I am finding myself midway through my second pregnancy and at odds with my best friend who is a Hypnobirthing teacher. She has offered to teach us the method, but I am somewhat offended by some of the Hypnobirthing claims.
My understanding is that the method basically says everyone is capable of having a pain free birth if they follow the techniques in the class.
The reason this claim offends me is because I had a very difficult and *painful* labor with our first child even though we were amazingly prepared. We had a great midwife at a free-standing birth center. I ate very healthy organic food. I practiced yoga. I had chiropractic care throughout pregnancy and had a monthly massage. We planned and meditated on the birth throughout the pregnancy. I meditated during the labor and focused on relaxing my mouth and face. I made low calm sounds. And I really had no fear going into the labor.
Yet in spite of all this, I had back labor for 36 hours due to a baby that refused to be repositioned until hour 33. I also hemorrhaged after the birth mostly due to sheer exhaustion (low iron was not the cause). Perhaps it was the hemorrhage, but due to the trauma of the birth my milk did not come in for 6 days. This caused my sweet baby to loose almost 2 lbs. in the first week and become severely jaundiced, even though we were supplementing with the breast milk of friends.
This horrible initiation into motherhood has left me really skeptical of just how much influence we have on our birth experience. When my Hypnobirthing friend says I could have had a pain free birth if I had just taken a class, I feel she is telling me it was my fault that I had a bad experience.
So I was wondering... am I misinterpreting the philosophy of Hypnobirthing and just projecting the frustration? Does anyone have a different take on Hypnobirthing? Should I give my friend a chance and take the class anyway, trying to keep an open mind?
I should finish by saying- In spite of my first birthing experience, I am very excited to do it again. No one gets the same birth twice, which for me is great comfort.
Thanks
My understanding is that the method basically says everyone is capable of having a pain free birth if they follow the techniques in the class.
The reason this claim offends me is because I had a very difficult and *painful* labor with our first child even though we were amazingly prepared. We had a great midwife at a free-standing birth center. I ate very healthy organic food. I practiced yoga. I had chiropractic care throughout pregnancy and had a monthly massage. We planned and meditated on the birth throughout the pregnancy. I meditated during the labor and focused on relaxing my mouth and face. I made low calm sounds. And I really had no fear going into the labor.
Yet in spite of all this, I had back labor for 36 hours due to a baby that refused to be repositioned until hour 33. I also hemorrhaged after the birth mostly due to sheer exhaustion (low iron was not the cause). Perhaps it was the hemorrhage, but due to the trauma of the birth my milk did not come in for 6 days. This caused my sweet baby to loose almost 2 lbs. in the first week and become severely jaundiced, even though we were supplementing with the breast milk of friends.
This horrible initiation into motherhood has left me really skeptical of just how much influence we have on our birth experience. When my Hypnobirthing friend says I could have had a pain free birth if I had just taken a class, I feel she is telling me it was my fault that I had a bad experience.
So I was wondering... am I misinterpreting the philosophy of Hypnobirthing and just projecting the frustration? Does anyone have a different take on Hypnobirthing? Should I give my friend a chance and take the class anyway, trying to keep an open mind?
I should finish by saying- In spite of my first birthing experience, I am very excited to do it again. No one gets the same birth twice, which for me is great comfort.
Thanks