Hypnobirthing class 2: Affirmations

To read Class 1 Part 1 and Part 2
Alright first off I have to apologize because I read over my last two posts about my first class and while I found it all incredibly amazing information I am not really sure it was all that interesting to read.  I am going to try to keep the information we learned in the second class just informative for anyone who might want to know before taking the class.   If you read nothing else in this post skip down to the affirmations part.  I feel that this can help every person in all aspects of life!!!
Completely random note: Last night during our break from class Ron and I walked down to his office to get a drink because it is cheaper there and he was working on a fetal monitor so he plugged it in and we got to here little girls heartbeat!  Its such a beautiful sound!  It was a strong heartbeat of 155! 

Hypnobirthing focuses on 4 things.
1.Breathing
2. Relaxation
3. Visualization
4. Deepening relaxation. 

We discussed breathing and relaxation yesterday and practiced some of these methods.  I have been practicing one of breathing methods this past week before I go to bed and I can honestly attest that it always relaxes me and puts me to sleep very quickly.  The funny thing is I learned this particular method when I took voice lessons in high school.  It is a type of belly breath that we used to practice before every single lesson and it would always relax me so I have used it frequently since then to help me get to sleep!  Crazy!  We also worked on a breathing method to do during surges (or contractions).

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There is a few different methods of Relaxation that we also worked on and I have already found that I like one more than the rest.  It works very quickly for me.  We learned something called LIGHT TOUCH MASSAGE that your birth partner can do to help you relax and release endorphins during labor. I found it very effective when we practiced it in class. 

Here is a man using light touch massage on this birthing mom.

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We also discussed the process of breathing down which is used in hypnobirthing in place of pushing the baby out.  This is probably another post for another time but I promise I will talk about it again. 

My favorite part of the class was Affirmations. 
Every thought we have creates a biochemcial reaction.  So when we tell ourselves that we can do something we are more likely to be able to do this. 

One of my favorite affirmations

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My first experience with affirmations was when I was running my first race.  I was struggling near the last mile.  I told my sister that I didn't think I could run anymore.  She started encouraging me and I started to tell myself that I could in my mind.  I started to remind myself that I had worked so hard four this and that I was going to finish this thing and not stop running.  I never stopped running and finished the race because I told myself I could!

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Affirmations are very important in pregnancy and birthing because it is truly the hardest thing that any women will ever experience.  I think another reason why affirmations are so important during pregnancy is that pregnancy changes our chemical makeup and our bodies very very quickly.   I will admit that this time around being almost 40 lbs lighter than my first pregnancy I have an incredible fear of what the pregnancy is doing to my body.  I worked very hard to get my body where it was and its hard to see it change so rapdily.  One of my favorite affirmations that was on the list that we were given last night was

I love the way I look.  I know that what I am doing is amazing and has a beautiful person and I am trying to remember not to focus on my ever growing body!

I decided that I am going to right down my favorite affirmations and place them around the house where I see them every day.  Here are a few others I really like. 

I am involved in a wonderful experience. 
I nourish you with love and take care of my body
I am learning to relax more everday
I am confident about your easy birth
All doubts are put aside as I look forward to your birth
I promise to teach you with love and guidance rather than anger and punishment
Dear little baby, I love you

I will also be putting some affirmations around the house for Ron to help him gain confidence in himself as my birth companion.  He has such an important role in helping me accomplish this natural birth and I want him to know he can do it! 

I truly feel that affirmations can be beneficial to us in all parts of life not just birthing and pregnancy. 
Ron has a lot of new things going on in his life and I will be putting them around the house to help him in these as well. 

Next week in class we are discussing visualizationn and Deepening Relaxations!  WE will be working on self hypnosis.  I cant wait! I
I had someone ask me why I chose hypnobirthing and I will be doing a post on the many reasons why I chose it and also some of my other preperations. 

