Relaxed mama!

Pregnancy is an exciting time – I still remember the delicious anticipation of those nine months, watching your tummy getting bigger and bigger, painting the nursery, buying tiny little babygros … there’s nothing to beat that amazing feeling of creating your own family.

But I also remember the anxiety too – especially when you suddenly realise that this really IS happening … and you’re going to have to go through something which is sometimes rated, on a pain scale of 1-10, as around 25!  Everyone has their own ‘horror stories’ and if it’s your first baby in particular, they can stay with you and really scare you.

I’ve had two babies (now nearly all grown up) and have those stories of my own … however, I also have wonderful stories too – because I would go through it all again to have my lovely children.  However, I wish I had been more clued up about hypnotherapy then because it really does help to deal with the fear factor … which has a huge impact on the whole experience – the anxiety, the trepidation and the pain.  Because having a baby is the  most amazing, life-affirming experience you will ever go through … it feels like your own mini-miracle to be able to create life, so you want to be able to embrace that every step of the way … including the birth.

So how can hypnotherapy for pregnancy and childbirth help?

• It’s great for worry and anxiety – if you spend the whole 9 months worrying about what could go wrong, then it’s difficult to enjoy the day to day experience.  Hypnotherapy can help you to relax and enjoy each exciting moment, as it happens.
• More specifically, hypnotherapy can help to teach you techniques to do this for yourself – breathing techniques, visualisation exercises, positive suggestion, elements of mindfulness … all of these things help you to control your own emotions, so that you can focus on the positive experience of pregnancy and birth and welcome your baby in a calm way. This issue of control can be important. Anxiety is about lack of control, fear of the unknown – hypnotherapy won’t give you control of everything but it can help you feel that you are steering your own destiny rather than having things simply happen to you.
• When we experience fear, we tend to tense up – in terms of giving birth, that tension is directly opposing what your body is trying to do naturally.  Your waves of contraction are there to open your cervix to allow a baby through - tensing up directly opposes that and makes labour longer and more painful. Put simply, fear increases pain … those waves of contraction are coming whether you like it or not – using the breathing techniques and sub conscious suggestions you have learned through hypnotherapy really helps you to calmly work WITH your body rather than against it … leading to a more relaxed, more accepting and usually quicker, less painful birth. 
• Hypnotherapy can also help your partner to support you in a constructive and calming way – often partners are as panicky as you are and that’s not helpful for you or your baby.  Hypnotherapy can bring you both together during the pregnancy because your partner really feels a part of the process and can give positive support.

Remember pregnancy is a gift – enjoy it!

Good Luck!