Hypnosis for childbirth has garnered a lot of attention in recent years and even has a celebrity following with the likes of Kate Middleton and Kim Kardashian reportedly using the techniques to make their experiences easier.

If you’re pregnant and worried about giving birth, you might have wondered if the techniques would work for you.

Here, find out what hypnosis really is, how it works, and if it can really make labor pain-free.

Fear causes pain

Forget the image of a hypnotherapist waving a clock and taking control of your mind. “The definition of hypnosis is relaxation plus focus,” said Cynthia Overgard, founder of HypnoBirthing of Connecticut, a prenatal education center in Westport.  Just like yoga requires relaxation and deep breathing during a physically challenging moment, hypnosis can do the same for the pregnant mom.

HypnoBirthing, a specific hypnosis method and program, is based on the idea that fear and tension will cause pain. When a woman is in labor, oxytocin—an endorphin known as the feel-good, love hormone—not only produces contractions but can help the mother to have a safe, comfortable birth, according to Overgard.

“Where birth ends up getting complicated for humans is that women often don’t feel 100 percent safe, trusting and relaxed,” she said.

And when that happens, a woman’s body stops producing oxytocin.  Adrenaline starts to rise, and it redirects blood flow away from the cervix and the uterus into the arms and legs. The result is a flight or fight response, which can make a woman feel anxious, fearful, and even prevent her cervix from dilating and slow down labor.

“Adrenaline or fear, literally (and) physically, turns off labor,” Overgard said. “This goes way beyond just positive thinking. This really comes down to the chemical hormones. It’s a total, pure science.”

How hypnosis can help

HypnoBirthing uses tools like deep breathing, visualization and relaxation techniques that can help the woman maintain a calm body and mind.  During labor, she might dim the lights, keep the room quiet and play relaxing music.  

Another major component of the program is listening to guided relaxation, which is an intentional way to practice hypnosis and condition the mind and body to be calm and relaxed. Mothers also listen to birth affirmations which can make them feel confident in their ability to give birth.  

“Your subconscious mind is hearing messages that bypass the conscious mind, and they change the beliefs in your mind,” Overgard said.

Word choice is important

Another focus of hypnosis is on the words used before and during labor and delivery. “The words we say and the words we hear have a direct impact on the physiology of our body,” Overgard said. In fact, when reassuring words are used as women were administered a local anesthetic, they experienced less pain, according to a study in the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia.  

“There are subtle ways that you can change the words that are used that can really change that whole experience,” said Dr. William Camann, co-author of the study and director of obstetric anesthesia at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. For example, in HypnoBirthing, “sensation” is used instead of “pain” and “surge” instead of “contraction.”

Colin Christopher, a clinical hypnotherapist who works with expecting mothers throughout their pregnancies, said his clients have experienced shorter labors and a significant reduction in pain. In addition to relaxation techniques and visualization, he uses the hypno-epidural technique to simulate what an epidural would feel like. And instead of using the word “pain,” “we talk about allowing your body to become focused, calm and relaxed,” he said.

Does it really work?

According to the HypnoBirthing Institute, mothers who used the method were less likely to have cesarean sections, interventions and pre-term babies. About 25 percent described their birth as painful and 10 percent as extremely painful.

Yet measuring how effective hypnosis is really depends on your goals, especially because childbirth can be so unpredictable. So if your hope is to use hypnosis to try to avoid an epidural but end up getting it anyway, “you could be very disappointed, because the expectations were not realistic,” according to Camann, who is also the author ofEasy Labor: Every Woman's Guide to Choosing Less Pain and More Joy During Childbirth.

Plus, if you use hypnosis, it doesn’t mean you can’t also have a doula or get an epidural. “Many of the different methods of labor pain relief are compatible with each other,” Camann said.

“The goal of HypnoBirthing is not natural birth,” Overgard said. “The goal is to be calm and in control.”



Julie Revelant is a freelance writer and copywriter specializing in parenting, health, healthcare, nutrition, food and women's issues. She’s also a mom of two. Learn more about Julie atrevelantwriting.com.

When Amy Redfern was pregnant with her first baby, now a healthy 3 1/2-year-old girl, she wasn't at all nervous about giving birth.

