The following is a series of emails that was shared with us by Lorne Campbell, MD--you'll recognize him as the Family Physician who wrote the Foreward to our book, HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method. He is the doctor with the "Take this hand, put it in your pocket, take this hand, put it in your other pocket, now step back and watch," method of teaching new doctors to attend births. Notice how even this well-trained doctor/mom has a hard time releasing her previous conditioning about birth.
Also notice how Mom's disbelief about the reality of labor and how thoughts about how "breathing down didn't work" are very similar to what I hear from many of YOU! It's very deeply ingrained in our culture. Very deep.
Note: Names, Dates and locations have been intentionally eliminated to allow anonymity.
This is a series of emails that IHave exchanged with X, a Family Physician in [city]. I trained her to attend at births and X taught to HypnoBirth. She had a successful HypnoBirth on Sunday.Pay attention to her language to see how dificult it is to release old beliefs that are deeply held. Remember this when working with medical people.
Lorne
[From the Mom:]
X was born Sunday August X at [time] to X and X! Labor was induced by pitocin for X's high blood pressure but there were no problems or complications. We planned for a water birth and decided to get in the tub around 8 cm, 6 pm Saturday night, but X became so relaxed in the tub with the pitocin off that labor stopped completely so we had to get out of the tub and birth on "dry land." We used hypnosis for relief of pain which was very effective, and I really only experienced a low back ache. The final half hour or so of pushing was unbelievable hard work, but the reward was great with a healthy 9 pound 7.4 ounce 20 inch baby boy! (Wow thats alot of baby).
Pictures attached.
Love,X, X & X
Campbell, Lorne wrote: Congratulations[Baby] is beautifulI posted his picture here and everybody says her looks like you. I think he looks like a baby. Now you know why I said that birth does not hurt. There was no pain relief. You just did not cause abnormal labor.
Lorne
[From the Mom]:
Youre right. It never even occured to me to ask for pain medication, and until the final pushing stage which was relatively short, I do not even recall feeling anything like a "contraction" even though they apperared on the monitor.I kept asking if the pitocin was expired. I didnt even need any cues for handling "surges" because I never felt any until the very end.
I requested induction friday because my two best friends were in town through Sunday and I really wanted them present to support me and X while I was in labor. I am so glad I did because it made a huge difference in my ability to relax and enjoy the process. They brought music and we spent most of labor dancing to the soundtrack of Hairspray which was hilarious, and when I needed help getting to the bathoom or backrubs, they were able to help so X could get some periods of sleep, allowing him to enjoy it so much more. X was amazing, she stayed at the hospital with us from Friday night when we arrived all the way to delivery Sunday midnight and my postpartum check Sunday morning. The only thiing I would have done differently would have been to let her break my water Saturday midnight when she offered instead of waiting till Saturday 11 am, since I probably would have finished about 12 hours sooner. I did not go into active labor until she did that Saturday.
The principles of de-programming all the incorrect things I had learned in training about pain, and doing fear release was really all I needed, not the actual hypnosis. I hadnt fully released the fear of tearing, and as a result I struggled to push effectively near the end. I think "breathing down" is good but probably did not work for me because I was not fully relaxed by that point. In the last few minutes I could read the body language of my nurse and midwife. I could see without looking at the strip that there were deep decelerations on the monitor as I tried to help the baby past the symphysis pubis and she was doing scalp stim. At this point I got determined, let go of my fear of tearing, and brought out some much more effective pushes.
Had I not had the fear of tearing in my mind beginning the pushing stage it probably would have required alot less pushing altogether as my perineum would have stayed more relaxed. The most helpful thing [the doctor] said to me then was that it was not how strongly I pushed, but how long I pushed that mattered. With this I was less afraid of tearing and able to hold the push twice as long with great results. I had a very minor 2nd degree tear which took no time to sew, I didnt notice the lidocaine or sewing and was able to bond and nurse while it was done. I have had no continence issues, no discomfort with bowel movements, and have only taken motrin 2-3 times for perineal soreness. I did feel like I had the crap beat of of me the next two days. I think this was intercostal/oblique muscle soreness from my initial ineffective pushing. By day 4 I started feeling like myself again and am feeling better everyday. We are really enjoying our "babymoon". We spent almost on hour last night laughing in bed hysterically at all the faces he makes in his sleep. Leaving the phones off was the best advice also.
Thank you so much for introducing us to hypnobirthing in residency. I am already looking forward to my next birth. After delivering my almost 10 pounder, next time I want a 7 pound girl in the birthing tub ;)
Please send us your new email in the fall when you get to [city] so we can keep in touch. Hopefully we will make our way up north again in the next 2-3 years.
X
Campbell, Lorne wrote:
Next birth do a fear release around the issue of pushing. There is no need to push. It actually slows the birth down. Pushing involves the pelvic floor muscles tightening. This impedes the movement of the head along the birth path. Next time breathe the baby down. Give up all of the residual bad things you learned about birthing. You are too smart to believe the crap you were taught. I would like to forward this email to other HypnoBirth practitioners so they may learn.
Lorne
[From the Mom]:
ok. You are welcome to forward the email. I will probably type it into a 1 page story to give to X to keep for her collection of stories also. I will forward you that sometime.Thanks again.
X
Campbell, Lorne wrote :
Do Not answer my email. Get off the computer and enjoy being a mom. Happy Babymoon. Thank you
Lorne
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