Hypnobirthing class 1 part 2-Mind over matter

Last september when I went to talk to my midwife about the hopes of getting pregnant I told her about my desire to use hypnobirthing for the birthing process with our next.  She highly recomended hypnobirthing and said that she felt it could be beneficial to all people inside or out of childbirth. Last night as Ron and I drove home and talked about all we had learned from our first class it became very apparent how that could be the case. 

Until looking into Hypnobirthing- hypnosis was the show they put on at the western Idaho fair and people got up on stage and did crazy things and had no clue what they were doing.  Truth is that is not a good way of looking at hypnosis at all.  (I have also learned that while people may respond and act as they are told to here they will not do anything that is out of their moral compass...I found this interesting because it order to refrain you would have to be somewhat aware)

Hypnosis comes from the Greek work hypnose which means to sleep
BUT
it is the appearance of sleep not sleep itself.  It was named this because when it was discovered that people could put themselves in a deep state of relaxation most of the time it appeared that they were sleeping!

We actually use hypnosis in our everyday life without even realizing it. 
Have you ever drove home from somewhere, got in the driveway and realized that you don't even remember stopping at the stop lights or taking turns and somehow you got home?  If you have then you have used hypnosis.  This happens when something becomes so second nature to us that we can do it without thought.  Chances are your mind was somewhere else and you were in a state of hypnosis. 

Here is some more very fascinating scientific things about how our bodies work that I learned last night.

Our Brain functions in 4 different modes
Beta--- 14 cycles per minute- When we are in Beta mode we are being the critic, the analyst and the judge.  We are in a concious state of mind when we are in this mode!

Alpha--- 7 cycles per minute- right before we go to bed or right when we wake up in the morning

Theta--- 4 cycles per minute

Delta---- 2 cycles per minute

The last three of these modes (I dont know if that is the correct term but that is what I am calling it) Alpha, Theta, and Delta are considered a hypnotic state of mind!  COOL HUH?? Who knew....I sure didn't!

When we first learn a skill we are using Beta mode.  Last night as we drove home we discussed that right now my husband spends a lot of time in this Beta mode because he is learning a lot at his new job and a lot in the new roll he is playing at our church.  Something I found very interesting about the Beta mode is that until a child/adolescent is 14 years old they cannot completely be in Beta.  Makes Sense if you ask me!!!

Athletes are actually VERY skilled at going into these lower 3 modes and using hypnosis because what they do becomes very second nature to them and they use the power of muscle memory rather than analyzing everything they do.  ALSO VERY COOL!

The instructor shared a story about her son with us that related to the athlete aspect of it.  This made me think of my husband who is on a softball league right now and told me he can always tell when the guys who go up to bat are actually thinking too much about what they are doing.  This past game Ron (my husband) had two really good hits and at some point in the game someone made a really dumb mistake of yelling at Ron from across the field for no good reason.  Lets just say it was completely unncessary. It made Ron really upset (me too...pregnant wife was ready to pounce) and the next time he got up to bat he didn't hit very well.  He told me last night that usually he clears his mind before he goes up to bat and after being yelled at he was so upset he focused too hard which resulted in a bad hit.   It was really cool to hear my husband putting it all together!!

The instructor said something that I think desribes it very well. 

"Hypnosis is a highly focused state your mind goes into.  Rather than trying to think through every little step.
When we are working at our most smooth flowing state we are actually using hypnosis. "

So now that I have talked about all this amazing cool biological aspects of our mind and our nervous system how does this all tie together for childbirth?

What I will now be practicing for the next several months before I deliver our baby is learning to use the Alpha, Theta, and Delta part of my mind and teach myself Self Hypnosis (because most of the time we dont conciously do this).  This will help me stay calm and collected going into childbirth and my mind away from fear.  I will be learning techniques that will help me with breathing, relaxation, visualization and Ultra Deepening. 

