Did anyone use meditation but not hypnosis?

[jenniet]

I am trying to find something other than hypnobirthing or hypnobabies that can help me relax through the pain of labor. During my last birth, I felt like the pain won out around 6-7 cm and I could no longer be in pain for another second. I really felt like it was hell on earth. I had pitocin though so I know that probably made it worse. This time I have done a ton of reading and have great midwife lined up at a very small-town hospital. So there will be no pitocin and I really, really want to have a natural birth. I just don't feel like I had enough coping mechanisms lined up last time and I'm hoping to have some more this time. When the pain got bad I didn't even feel like I could move or breath... So what worked for all you natural birthing mamas? I saw a guided meditation CD for sale through Earth Mama Angel Baby and I was thinking about using that. What did you do when the pain got bad? Thanks in advance for reading my long post!

[woodstar]

i know!! my first birth was the same for me....the pain was hell! i was around 6-7 cm, and the feeling was unbearable. panic set in and i requested an epidural.

second birth? much different. i meditated with dewa che cd. not specific to birth, but beautiful voice she has. when i say meditation, it wasn't anything spectacular. i just practiced relaxation while listening. i did this throughout my entire pregnancy. that is the key. practice the relaxation. just keeping good thoughts and a positive, empowering birth image. then, during the birth you will already know what you are supposed to be doing :-)

seriously, 'relaxing' and staying with one ctx at a time is the key. it is so easy to become overwhelmed in labor. with my 1st labor, i thought i wasn't scared, but looking back i think i must have been. my ctx felt the same with my 2nd...i mean identical. but i wasn't fighting it this time. i remember feeling the same ctx that i did with my first (when i started the panic), but it was ok during my 2nd labor. i just thought 'hum, i must be around 7 cm 'cause i remember this feeling'....then i went back into my 'ritual' to get through the next ctx.

hth...sorry to ramble.

[kltroy]

I think the best thing is to have a supportive birth partner. This could be your husband, mom, sister, a close friend, a doula... I had my mom at my birth (she's an old-school CNM) and she was AMAZING labor support. Honestly, I think she could talk ANY woman through a natural labor. When contractions got really intense she was there for me with every single one. Rubbing my back, talking to me, did some guided imagery sometimes, gave me something to focus on, suggested sighing when I exhaled to ease the intensity of the contractions, etc. Do you have someone who can help you in this capacity? If you do, pick up a copy of The Birth Partner, go through it with him/her, practice some of the techniques, and go for it. YOu can do it all by yourself, but it's MUCH easier if you have someone there with you.

[Sudonk]

Do you mean you're looking for hypnosis-type skills to make your birth comfortable, but don't want (or need) a full class? If that's the case, you'd probably be best served by getting the Joyful Birthing CD set that Hypnobabies has. You have to call them to get it directly, since it's not offered on their website, but it is very good. It has affirmations (essential to helping you remember to trust yourself and your body when things get intense!) as well as a CD that teaches an instant hypnosis cue that allows you to bring yourself instantly into a state of relaxation and comfort if something shakes you up during your birth and I believe it has a fear release component to help you relieve yourself of any lingering fears that could pose a problem during the birth.

I am not familiar with the Earth Mama Angel Baby guided meditation CD. (Which is often used as another term for self-hypnosis by the way, just one that is less likely to scare off people who don't know that they already use self-hypnosis every day without realizing it.) However, the hypnotist who does their CDs does excellent work and I would expect it to be quite effective.

Good for you for understanding how helpful a tool hypnosis is for birth and looking into your options! I loved my hypnosis births, and still can't believe how comfortable and happy I was every moment of all three of them.

I will warn you, though, that as helpful as any hypnosis relaxation technique will be for you, my non-Hypnobabies birth wasn't NEARLY as easy to handle as my two Hypnobabies births. The reason was because relaxing to other CDs doesn't give you the invaluable tool of Eyes Open Childbirth Hypnosis that allows women to move around, talk and do what she needs to do to maximize her comfort and progress with ease. I remember feeling like it practically took a crane to get me moving around the first time. But I was easily be-bopping around with Hypnobabies because I had a specific tool to make me totally comfortable while moving around and chatting.

Good luck with what ever approach you find! I'm sure you'll do great!

-Susan

[Robinna]

Hmmm... I fear this isn't going to be helpful, but, well, meditation IS hypnosis. And hypnosis is meditation. They're the same thing.... Do you mean a "hypnosis for chilbirth class" when you say hypnosis?

Meditation is great for labour, especially if you practice complete physical relaxation (ie be in a position where you don't ahve to hold your own body vertical) so that you can surrender to the contractions without tensing anything in your body.

xo

[jenniet]

Originally Posted by Robinna

Hmmm... I fear this isn't going to be helpful, but, well, meditation IS hypnosis. And hypnosis is meditation. They're the same thing.... Do you mean a "hypnosis for chilbirth class" when you say hypnosis?

