Birth without pain?

This is an article I wrote for the magazine I’m currently working on and is based on an interview I did with a lovely lady called Marie Ash who lives not far from me, in Castlederg, Co. Tyrone. She offers hypnobirthing classes for expectant parents across the province either on an individual basis or in group sessions, depending on demand.  Fascinating stuff and something I am definitely keen to find out more about as my due date looms ever closer!

GIVING birth isn’t something that many women look forward to; of course, we all look forward to meeting our new arrival after nine long months of pregnancy but the experience of birth itself generally isn’t regarded as something to be enjoyed, and the main reason for that is pain.

From our mother’s knee, women are conditioned to expect that childbirth is painful and unpleasant and I must admit that this has been my experience as well.  But with our second child due in less than two months’ time, I was keen to find out whether there was anything I could do to make my second experience of giving birth less painful and traumatic than my first – and my quest led me just down the road to Castlederg, and local woman, Marie Ash.

A fully-qualified hypnobirthing practitioner, Marie believes that childbirth without pain is a genuine possibility, and while massively sceptical, the lure of such a promise proved too much for me – I had to find out more!

Stereotypes
When you hear the word ‘hypnobirthing’ you might instantly think of Paul McKenna and Derren Brown types sending their unwitting victims into a deep sleep at a click of the fingers – but hypnobirthing is much more subtle and complex than that.  It aims to recondition a woman’s brain with regards to giving birth, removing all the negative stereotypes that teach us to ‘expect’ that childbirth will be painful and introducing the idea that our bodies are designed to birth babies and that we need not rely on the many drugs and interventions that are now commonplace on labour wards to ‘get us through’.

Marie’s interest in hypnobirthing was first piqued when she was pregnant with her second child, her first having been born by Caesarean section following a failed medical induction.  “I saw an item on Richard and Judy about hypnobirthing – they showed this woman in labour and it was all just so calm and relaxed!  Marie Mongan, who pioneered hypnobirth, was also on the show talking about the possibilities and that was it, I made up my mind that I wanted my baby to be born like that.”  Sadly, that pregnancy ended in miscarriage but when Marie found herself pregnant for a third time, and now living in Spain, she remained determined that her next birth would be a hypnobirth.  What she didn’t bank on, however, was that this was a twin pregnancy and once again, her hopes were dashed:  “With my previous history of Caesarean the hospital in Spain wouldn’t even consider allowing me to try a normal delivery, and so I had yet another section,” Marie explains, “but it didn’t deter me from wanting to find out more about hypnobirthing.”

Relaxation
Marie then embarked on a series of courses which saw her qualify as a registered practitioner with the American Hypnobirthing Institute just over a year ago.  She now runs group classes in Castlederg as well as offering one-to-one tuition in clients’ homes.

“The classes run over four weeks and we deal with four main areas – breathing, relaxation, visualization and deepening.  One of the big things is changing the language of birth,” Marie explains, “because that has so much to do with how women approach it.  We don’t refer to ‘contractions’, for example, because that word is associated with pain and discomfort – instead we refer to them as ‘surges’.”

A bit ‘hippy’ you might think, but Marie’s next point hits home with me.  “During a hypnobirth a woman is fully present, she is able to talk to her birth partner and the medical staff and be fully involved in her own care.  But I teach her the techniques she needs to become deeply relaxed and focused so that she can work with her body during each surge, instead of becoming tense and fighting against it.  The best way I can describe it is that it’s like when you’re driving and you become so absorbed in your thoughts that you can go for miles, negotiating obstacles and other road users, without even realizing that you’re doing it.  You might arrive home safely but have little or no recollection of the journey.  That is self hypnosis.

“Women sometimes ask how I can be so confident that hypnobirthing works because I haven’t done it myself but I’ve seen and heard enough from my clients to know that it definitely does.  Women I’ve taught have reported faster, calmer births with drastically fewer interventions and less pain – one or two have even experienced completely pain-free births,” she says.  “I’d like to think that one day the NHS will recognize hypnobirthing’s potential and that all women will have free access to the kind of teaching I provide.”

For more information on hypnobirthing and the services Marie provides, visit her website, www.hypnobirthing-ni.co.uk or call 028 8167 9208.