Last night Ron and I  listened while laying in bed to one of the tracks that was given at our class and it focuses on relaxation .  IT reminded me a lot of yoga breathing for those of you who do yoga.  Near the middle of the track I felt like I fell asleep but at the end as the person who is speaking askes you to become aware of your surroundings again I realized that I had actually never fallen asleep.  It was very cool!  I am so excited to learn more and share more with you about what I am learning! 

What do you think?  I would love to know your thoughts on either of the posts I shared today!!  Please do comment =)



  

Hypnobirthing class 1 part 1-Our bodies response to fear

Warning:  This is a lot of information and could be completely boring to some.  For me it is just AMAZING to know how the biology of our bodies work.  This is just more of a testament that a very loving, amazing Heavenly Father created our bodies to function in a very powerful way.  I also feel that knowledge is power and in the case of accomplishing a natural birth especially after having a fully medicated birth I feel that this knowledge truly is POWERFUL!

We had our first hypnobirthing class last night and it was so informative and gave me a lot of respect for our miraculous bodies.  I had a friend that that sent me her book and CDs because she felt that the book was just as beneficial as the class but I decided to go ahead and take the clase because I am a very visual person and I can already tell that it is sticking in my brain  A LOT more then just reading the book.  I also know the instructor taught a lot that came from her experience and not from the book. (I greatly appreciate my friend trying to save me some money I think it ultimately comes down to each persons preference.)

Our instructor showed us a video of Marie Mongan who is the women who discovered hypnobirthing and has made it what it is today. 

We spent some time talking about how the muscles in our uterus work and the functions of our body. 
We spent a lot of time talking about fear and how fear affects our body.  This is when things got really interesting for me. 

I'll Start with the Fear Tension Pain Syndrome (FTP)

As you can see above when we are afraid it causes tension.  Which causes our muscles to tighten and when we are not relaxed it causes pain.  Pain in turn causes Fear and it is a cycle.  This also made me think of cold months.  Bear with me cause it makes sense to me!! In the cold months I feel a lot more tension in my body and just ache more because I spend a lot more time tensing my body because of the cold which is exactly what fear does to us.  Fear causes us to be tense. Does that make sense?

Okay  my FAVORITE part of the whole class was when we learned about the:

Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)-

Which is made up of two parts

Both of these amazing parts of the ANS are very crucial to us.  However, if we were to remain in the sypmathetic state for a good portion of our lives you can see how this would be detrimental to us. 

So what does this have to do with Childbirth?

Here goes...

The fear tension pain sydrome or FTP as far as labor is concerned can also be labeled as:

Failure

To

Progress

Our labor cannot always progress when we are tense and afraid.  For me this made SO MUCH SENSE! When I was in labor with Lulu my body was not progressing very quickly after my very intense (induced) contractions started.  I was very tense and I was really afraid.  However when they gave me the epidural I was able to progress again because I went from a state of being tense to being completely relaxed.  My blood pressure even went pretty low after I got the edidural because I was so relaxed. I have heard many women say, "Well my body wouldn't even progress until I got the epidural."  Of course it wouldn't.  Chances are your body was so tense from fear which in turn was causing pain and your body could not do its job as quickly because of your body being tense! (this is not to say that SOME women have other complications but this is the majority of what causes things to slow down)

So what about the ANS working with labor?

This is just AMAZING to me!
As I showed above the Sympathetic part of the ANS releases Catecholaimines and the Parasympathetic Part releases Endorphines.  These two things CANNOT be released at the same time.  The Sympathetic part and the catacholaimines are also considered the Emergency Response system.  This is literaly how our body responds in times of distress.  However the problem with this when we experience it in Labor is that the Uterus is not part of the emergency response system.  In labor our body is working to release endorphines but as I said our body CANNOT realease endorphines if it is releasing Catacolomines becaue we are allowing the Sympathetic part of our ANS to be working rather then the parasympathetic.

This is Where Hypnobirthing comes in!
Which I am hoping to sit down and explain later today.