Having a Baby?
Relax....
Heather
Ostman
April, 2003
“Through
labor, I felt no pain at all,” says Amy Moore of Riverside, describing
the delivery of her second child nine months ago. “And I didn't always
practice my visualization.”
Regardless, Moore's participation in a self-hypnosis birthing program
called HypnoBirthing® seemed to help anyway.
After the painful delivery of her first child five years earlier, a
delivery that left her with permanent nerve damage caused by complications
from an epidural, Moore and her husband sought alternatives to drugs
for their next child. HypnoBirthing® appealed
to them for its promise to alleviate the fear and tension that often
accompany childbirth and which contribute to the experience of pain,
and in some cases, lengthen labor time.
HypnoBirthing® is taught by trained instructors
in a class setting or in at-home sessions. Expectant mothers and their
birthing partners learn the techniques of self-hypnosis, which include
relaxation, visualization, and guided imagery. Denise Vigna, R.N.C.,
a nurse at St. John's Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, a Lamaze teacher
and trained HypnoBirthing® instructor, says,
“The difference between Lamaze and HypnoBirthing®
is that the self-hypnosis technique focuses only on positive things.”
To emphasize positive thinking, for example, instructors of HypnoBirthing®
reframe the language of childbirth. A “contraction” is referred to as
a “surge”, which HypnoBirthing® advocates
claim affects perceptions of the childbirth experience. Kathryn McGlynn,
a certified hypnotist and motivational coach in Sturbridge, MA, expresses
the effects of changing the language: “Many HypnoBirthing®
women birth without ‘pushing' at all. They ‘breathe their baby' down,
letting their baby and their body do all the work.”
Based on the earlier work of Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, who wrote Childbirth
Without Fear in 1944, the term HypnoBirthing®
was first coined by its founder, Marie F. Mongan, in 1989. In Westchester,
St. John's Riverside Hospital offers classes with nurses trained in
its techniques, and one nurse at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in
Sleepy Hollow has been trained.
At St. John's Riverside Hospital, Theresa McGarvey, R.N.C., has high
praise for the technique. Trained two years ago in HypnoBirthing®,
McGarvey has already begun to see results in the delivery room, and
notes a significant difference in delivery experiences for the women
who arrive relaxed and those who arrive tense.
Michelle Diamond, of Larchmont, hopes she will have a similar experience
now that she and her husband have been participating in HypnoBirthing®
classes. Expecting her first child, she, too, was looking for ways to
make natural childbirth more comfortable. Diamond listens to guided
meditation tapes between classes, and explains, “The visualization helps
you to connect to your baby, as if you were welcoming your baby, and
you were both working together.”
Importantly, Diamond notes, HypnoBirthing®
offers an alternative, but does not exclude the use of other options.
Vigna agrees, saying: “Using the HypnoBirthing®
technique doesn't mean you can't have pain medications.”
Not everyone is as enthusiastic about the idea of being hypnotized for
childbirth. Despite a difficult and prolonged natural delivery a year
ago, Bethany Nelson of New Rochelle says, “I honestly can't imagine
it. It's too New Age for me.” McGarvey acknowledges: “Some people think
hypnosis is not for them. They think it means having no control, although
actually hypnosis allows for complete control.” Moore agrees, and says
that instead of losing control, “I turned into myself, and didn't need
my husband as much during delivery.”
Until St. John's began to offer HypnoBirthing®,
instruction was minimally available through organizations that offer
alternatives to hospital deliveries, such as Informed Maternity Alternatives
(IMA) in Suffern, where midwife services are available, and The HypnoBirthing®
Institute of New York in Manhattan.
Here in Westchester, doctors had few comments on HypnoBirthing®,
and many had not heard of it. Dr. Patricia Devine, chief of maternal-fetal
medicine at Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle, admitted that
she had no experience in the technique and preferred not to comment.
Dr. Lawrence Mendelowitz, senior attending director of obstetrics/gynecology
at Phelps, also had no experience with the technique; however, he said
he “wouldn't dissuade a patient who was interested in HypnoBirthing®,
but would consult with colleagues for more information.” He suggested
that patients' responses during the delivery could vary, “because in
pain, not everyone can relax.”
A relaxed mother makes for a relaxed baby, according to many supporters
of HypnoBirthing®. Moore says she still feels
the effects of her HypnoBirthing® experience
today: “The lessons you learn about relaxation are still useful. You
can take five minutes and get ‘into the zone,' which is important in
our present times.”
Positive
Human Dynamics, Ltd
1453
Rio Rancho Blvd., Ste E Rio Rancho, NM 87124
(505)
892-1313 www.posihd.com
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