Five Reasons Why Hypnobirthing Is A Pregnancy Game Changer.
I've a huge respect for woman who advocate birth empowerment, here's a great piece by Nicky Khan featuring the benefits behind considering hypnobirthing.
Nicky is a qualified KG Hypnobirthing teacher and founder of Mamacan Hypnobirthing. Keep up the awesome work Mama!
Five Reasons Why Hypnobirthing is a Pregnancy Game Changer.
Despite its slightly suspicious name, Hypnobirthing was for me, a pregnancy game changer. Here are my top five reasons on why it is so awesome:
1. Making time for yourself while pregnant
Pregnant women seem to embark on maternity leave with a mammoth to do list, only planning to “relax” once they have bought another ten baby outfits, rearranged the nursery, repacked their hospital bag for the gazillionthtime and baked a cake. Hypnobirthing is anchored around the concept of practising to relax in the lead up to the birth and making this time for yourself daily is invaluable for your mental and physical wellbeing. We may think we are good at relaxing by sitting in front of the TV watching X-Factor while simultaneously scrolling through Instagram, but most of us take very little time to properly switch off, breath and relax. Hypnobirthing gives you the tools to do so and allows you to make time and space in your life to practice. For me, this was invaluable when pregnant and working long hours with a tedious commute.
2. Giving an important role to your birth partner
Most of us have images of lost looking men attending their partner’s birth, having their hand squeezed and being swatted away like an irritating fly while they try and mop a brow. When it comes to the main event they may be allowed to join in the “push push” chant from the side lines. In Hypnobirthing the birth partner has a vital role. They are the birth environment facilitator and the mother’s advocate and protector. Their role is to ensure the mother can simply relax, while they take care of communicating with the care providers, ensuring she has everything she needs to birth calmly and comfortably.
3. Supporting any type of birth
There is no such thing as the “perfect” birth, simply the birth that is right for you and your baby in particular circumstance on a particular day. While Hypnobirthing is associated with natural birth with minimal interventions and pain relief, the techniques taught are invaluable in any birth scenario as they teach you to release fear and anxiety, and have complete confidence in your body’s ability to birth your baby. The relaxation techniques are invaluable whatever type of birth you have, allowing you to stay calm and in control.
4. Removing the fear of pain and medical interventions
Fear and anxiety can be overwhelming in pregnancy. Everyone likes to share horror birth stories with pregnant women. Hypnobirthing teaches women to release those fears and reframe birth positively. Statistically Hypnobirthing mothers experience less pain, have shorter labours and have fewer medical interventions. This is because proper preparation allows them to understand how their birthing body works, allowing them to release fears and trust their instincts. Many Hypnobirthing mothers choose to birth at home where recovery from birth is much quicker. If medical interventions are necessary, they and their birth partners are well equipped to speak with their care providers about all their options.
5. Empowering and educating you to ask questions and understand your choices
Hypnobirthing teaches the science and physiology of birth, as well as the different routes labour may take. This allows you to be armed with knowledge during your pregnancy and going into labour and the confidence to ask questions about your options every step of the way.
As you can see, I feel passionately that all women should have the chance to learn Hypnobirthing prior to their birth. If you’d like to chat more, get in touch!
Nicky Khan is a qualified KG Hypnobirthing teacher and founder of Mamacan Hypnobirthing, a common-sense, practical approach to birth, based in SW London.