Her daughter, who was positioned sideways in Redfern's uterus, needed to be delivered via a planned cesarean section that she described as peaceful. "I used a lot of stress reduction techniques that I know from meditation and yoga," said Redfern, a freelance creative consultant and yoga instructor. "We really had a great experience."

But during her second pregnancy, Redfern, who was 39 weeks along when she spoke to The Huffington Post, was "really, deeply afraid." At 39 years old, Redfern is considered "old" in the pregnancy world, she joked ("They like to scare you more when you're older, but then tell you not to be afraid."). She was also trying for a vaginal birth after her C-section -- a procedure that carries a slight risk of uterine rupture, and that would require a 90-minute drive from her Maine home to the only area hospital that would perform it.

"At one point, it seemed like everywhere I looked, there were articles about mothers dying in childbirth," she said. "I kept thinking, is this a premonition? Intuition? Just irrational fear? I couldn't figure it out." Regardless of the cause, she has spent much of her pregnancy trying to manage daily moments of panic about dying and leaving her husband to raise the pair's two children on his own.

NORMAL ANXIETY OR SOMETHING MORE?

Childbirth is an enormous physical and emotional event, and it is not without risk. About 650 women die each year in the United States as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Though many women approach birth with little apprehension, others admit to at least some degree of fear: A 2013 poll of 900 women in Britain found that 35 percent said their greatest anxiety before starting a family was the act of giving birth.

But for a smaller percentage of women, fear plays a more defining role. Estimates suggest that 13 percent of women postpone pregnancy, or avoid it altogether, a condition known as "tokophobia" -- a pathological fear of pregnancy and giving birth, first introduced into medical literature in 2000. And for women like Redfern, who become pregnant despite their anxiety, or who become overwhelmed by it only after they conceive, help and empathy are often in short supply. What generally is expected to be a happy time, can become one of dread and self-reproach.

"I was grateful to be having this baby and having a healthy pregnancy," Redfern said. "But I felt ashamed of the feelings I was having."

Tokophobia, which is not currently included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual -- often considered the bible of modern psychiatry -- is generally broken into two categories. Primary tokophobia refers to women whose fears predate their pregnancies, and the range of potential concerns is broad -- the actual pain, the increasingly high odds of medical interventions and surgery, or simply the unknown. Others experience tokophobia only after a previous traumatic delivery experience, explained Dr. Shari Lusskin, a clinical professor of psychiatry in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

"Some have faced a life-threatening trauma, which can certainly induce post-traumatic stress disorder," she said. "Other women may not have had a trauma that was potentially life threatening, but who felt traumatized by the experience of being a patient in some way or another."

For Stephanie Jones, a 25-year-old mother of two from North Carolina who had a C-section after 13 hours of labor with her first child, it was a fear of reliving the pain. Something went wrong with her anesthesia and she felt much of the cutting and tugging on the left side of her body. "They would not stop despite the fact that I was screaming," she said. “They put me straight to sleep after delivering my daughter and I didn't actually 'meet' her until she was over 4 hours old." With her second C-section, Jones cried uncontrollably from the second the doctors and nurses began prepping her for surgery, until she was in recovery.

DOCTORS RESPOND

Whatever the cause, research suggests women's angst can become a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. A 2012 study from Sweden found that women who feared birth were more likely to ask for, and to have, a C-section. They also reported their pain as more intense than women who were unafraid -- even with widespread use of pain medication. A Norwegian study found labor lasts roughly one hour and a half longer in women who are scared of childbirth than it does for those who are not. Another study published in the journal BMJ Open found that "fear of childbirth appeared to increase the prevalence of postpartum depression by about three-fold in women without a history of depression and five-fold in women with known depressive disease." 

Yet despite the range of ways in which fear can affect birth and the postpartum period, some women find little sympathy from their health care providers. "The first time I brought it up, she was so dismissive," said Redfern, whose OB-GYN's response what something like, 'You've brought this up with your therapist, right?'" Redfern was so taken aback she didn't admit to not having a therapist -- nor did she feel comfortable asking for a referral.

Victoria Spina, a 36-year-old stay-at-home mom, felt similarly dismissed. She was elated when she became pregnant with twins -- until she bought a book about expecting multiples, which made her panic about miscarriages, preterm birth or birth defects. "I had family telling me … 'It's just your hormones, it's just your hormones!'" she said. "But when you're freaking out, having someone tell you, 'it's just your hormones' doesn't help."

WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE FEAR

Yet there are approaches that can make a difference. "Cognitive behavioral therapy can be very effective at reducing the anxiety," said Lusskin. "Some women who have tokophobia -- or even if it doesn't quite move to that level of severity -- will also have underlying anxiety disorders or mood disorders that need to be addressed. Some will need medication during pregnancy, in addition to therapy."

Another approach that can be helpful is HypnoBirthing® -- a birth preparation technique gaining popularity. Exact methods differ, but it aims to arm women and their partners with mindfulness tools, such as positive visualizations, which they can focus on throughout delivery.

"The theory is that when patients have fear of labor and the pain of labor, it increases endorphins, which increases the pain receptors," explained Dr. Rebecca Starck, an OB-GYN at the Cleveland Clinic's Hillcrest Hospital, which has been offering hypnobirthing classes since last fall. "It's very hard to prove cause and effect, because each patient is different and each labor is different. But there really is no downside to going into labor with positive visualizations ready." 

Christina Levine, a 31-year-old mother from North Carolina, was incredibly nervous about childbirth. Then she discovered hypnobirthing, which she found only because the birth center where she intended to deliver required parents to take a birthing class and it fit with her schedule. A self-described planner who struggled with not knowing what birth would feel like, or how her body would perform, Levine said it provided a surprising sense of purpose and control in the months leading up to her due date.

"It really did help keep me focused on the positive," she said. During labor, she listened to hypnobirthing CDs filled with guided meditations and imagery exercises. Levine said they helped her surrender to the pain -- to a point. "I was really glad to have something to listen to and focus on, but there was a moment when I called the lady [on the CD] a liar and turned it off!" Levine laughed. 

For Redfern, things began to improve when she finally acknowledged her fears to a more receptive OB-GYN with her practice. She told her husband, her sister and a few close friends about her fear of dying during childbirth, and found that saying it aloud almost instantly released some of the shame. Still, with three months to go, she felt she needed more tools to fight her anxiety. She stopped reading anything related to maternal health and began studying hypnobirthing. In lieu of a baby shower, she asked her female friends and family to attend what she dubbed a "baby blessing" where guests brought her poems, or a prayer or blessing of support.

"I've been able to get myself mentally, emotionally and spiritually into a place where I feel more relaxed," said Redfern, adding that one week before her due date, she was feeling optimistic.

At a friend's suggestion, she developed a mantra, which she continues to use whenever she feels afraid -- say, while folding onesies or trying to fall asleep at night.

"We are safe," Redfern whispers to herself and her unborn baby. "We are safe."

http://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/braxton-hicks-contractions-what-are-braxton-hicks#.U7BSRvldWSo

Braxton Hicks are painless, irregular uterine contractions, although some women do report feeling discomfort during them. The contractions do not become more intense, frequent or longer over time, because they are practise contractions and not labour contractions. Each contraction tends to last around 30 seconds, although can last up to two minutes. It is uncommon for women to experience more than four in an hour.

Why Do I Get Braxton Hicks Contractions?

Braxton Hicks contractions are thought to increase blood flow to the uterus and placenta, and aid the transfer of oxygen to the foetus. Some health practitioners believe that Braxton Hicks tightenings are the body’s way of preparing for labour – a work out for the uterine muscles, if you will. In the last few weeks of pregnancy, Braxton Hicks contractions help to move the baby and engage the head in preparation for labour.

During a contraction, your belly will feel quite hard to the touch. If looking in a mirror, you will be able to see your muscles tightening as you experience a contraction. Some women report being able to see the position of the baby in the womb during tightenings.

Who Gets Braxton Hicks Contractions?

Braxton Hicks contractions start around the sixth week of pregnancy, although may not be felt until the second or third trimester. This is because the larger the uterus, the more obvious the contractions feel. All women have Braxton Hicks contractions, but not all women will feel them. Some women may be able to feel them early on, whereas others may experience them only during the last few weeks of pregnancy.

Do Braxton Hicks Contractions Cause Any Problems?

Braxton Hicks contractions are a normal part of pregnancy and do not indicate cause for concern. Similarly, not experiencing them is normal too – it just means you can’t feel them happening. Assuming you feel able to, you can continue as normal and do not need to take any extra precautions as a result of these contractions.

What Should I Do If I Experience Braxton Hicks Contractions?

