Hands down the one thing that most people worry about when it comes to birth is PAIN!
Except, it doesn’t have to be painful!
You can change your mindset around this and it can make a world of difference.
For a start, you can watch positive birth videos, to show your mind that not every experience of childbirth is lying helpless on a bed, screaming in pain like the media tells you.
Then once you’ve accepted that as a possibility, not just for people but for you personally, let’s look at how we see pain.
You see those videos on the internet about people doing exercise saying ‘feel the burn!’ Or ‘there’s no progress without pain’. The celebration of that pain for the work it’s doing, making your muscles work, tiring them and ultimately, making you stronger.
Pain isn’t always a bad thing, sometimes it’s welcomed. It has a purpose!
Your uterus is doing a workout when you’re in labour too! The toughest workout it’s ever done!
It starts off, contracting, pushing baby towards the cervix to help dilate it and to push baby towards the world. There’s a good chance you won’t even feel it. This will be going on inside your body with no discomfort whatsoever! YES I DID SAY THAT!
Then as things progress you start to become aware of the sensations. Now if you experience these and think, ‘oh no, labour has arrived, it’s going to be awful. It’s going to hurt so much!’ Then as things progress you will be so focused on them and you’ll tense, waiting for the pain to increase, and it will. The anxiety and the tension will make it so.
However, when you start to experience the sensations of labour you could get excited, remember the positive experiences you’ve watched and heard of and welcome the sensations as your body’s badass way of using its power to bring your baby to you safely.
As the surges become stronger in intensity you can remind ourself that your uterus is a muscle that needs oxygen to work comfortably. Breathing in deeply, breathing out any tension you might have.
With the knowledge you’ve gained in pregnancy you know that your uterus is contracting. The vertical muscles contracting to pull up the horizontal muscles, this is drawing the cervix up and helping it to soften, efface and then dilate.
We know that the sensations we’re experiencing are ALL doing something. Whether it’s working on that cervix or turning baby into a more optimal position, it’s all working towards the end goal. You have got this!
As things progress into the later stages we can recognise that this increase in intensity signifies that things are going brilliantly. Our bodies are amazing. Everything that we are feeling is magical!
It is possible to go through labour thinking ‘bring it on!’, ‘yessss, another surge! One step closer to baby’ and this positivity alongside practical tools and a AMAZING birth partner can carry you through the experience feeling calm and POSITIVE at all times!
Nobody can guarantee you a pain free birth, if that’s what you thought hypnobirthing was then you might be in for a shock. What hypnobirthing CAN do is guarantee that you have all the knowledge and support that it takes to change that mindset, pack your toolkit full of tricks and get your birth partner trained up to support you.
The rest is up to you!
Book a 3 week hypnobirthing course with me and get everything you need to achieve a positive calm birth experience.
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