be more effective than we think in helping us reach our goals.

A group of students searched visual displays for specific letters (which were scattered among other letters serving as distractors) and identified them as quickly as possible by pressing a button. While performing this task, the students were asked to either imagine themselves holding the display monitor with both hands or with their hands behind their backs (it was emphasized that they were not to assume those poses, but just imagine them).

The results showed that simply imagining a posture may have effects that are similar to actually assuming the pose. The participants spent more time searching the display when they imagined themselves holding the monitor, compared to when they imagined themselves with their hands behind their backs. The researchers suggest that the slower rate of searching indicates a more thorough analysis of items closer to the hands. Previous research has shown that we spend more time looking at items close to our hands (items close to us are usually more important than those further away), but this is the first study suggesting that merely imagining something close to our hands will cause us to pay more attention to it.

The researchers suggest these findings indicate that our “peripersonal space” (the space around our body) can be extended into a space where an imagined posture would take us. They note there may be advantages to having this ability, such as determining if an action is realistic (e.g., “Can I reach the top shelf?”) and helping us to avoid collisions. The authors conclude that the present study confirms “an idea that has long been espoused by motivational speakers, sports psychologists, and John Lennon alike: The imagination has the extraordinary capacity to shape reality.”

Journal reference:

. Reaching Out With the Imagination. Psychological Science, (in press)
Adapted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science.
Email or share this story:
Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:
APA

MLA
Association for Psychological Science (2009, April 15). Power Of Imagination Is More Than Just A Metaphor. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 16, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/04/090414153527.htm

Read Full Post »

Quick Explination of Hypnobabies

Hypnobabies has a weekly radio show, which is very inspirational to listen to.  Here you can see Kerry (creator of Hypnobabies) talking about what Hypnobabies is.  A great 4 minute synopsis.

Read Full Post »