Birthing like a Giraffe
Yes you read it right, my aspiration in life was to birth like those large mammals, whether they be in a zoo or whether that be in the wild. Why is it that we as humans differ so dramatically to other mammals when it comes to birthing our babies? We conceive in the same way, our reproductive systems are the same, we carry our young in the same way and they come out in the same way…
So why can a Giraffe (other mammals are available) just ‘pop’ out a baby and a human has to thrash around on a bed on their back for 3 days, with gas and air in one hand and her other hand getting ready to rip her partners eyes out if he doesn’t tell the midwife that she needs an epidural right now?
Funnily enough, I had created a page ready to blog in February 2016, with a view of documenting the journey my husband and I were going through in trying for a baby. Little did I know, that with our holiday to Lanzarote booked for the month after, that I would very soon be growing little Annie inside me…and so the page never got used. Once the positive test appeared in front of me, blogging was the last thing on my mind. I had been quite successful in getting pregnant, but staying pregnant didn’t come so easily, therefore my energy and efforts were fully focused on chilling out to the max.
Having had our gorgeous first glimpse of baby number 1 at the 12 week scan, everything was all present and correct and I was ready to reconsider that dream of birthing like a Giraffe. I had come to the conclusion at this point that the baby had to come out through that tiny hole, but that’s what my body was designed to do. Maybe if I took a ‘what will be will be’ attitude then I will be fine and if I need drugs then I can have them…but the Giraffe doesn’t need pethidine or an epidural, so why did that come as standard for women who birth babies?
ENTER HYPNOBIRTHING…
No, I’m not suggesting that giraffe’s go off and secretly do a Hypnobirthing course whilst no ones looking.
On a trip to a local supermarket, strolling down the magazine isle, one of the glossy mags were spread with the face of a celebrity who had just birthed her baby using ‘Hypnobirthing’. The word alone sent my husband into a fit of giggles and reaction that I was ridiculous if I thought that would ever work. This peed me off straight away and so I took to researching why on earth this technique was so wonderful. Secretly, I was a huge skeptic! Was it simply the latest money making trend that celebrities took to, when really they probably had a scheduled c-section?
If you’re reading this then you either understand my skeptic mind, totally open to finding out more or know a little bit about hypnobirthing. I’d looked into local courses to take as a couple but with an overly skeptical husband, he was not willing to part with his hard earned cash in order to be hypnotised (his words, not mine). I had to do this, I had to find out why it was so amazing and so I ordered a hypnobirthing book and CDs from Amazon and began teaching myself hypnobirthing as soon as they arrived.
Reprogramming my subconscious mind and creating good habits…
20 minutes at the end of each day was my time. In bed, after a bubble bath with lavender candles, fleecy pjs and my book in hand. I would go to bed before my husband so as not to be disturbed, (plus at this point he was still showing no interest in my new ‘fad’). I was blown away at how obvious it all became. The biology of it all made perfect sense. All hormone driven, the work of muscles, just like the Giraffe, my body was created to do this and was more than capable of doing so without the need of looking possessed on a hospital bed.
To break it down, your body produces a hormone called Adrenaline for those situations where you’re in danger/fearful and need to either leg it or fight for your life. Adrenaline sends all your blood, oxygen and energy to your limbs so that they are at their peek in giving you the best chance of survival. This was great in caveman days, however you aren’t going anywhere or fighting off anything during labour. Therefore Adrenaline is mostly totally useless and the biggest hindrance to our bodies.
Hypnobirthing teaches you how to create confidence in your body to keep this hormone away. Instead, we need an abundance of oxytocin and endorphins. Oxytocin is the love hormone, produced in labour to ensure your uterine muscles are contracting effectively and endorphins are a natural painkiller and relaxant. You can choose adrenaline OR oxytocin and endorphins, you can’t have both. So, hypnobirthing facilitates your ability to produce the wonderful hormones you need using relaxation techniques, breathing effectively, powerful visualisations and enables you to set the environment up for the birth you choose (in a nutshell).
Learning to relax is hard work, it didn’t come easy or naturally for me and so took such a long time for me to master the skill and be able to do it quickly. I knew after a few weeks that I had mastered the skill of deep relaxation when I’d realised that I’d never got to the end of the CDs before falling asleep, so I began starting the CDs from different points each night so I could practice them. The key being ‘practice’, every single day, 20 minutes. You can’t do it once and expect to have trained your mind and body into delivering an effective, positive birthing experience. You wouldn’t run a marathon without training every day. Treat it like a marathon. Hypnobirthing needs you, your time and your commitment.
At around 7 months, my husband began coming to bed with me, secretly I think he wanted an ear in on what I found so amazing and how at this stage in pregnancy I could fall asleep in 10 minutes and sleep solidly for 10 hours. The CDs taught us the science behind the human body, which makes total sense. Keep the fear away, teach your mind to have confidence in your body, this is what it’s made to do. I soon wrote out my birth preferences, reciting it to Josh to enable him to be a supportive and strong birth partner. I needed him to answer questions that the midwife had whilst I kept in my birth bubble and I needed him to set the scene if I was unable to do myself. He had a list of my expectations for before, during and importantly, after. My expectations of labour and birth were realistic, if I needed intervention then I would have it, for the safety and well-being of myself and the baby, but what I didn’t expect was what would actually happen.