Meditation is great for labour, especially if you practice complete physical relaxation (ie be in a position where you don't ahve to hold your own body vertical) so that you can surrender to the contractions without tensing anything in your body.

xo

Yes. Sorry I was unclear. I mean relaxation techniques without being a certain method like hypnobirthing or hypnobabies. I like the idea of meditation/hypnosis but I'm not sure if I buy into one method with strict rules about "how to do it right."

[jenniet]

Originally Posted by kltroy

I think the best thing is to have a supportive birth partner. This could be your husband, mom, sister, a close friend, a doula... I had my mom at my birth (she's an old-school CNM) and she was AMAZING labor support. Honestly, I think she could talk ANY woman through a natural labor. When contractions got really intense she was there for me with every single one. Rubbing my back, talking to me, did some guided imagery sometimes, gave me something to focus on, suggested sighing when I exhaled to ease the intensity of the contractions, etc. Do you have someone who can help you in this capacity? If you do, pick up a copy of The Birth Partner, go through it with him/her, practice some of the techniques, and go for it. YOu can do it all by yourself, but it's MUCH easier if you have someone there with you.

Your mom sounds wonderful! My dh was very supportive and held my hand through every contraction without even stopping to take a bathroom break but I think he would be more helpful to me if he was told what to do ahead of time. I didn't feel like I could communicate very well during labor and our doula was awful...she was on her Blackberry throughout my labor! So I will have to pick up a copy of the book you suggested. I think my dh would be awesome if he knew how to do guided imagery or something like that.

[mommyfied]

I did the hypnobabies home study and in my opinion, I didn't feel like there were strict rules... I am pretty much a play it by ear person and just did what worked for me. It was open-ended enough to do that. It was perfect for teaching me how to completely relax and think positively.

I stumbled upon these free tracks last night... I haven't had a chance to listen yet, but maybe you could try them out and see if it's what you're looking for:
http://www.enjoybirth.com/Free-Hypnobabies-Tracks.html

[Robinna]

The one thing I do think is good about the "classes" is that the scripts are all there, so you don't have to do all the thinking about what to meditate about... hypnobabies covers all the bases in that regard.

I did both Hbirthing and Hbabies and didn't find that either one of them was rigid in any way. I think if you're after that result of "comfortable labour" from Hbabies you'd probably need to actually really follow the program, but I didn't do that - I don't have that kind of time in my day! But I liked having the cd's to guide my meditation, so to speak, because i'm not so good at staying focused by myself LOL

I think if you have a good attention span and ability to focus then you'd do just as well without the cd's, I just found the cd's a nice & easy tool, myself.

xo

[Robinna]

PS - incidentally, I didn't deliberately use either technique while I was actually in labour, I just trusted it to be there, and focused on relaxing 100% while in a contrax. I"m assuming that all the suggestions were firmly in place, but didn't go put the cd's on or anything, I didn't want or need to.

[Sudonk]

Originally Posted by jenniet

Yes. Sorry I was unclear. I mean relaxation techniques without being a certain method like hypnobirthing or hypnobabies. I like the idea of meditation/hypnosis but I'm not sure if I buy into one method with strict rules about "how to do it right."

It sounds like you have a misconception about the classes, then. There is a certain way to practice and perpare, in order to maximize the extent to which your subconscious mind absorbs the suggests you want to give it. But I took HypnoBirthing during my first pregnancy, and what I DISLIKED about it was, among other things, the fact that I felt it offered me no guidance on what I should actually do during the birth, other than pop in the CD and breathe in a way I found totally uncomfortable. I wanted so much more from it, but it not only didn't tell me "how to do it right", it didn't seem to teach me what to do at all!

Hypnobabies was much more what I was looking for, because it taught me and my husband a large number of skills and gave dozens of examples of ways they could be used by me and my support people during the birth to maximize my comfort and enjoyment. Then I was able to do whatever I wanted during the actual birth, and all those skills were just there, keeping me comfortable, confident and calm. With my first Hypnobabies birth, I didn't even begin actively using the techniques until well after I was fully dilated, and the baby was way too high for me to start pushing safely (for fear my water would break and lead to a cord prolapse.) But all those nights of sleeping through the scripts had deeply implanted those wonderful post-hypnotic suggestions about responding so positively to my birth. In fact, I didn't even realize that there was a suggestion in there about each pressure wave feeling like "a big, warm hug for you and your baby" until I told someone about the spontaneous visualizations I had during several hours of waves and they pointed it out. As a birthing wave began, I would "see" myself bending gracefully over a bassinette and picking up a newborn, giving him a hug at the peak pressure of the wave and gently putting him back down as the wave tappered off. It was beautiful, and such a cool way for my mind to use the suggestions in a personal way! Everyone's birth is completely unique, and they take from the program what they need to make it what is right for them. It's not at all about "how to do it right".