Birth Rehearsal

Have you ever heard of a birth rehearsal before?  Neither had I.  We had one on Friday. 

First, a little background information on Hypnobabies: it's a birth prep course that teaches the "hypno-mom" how to self-hypnotize in a couple different ways and emphasizes re-training the mind to employ positive thinking about pregnancy and childbirth.  The goal is to have a comfortable, natural birth - be it in a hospital, home, or birth center.  

 

There are a few key vocabulary changes the course promotes in the interest of re-training the mind:

Contraction = "Pressure wave" or "Birthing wave"
Labor = "Birthing time"
Due Date = "Guess Date" (often repeated throughout the course: "babies are born on their birth days, not when doctors decide")

Early in the course, the hypno-mom establishes her "bubble of peace," an imagined bubble with specific attributes to keep negativity out.  She also establishes her "safe place," which is a specific scene to which the mind can dissociate during very deep hypnosis.

So there is the background.  The success of this method of birth preparation requires a certain suspension of cynicism, which I'm mostly managing, though it has sometimes been difficult. We decided to hire a hypno-doula to come help during the birthing time since there is a good chance that Dinah (our midwife) will be out of the country at that time.  There would be a different midwife present in that case, but we would only have met her once. 

Kathy, our hypno-doula, came over on Friday for the birth rehearsal.  She had Daniel and me (or sometimes just me) practice the various techniques of initiating self-hypnosis and then set up "stations" around the house to practice having pressure waves in various positions (sitting in a chair, standing, walking, lying down, sitting on the floor, etc.).  It was extremely helpful to practice focusing in all the different positions, and she was great with Daniel - pointing out which cues to give (and when) to help deepen hypnosis and direct anesthesia. 

The most surreal moment during this rehearsal was when Kathy had me practice "ahh-ing" the baby out (that's "ahh" like a sigh, not like a scream) and proceeded to deliver a plastic baby doll from between my legs.  I mean... what do you do when someone delivers a plastic baby doll from between your legs?  Despite my medical training and birth preparation, I don't think I was prepared for that.  I went with the flow though and practiced helping baby out and holding her after.

After the experience, I would say I am pro-birth-rehearsal.  I feel much more prepared and comfortable about the birthing time, and I can tell Daniel does, too.  Which is good, since Lucy's "guess date" is just 3 weeks from now!