Most people don't believe me when I say that I didn't feel pain and wasn't drugged while I was in labor with my first child. Luckily, I got the video to prove it!
I labored at home the first few hours and when I got to the hospital, a little bit after midnight, I was surprised to find out that I already was about 6 cm dilated, which is exactly what I had wanted. The hypnosis had worked!
"The what had worked?", you may be asking yourself. The hypnosis. You see, for several weeks before my daughter was born, my husband and I had been taking classes known as Hypnobabies, where I was basically taught to reach into the deep confines of my powerful brain and use hypnosis to attempt to give birth naturally… without pain or drugs. (FYI: there's a similar porgram called Hypnobirthing.)
I absolutely loved the relaxation techniques I was taught and how quickly my husband was able to get into a completely calm and confident state while I was laboring, thanks to what he had learned during our lessons. I had every intention of giving birth naturally and I had taken what I deemed every step necessary to achieve it: I had a midwife, did prenatal yoga twice a week, had a birth plan and I learned to enter hypnosis in preparation for labor through Hypnobabies.
Unfortunately, life had other plans for me in terms of giving birth naturally. After pushing (without drugs!) for about three hours, I was told there was really no progress and my husband and I had to make a decision. They would let me push for another 30 minutes, but that could put both the baby and I at risk. Or, I could be taken to the OR for a C-section before it became an emergency.
I was devastated. I had tried everything to prevent a caesarean and here I was facing it as, pretty much, my only choice. In the end, nothing went the way I intended, but less than an hour after making the decision to go to the OR, I was given the most wonderful gift I've ever received, my beautiful baby girl Vanessa!
Either way, I still believe deeply in the power of hypnosis. In fact, I still use the techniques I was taught six years ago today. Oh and a few celebrities, including Jessica Alba, have used it too to successfully give birth to their children without pain or drugs!
What do you think about using hypnosis to help you deliver naturally? Would you try it?