During the last few weeks of pregnancy, you may start to experience more discomfort during Braxton Hicks contractions, this is due to the larger size of your uterus.

To avoid discomfort, you can try the following:

• Change activity or position. If you are sitting down, try getting up and taking a walk or some light exercise. If you were standing up, trying lying down on your left hand side. You should find a change of pace causes the tightenings to ease off.
• If you can, try having a warm bath. This may stop the contractions, or you may find the heat relaxes you and decreases any discomfort.
• Drink a glass of water. Braxton Hicks can be caused by dehydration, and due to the excess water pregnant women need to consume, it is always worth having a glass to see if this helps.
• The tightenings can be brought on by having a full bladder (no doubt due to all that excess water you’ve been drinking trying to stop the last bout of Braxton Hicks contractions!), so try going to the toilet.

Towards the end of the pregnancy, the contractions may become more uncomfortable, but should still not grow longer, stronger and closer together like the contractions of true labour.

If you are worried that your contractions do not fit the description here, and may be real labour, please contact your midwife. If the contractions are accompanied by vaginal bleeding, lower back pain, vaginal discharge or diarrhea, you should ring your midwife immediately.

Anne Lamott wrote that each baby comes out clutching a third of its mother’s brain. And in my experience, that feels about right! Just the other day, I warned my husband that I may be experiencing early onset dementia.

Here are five crazy ways pregnancy changes your brain

1. Your brain shrinks… literally

It appears that there may be a physical component to “baby brain.” Researchers at Hammersmith 
Hospital in the U.K. discovered that brains of healthy pregnant women decreased in size by up to six percent! Fortunately, women’s brains return to their prepregnancy size six months after delivery.

2. You get filled with love hormones

Oxytocin, or the “hormone of love and bonding,” is something we release naturally during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. Oxytocin makes women calmer, more trusting, and more open to love. In fact, levels of oxytocin in pregnant women can even predict mother-child bonding. While oxytocin amps up the love within a family, it can also increase defensive aggression toward people outside of the family group, which explains the phenomenon of Mama Bear. Grr….

3. You get great at recognizing faces

Researchers at McMaster University recently found 
that pregnant women are significantly better at recognizing faces – men’s faces in particular. Why? Well, one theory holds that women become particularly vigilant toward men during pregnancy, to quickly spot – and avoid – threats.

4. You become a master multitasker

We already know that women are better at multitasking then men. Apparently, the performance gap widens even further during pregnancy, when activity increases in the prefrontal cortex, the part of our brains in charge of multi-tasking.

5. You get smarter

Wait, isn’t the whole “baby brain” thing supposed to be about moms losing some of their wits? Not quite. A study out of Yale study found that motherhood sets off structural changes in the brain, increasing its processing capabilities. And the more doting moms are on their babies, the smarter the mothers become! YAY!

So maybe “baby brain” ain’t all bad?

Most moms have experienced what is known as "baby brain." But it turns out that our brains really do undergo some surprising changes during pregnancy.

Apparently not! Which is encouraging news. Just because I can’t remember what day it is, or when the baby went down for a nap, doesn’t mean I’m less intelligent. It just means that I’m running on less sleep – and maybe that I’m dedicating more mental resources to loving my kids.

One last bit of good news

In laboratory tests, pregnant rodents experienced many of these same benefits (better multitasking, spatial skills, and decreased anxiety). But here’s the kicker: the rats enjoyed these benefits of pregnancy throughout the rest of their lives, long after their babies grew up. Hey, so we’ve got that going for us too.

You've just given birth. You had a tough time and you're not sure how you feel – but your body hurts and there are some memories floating around that you'd rather forget. As you hold your newborn and greet the stream of well-wishers, there's one phrase you're almost certain to hear: "All that matters is a healthy baby."

This phrase is repeated so often it has almost become a cliché. New mothers hear it over and over, usually the moment they begin to open up and say that having their baby was difficult or even traumatic. Sometimes they even find they are saying it themselves: "Giving birth was awful, but at least I got my healthy baby, that's all that matters."

And this is wrong. Because a healthy baby is not ALL that matters.

This article might push your buttons so before we go on I want to ask you to stay calm, grab a cuppa and keep your wig on. I need to be very very clear, because I know from experience that talking about this issue can cause an outcry. So please listen carefully. The following sentence is crucial:

When a woman gives birth, a healthy baby is absolutely completely and utterly the most important thing.

Got that? OK – do not adjust your wig, there's more…

It is not ALL that matters.

Two things – just to repeat: a healthy baby is the most important thing, AND it is not all that matters.

Women matter too. When we tell women that a healthy baby is all that matters we often silence them. We say, or at least we very strongly imply, that their feelings do not matter, and that even though the birth may have left them feeling hurt, shocked or even violated, they should not complain because their baby is healthy and this is the only important thing.

Not only do we turn a blind eye to the woman's feelings, but by gaily proclaiming everyone 'healthy' we also ignore the complex relationship between mother and baby, and the impact of the birth experience on the future mental and physical health of both of them.

Too often women who say they care about the details of their baby's birth day are accused of wanting an 'experience', as if it is selfish to care about how their baby is born, how they feel or how they are treated. But, as the saying goes, 'when a baby is born, so is a mother'. If a mother feels broken, dispirited, depressed or traumatised, how will this affect her baby? Is this healthy?

A good birth doesn't have to be a hippy dippy 'natural' birth, all candles, knitting midwives and placenta smoothies. Many women who have hospital births that don't go the way they planned and end in interventions such as caesareans, report feeling positive about what happened. This is because how a woman is spoken to and treated as she has her baby is much much more important than the actual mode of delivery.

Women need to feel that they have been consulted, respected and given the information they need to make free choices in the best interest of themselves and their child. This allows them to begin motherhood feeling strong, capable and mentally healthy – surely the best way to be when you are about to be given another human being's fragile developing psychology to hold tenderly in the palm of your hand?

Birth matters. To be respected, to be treated with dignity, to be in control of what happens to our bodies. To really feel the power of bringing a new life into the world – no matter whether in theatre or at home in a birth pool – why is it so wrong for women to want this?

Some women ask for a 'woman-centred' caesarean. This means a caesarean in which things are done differently, only slightly, but different nevertheless. Doctors keep their voices low. Music of choice can be played. The screen is lowered for the woman to watch the birth, if she so wishes. Wires usually attached to her chest are instead put on her back, so that baby can be placed immediately on her for skin-to-skin contact. The atmosphere is kept reverent, respectful. Why?!

Because birth, no matter how it happens, is important. It is a huge event in a woman's life that she will remember in great detail for as long as she lives. We don't have much 'spirituality' these days, but even for the most cynical of us, the moment when a new human being takes their first breath is a special and significant one. And yes, being there and being a part of it, is an 'experience'.

Some reading this might feel this is nonsense. They don't want a spiritual experience, or a rite of passage, or essential oils or a statue of a goddess. They don't want the curtain lowered so they can see either, they just want the baby out safe and sound, and that's fine too. Women are many and varied; birth can be many and varied too and should, ideally, be just as each woman wants it.

What we do know is that many women DO care about what happens to them when they have their baby, but that they find it hard to talk about these feelings in a culture which persistently tells them that they really shouldn't, and that what goes on in the delivery room is always acceptable as long as everyone survives.

Taken to the extreme, this idea that the woman does not matter as long as the baby is healthy can create an environment in which her autonomy over her own body is completely lost. If there is even a very small risk to the baby, what is justifiable? Recently, we have seen more and more reports of enforced caesareans, putting me in mind of the story – hilarious and awful both at once - of Dr Donal O'Sullivan, who famously declared on Irish radio in 1996 that if a woman wanted a home birth, her husband ought to put a bridle on her and 'drive' her to hospital like cattle.

Extreme, perhaps, but if we continue to repeat that a healthy baby is all that matters, we open the doors for all manner of undignified or even abusive treatment to happen to women in the quest for absolute safety. We reduce a woman to being a mere 'vessel' for her child, and we quickly silence anyone who wishes to protest against any aspect of their care that they didn't feel comfortable with.

A healthy baby is the most important thing, and it is not all that matters.

Respect, consent, choice, dignity – all that matters too.

BestDaily columnist Milli Hill is the founder of The Positive Birth Movement. 

The Positive Birth Movement is launching a new project, All That Matters. They want to hear women's stories of what mattered to them when they were giving birth, apart from a healthy baby. To find out more visit http://www.positivebirthmovement.org/all-that-matters-project.html or find the project on Twitter @atmprojectpbm